Time Management In an Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day (In an Instant (Career Press)) [Paperback]

Karen Leland (Author), Keith Bailey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2008 | Series: In an Instant (Career Press)

In today's hurly-burly work environment, many businesspeople find it challenging to avoid distraction, stay focused, use their time and energy to maximum benefit, and gain ground on important goals and outcomes. One study by the Families and Work Institute found that one third of Americans are overworked and more than 50 percent of those surveyed say they are either doing too many tasks at the same time or are frequently interrupted during the workday--or both. In short, we are overloaded!

Time Management In An Instant helps the reader overcome this feeling of overload and avoid the traps that lead to an unproductive relationship with time. It offers field-tested time habits and expert advice based on the latest research that will help the reader better manage, create, and spend their time with more satisfaction and results.

The book outlines the best practices for improving everyday work situations including:
* Harnessing the power of completion.
* Linking your core values to key projects.
* Finding the power of mini-tasks.
* Playing the 80/20 game of accomplishment.
* Getting a procrastination inoculation.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The In An Instant series is a new brand of user-friendly, engaging, and practical reference guides on core business topics, which capitalizes on the authors' extensive experience and knowledge, as well as interviews they have conducted with leading business experts. Written in an upbeat and engaging style, the series presents 60 tips and techniques with anecdotes, examples, and exercises that the reader can immediately apply to make their work life more efficient, effective, and satisfying.

About the Author

Karen Leland is a partner in Sterling Consulting Group and coauthor with Keith Bailey of the best-selling Customer Service for Dummies and Watercooler Wisdom: How Smart People Prosper in the Face of Conflict, Pressure and Change. Her consulting clients include American Express, Roche, Marriott Hotels, and Oracle. She is a familiar face in the media and has been interviewed by Time, Newsweek, Ladies Home Journal, Women's Day, CBS, and Oprah. She lives in San Rafael, California.

Keith Bailey is a partner in Sterling Consulting Group. His consulting clients include Microsoft, AT&T, Johnson and Johnson, and Lufthansa. He has been interviewed by Fortune, Entrepreneur, Inc. magazine, and CNN. He lives in Mill Valley, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Career Press (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 160163014X
• ISBN-13: 978-1601630148
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Business & Investing > Business Life > Health & Stress

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Don't make this your only reading on time management, August 19, 2009

By 

Dinah Sanders "MetaGrrrl" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Management In an Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day (In an Instant (Career Press)) (Paperback)

This one was a mixed bag. On the one hand, a lot of tips brought together in one place; on the other, deeper concepts are not necessarily given the depth or context they're due if one is to really internalize them and change habits.

I wouldn't recommend it to someone who hasn't read Getting Things Done and some of the other most popular time management books - to whom these authors owe a debt of gratitude - but if you know enough to see who they're paraphrasing it's a useful aggregation of ideas. One particularly bad thing is that they did not include a bibliography pointing to those other sources. Some were cited in the text, but haphazardly (e.g. no mention of David Allen's Getting Things Done in tip 19 "Capture Your Open Items" which is practically an abstract of a chapter of his book).

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars salvation, April 21, 2009

By 

Clark Chelsey (Mill Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Time Management In an Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day (In an Instant (Career Press)) (Kindle Edition)

I read Time Management in an Instant last week and, for the first time in 25 years, the scattered papers on my desk, and in my files, are vanishing, some into a trash can and others into files. I hate paper work and have made a dutiful practice of avoiding it my entire life. I spend hours looking for invoices, bills, the names and phone numbers of business contacts I jotted down on a piece of paper and can no longer find. I have paid untold sums in late fees and penalties because I was unable or unwilling to organize my priorities in life. My goals were not sufficiently specific and my fears overarching about everything I needed to do. I had so many things to do that I simply did nothing. Time Management in an Instant walked me through my fears, distractions and avoidance behavior. It provided me with simple methods of organizing my time, a rewards system for actions taken, practical exercises that helped me organize my thinking so I was then able to organize my life. It is not just another `to do' book that becomes something else we must do, but an inspiring and motivational journey that teaches us to take small, prioritized concrete steps toward our goals, large and small.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you do not have time to read books on Time Management - This is THE ONE to get!, March 25, 2009

By 

Transportation Marvel (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Time Management In an Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day (In an Instant (Career Press)) (Paperback)

Well the title says it all - this is not a big monster book which requires you to change you life to somehow manage to get the impossible done.
1) It's super compact and a good commuter/bathroom read - where else do we have time to read these days ;-)
2) It's jam packed with practical advise you can fit in to the way you work, not the other way around
3) Karen knows what she is talking about and has saved her readers the time to research it all
4) Best of all IT WORKS!
Enjoy!
P.S. if you ever get a chance to see her live at one of her workshops, jump on the opportunity, she is funny truly a topic expert and will not waste you time.