The Simplicity Survival Handbook: 32 Ways To Do Less And Accomplish More [Paperback]

Bill Jensen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 4, 2003

In a world of more-better-faster, the challenges and stresses have never been greater: too much to do, not enough time. And in an economy where worker talent (know-how, energy, attention, commitment, and creativity) is at a premium, everyone is trying to maximize personal productivity. In The Simplicity Survival Handbook, Bill Jensen offers the antidote you're seeking: a practical guide to doing less in a world of more, and making it count. From "How to Write Shorter Emails for Better Results" to "How to Use Your Mentor to Help You Do Less," Jensen offers step-by-step strategies, tactics, and techniques for communicating more effectively, setting priorities, and balancing the competing demands on your time, while avoiding the time-sinkers. He takes on corporate foolishness, walking you through how to be more productive and take greater control of your workday and, by extension, your life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Few authors encourage people to read as little of their book as possible, but Jensen (Simplicity) uses the table of contents to highlight five "must-read" sections on streamlining work practices, then encourages people who just want the tools to skip to the "Do-Less Toolkit" at the back of the book, which distills every chapter into a one- or two-page summary. The tactic, which matches his counsel to always demand the "executive summary" of any professional training course, invites comparison to the "useless crap" of PowerPoint presentations, a subject of particular efficiency-loving wrath, but these quickie lessons are as effective as their full-length counterparts, if not more so. Each of the regular chapters is introduced by three "Less-O-Meters," which gauge the level of courage needed undertake each challenge, the level of difficulty, and the level of reward each brings. Much of the advice is familiar from other time-management handbooks, like the calls to delete e-mails unread or skip unnecessary meetings, but other sections offer new perspective on dealing with job orientations and regular evaluations, observing that they're more for the company's benefit than the employee's and showing how to focus on those parts that actually address your needs. Jensen's techniques were developed over the course of a decade-long research project, and he frequently directs readers to the Web site for his change consulting firm for additional info. Most won't need it, though, since his concise presentation-reminiscent of Tom Peters, but with even more concentrated substance-lays everything out perfectly the first time.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Bill Jensen offers not-so-obvious insights about the hard work of keeping things simple." -- Fast Company

"Jensen is plainly a man with a mission... [His] observations about today's business world are dead on." -- Across the Board

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1st edition (November 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738209120
• ISBN-13: 978-0738209128
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 0.6 x 9.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #464,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Flourish, Not Just Survive: The Sky Really IS Yours January 19, 2004

By Robert Morris HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

As I read this handbook, I was again reminded of Albert Einstein's suggestion that "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." For more than a decade, Jensen has been a staunch advocate of simplification (publishing Simplicity in 2001 and Work 2.0 in 2003 as well as several e-docs which can be easily downloaded from Amazon) but never recommends that essentials ever be diminished by the elimination of the superfluous. This is a key point. In this volume, he offers 32 practical ways by which to do less inorder to accomplish more. "I've designed a book of workarounds and shut-off valves -- ways to get around or stop the senseless stuff that comes at you every day." Presumably Jensen agrees with Stephen Covey that most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important. To say this is a "handbook" is to correctly suggest that it is a WORKbook. All of the material is valuable but not all of it is immediately relevant to a given reader's immediate needs. Hence Jensen's advice: "Pick (only) the three or four chapters that scream at you...Follow the steps in each chapter [and then] Rip out the Do-Less Toolkit pages at the back of the book...Tack `em up wherever you'll see them every day. Be one with the pages. Do less."

Jensen organizes his material within three Sections: Daily Rituals, Career Milestones, and Leader Essentials. In each, he provides a series of "How tos" in combination with appropriate metrics by which to (a) measure the current situation, (b) identify what must be done to improve it, and then (c) measure the progress of improvement initiatives. For example, the "Less-O-Meters" track Courage, Difficulty, and Yield. All this is much less complicated than I may now indicate. The greatest difficulty, obviously, is taking appropriate ACTION and staying with Jensen's program. The road to self-improvement is paved with good intentions but, too often, is soon abandoned. Most of those who purchase this handbook do so because they sense a great need in their lives to eliminate what is not essential to it. It is human nature to begin with high hopes and great expectations and then become discouraged or distracted. That phenomenon is quite common and illustrates precisely why this handbook will be of greatest benefit to those who need it most because they are most vulnerable to procrastination.

