WORK LESS, DO MORE, 2ND EDITION, is filled with suggestions on how to handle e-mail, deal with distractions (“distractionitis”) and interruptions, as well as tips on prioritizing, delegating, conducting more effective meetings, multitasking, and mastering (or even eliminating) paperwork. Most important of all, the author helps readers to make better decisions about what they should be doing in the first place and, by applying her original ACTION! Plan, how to get it done better, and faster. Carry out this 14-day time management self-improvement program over two weeks—one chapter/topic a day—or applied at your own pace. Additional material for this revised 2nd edition includes a new introduction and an updated bibliography and resource section as well as these new materials added to the last chapter: “Six Time Management Lessons My First Boss and Mentor Taught Me,” “Ten Productivity Principles that May Give You a Competitive Edge and “Do You Have Five Minutes to Make a Change? What they’re saying about this book: “Work Less, Do More is a resource I recommend for every entrepreneur! It addresses one of the toughest challenges in building a startup - the fact that there are so many things they don’t know how to do, or don’t like to do, leading to procrastination. The techniques she offers are practical and priceless – addressing the newest issues of digital information overload, as well as the oldest issues, like just getting started in the morning.” —Marty Zwilling, Founder & CEO, Startup Professionals, Inc. About the author: Jan Yager, Ph.D. has been researching, writing about, coaching, and conducting workshops on time management for 25+ years. For more on the author, go to: www.drjanyager.com.
I'm Jan Yager and I'm proud to be a writer. (My maiden name was Janet Lee Barkas.)
I started out writing fiction and plays, as young as ages ten and thirteen, respectively, as well as working for the junior high school and then the high school newspapers as a reporter or feature editor. But it was as a nonfiction author that I would land my first published book credit with Scribner's. Here's some background to how my career as a published author began. I began researching my first nonfiction book while still in college: for a public speaking class, I researched the history of vegetarianism for my speech topic. The research was totally engrossing and, over the years, it led me around the world -- to India, Germany, England, and other countries in Europe -- and, at age 26, it became my first published book, by the prestigious Scribner's publishing company. (How that sale happene is a whole other story!)
I love to read as well as write; I love to go to the theatre (as well as write plays), go to the movies (as well as write screenplays), and travel. I love people so it's hard for me to put the hours in that writing and rewriting requires but I do it because I have a need to share with others through my writings -- books, articles, and poems. My plays and screenplays are yet to be produced but I know someday it will happen.
I'm often asked what is my favorite book that I've written? That's a tough question to answer because each book represents a very special and powerful experience for me, from my five year study of crime victims, which led to VICTIMS (published by Scribner's) to my trilogy of friendship books: FRIENDSHIFTS: THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP AND HOW IT SHAPES OUR LIVES (published by Hannacroix Creek Books, Inc.) which led to interviews on OPRAH, THE VIEW, TODAY SHOW, EARLY SHOW, SUNDAY MORNING, GOOD MORNING AMERICA, and other programs; WHEN FRIENDSHIP HURTS (Simon & Schuster, Inc., Fireside), which led to major TV interviews AND author tours in the U.S. PLUS Australia and New Zealand for the Finch Publishing edition (Australian) of the book; and WHO'S THAT SITTING AT MY DESK? WORKSHIP, FRIENDSHIP, OR FOE? (published by Hannacroix Creek Books), on work and friendship.
I enjoy hearing from readers even though a personal reply can't be guaranteed.
My academic credentials include a Ph.D. in sociology from The City University of New York, an M.A. in criminal justice from Goddard College, and a year of graduate work in art therapy at Hahnemann Medical College. In addition to writing, I am a professional speaker as well as a coach. I have been speaking, or conducting workshops, since my mid-twenties before a variety of corporate, association, and government agencies, companies, or meetings. My topics include time management -- I'm author of three books on time management including WORK LESS, DO MORE (Sterling, 2008), CREATIVE TIME MANAGEMENT FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM (Hannacroix Creek Books, 1999), and CREATIVE TIME MANAGEMENT (Prentice-Hall, 1984)-- business protocol (BUSINESS PROTOCOL, Wiley, 1991; 2nd edition, Hannacroix Creek Books, 2001); friendship (books noted above); and work relationships.
Although the majority of my books are nonfiction, I've also had my fiction published including two suspense novels co-authored with Fred Yager: UNTIMELY DEATH and JUST YOUR EVERYDAY PEOPLE. I look forward to the publication of my first solo novel at some point.
I have had one or multiple nonfiction and fiction books translated into more than twenty languages; it's wonderful and rewarding to know that readers around the world are discovering my books.
Writing a book is hard work but it is very rewarding and I feel privileged and honored to be a book author. Each new book publication is exhilarating and exciting.
I'm also working fulltime as Director of Publicity and Subsidiary & Foreign Rights for a dynamic new publishing company. It's very rewarding to use what I've learned through my various jobs in publishing over the years -- first at Macmillan, followed by Grove, and then running my own small press as well as being a published author with several excellent houses -- to help a new company and its authors and books to obtain broadcast or print publicity as well as subsidiary or international publishing opportunities.
Although authors are, of course, crucial, readers are key as well. Whether you read a book by borrowing it from the library, excerpts or the whole book for free on the Internet or your mobile phone, or you buy it to read and add to your personal or professional library, or to give it as a gift, I thank you for your interest in reading and books, my own, of course, included!