It will also be of substantial benefit to victims of what Jensen characterizes as "corporate crap." For example, quite some time ago, editors of a magazine (whose name I have forgotten) conducted a "Dilbert Quotations" contest. They were looking for people to submit quotations from their real-life Dilbert-type managers.

Here are some of the finalists:

1. "As of tomorrow, employees will only be able to access the building using individual security cards. Pictures will be taken next Wednesday and employees will receive their cards in two weeks." (This was the winning quotation from Fred Dales at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, WA.)

2. "What I need is a list of specific unknown problems we will encounter." (Lykes Lines Shipping)

3. "E-mail is not to be used to pass on information or data. It should be used only for company business." (Accounting manager, Electric Boat Company)

4. "We know that communication is a problem, but the company is not going to discuss it with the employees." (Switching supervisor, AT&T Long Lines Division)

5. One day my Boss asked me to submit a status report to him concerning a project I was working on. I asked him if tomorrow would be soon enough. He said "If I wanted it tomorrow, I would have waited until tomorrow to ask for it!" (New business manager, Hallmark Greeting Cards)

I urge you to purchase this handbook and follow Jensen's suggestion that you skim-read it from cover-to-cover. While doing so, you will immediate recognize those portions which are of most immediate relevance to your own circumstances, both at work and in your private life. Focus on those sections initially. Precisely follow the step-by-step process which Jensen recommends. Because you will be embarking on an especially difficult journey, expect to encounter obstacles along the way, experiencing frustration and "combat fatigue" as you do so. Stay the course! For Dorothy and her valiant companions, there was yellow brick road for them to follow during their journey to the Emerald City. Whatever your own destination may be, Jensen offers this handbook which can become a yellow brick road for you.

Bon voyage!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally! A step-by-step guide for the real world November 4, 2003

By Colleen Montgomery

Format:Paperback

I work hard. I am a really good employee, and teammate, and manager, and mother, wife, and, and...And I just can't keep up with it all. No matter how hard I try, more just keeps coming at me. I was ready to crash and burn, then I came across this book. Thank you Survival Handbook, thank you!

Bill Jensen has found the best practices for shutting off the noise and stupid things that come at me every day and organized them into easy to use chapters. Among my favorites: How to Delete 75% of Your emails...How to Say No to Anyone in Any Situation...How to Deal with Teammates Who Pile It On...How to Deal with the Stupidity of Performance Appraisals.

His instructions are clear and easy to follow. I love his LessOMeters! Get this book if you're interested in doing less of the stupid things at work and more of what really matters.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! Buckle your Seat Belts. May 13, 2005

By GirlThinker

Format:Paperback

What I like about this biz book:

1) Its fun and challenging "If your boss doesn't get it, and has a high likelihood of never getting it... time to say "goodbye". Pretty simple right?

2) Attitude of "You don't have to be a victim of corporate crap"... reminds me of a refrain I have heard from my husband when he talks about his day job "They can't even run their own life, I will be damned it they run mine"

3) Respect yourself more. Your time is valuable. Push back.

4) The complexity starts from within. From within my own company, within myself.

The How To Section(s)
Email
Scan incoming subject and author, if not relevant hit "delete"
Scan email for 1) action to take 2) deadline date.

In sending messages use the 3"x5" space constaint.

If it is simplier it is more likely to be done. Make it easy.

Remember the key: what do you want them to know, feel and do!

Presentations:
Turn the one point you want people to know into a question. Provoke conversations. Give everyone handouts. Use of Stories is a good thing.
1 hour presentation = 20 slides MAX!

Meetings Big Idea!! When you agree to chair a meeting approachit as if you have just been handed a portion of someones life. Because you have. Run a meeting like one that you wish you had been invited for.

Helpful hints 1) get only the important people 2) get the right people 3) define what success looks like 4) Mentally see the successful meeting 5) Put the objective of the meeting up front
6) Be passionate about the people and reason of the meeting.