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Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life [Hardcover]

David Allen (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
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Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life + Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity + Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life
Price For All Three: $34.21

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  • Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen$9.76

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Editorial Reviews

Review

No one makes the challenges of productivity more understandable and manageable. -- Rob Johnston, President of Leader to Leader Institute

These powerful and practical pointers for living a more productive life are as subtle and rich as they are simple. -- Arianna Huffington

This fundamentally different look at productivity makes David’s book not just a good read, but something [to] truly live by. -- Keith Yamashita, author of Unstuck: A Tool For Yourself, Your Team, and Your World --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

In Getting Things Done, David Allen offered a breakthrough system to enhance productivity-at work and in daily life. Now "the guru of personal productivity" (Fast Company) asks readers what is holding them back and shows how they can be ready for anything-with a clear mind, a clear deck, and clear intentions.

Based on Allen's highly popular e-newsletter, Principles of Productivity, Ready for Anything offers fifty-two principles to clear your head, focus productively, create structures that work, and get in motion, including:
* stability on one level opens creativity on another
* you can't win a game you haven't defined
* the value of a future goal is the present change it fosters

With wit, motivational insights, and inspiring quotes, Ready for Anything shows readers how to make things happen with less effort, stress, and ineffectiveness, and lots more energy, creativity, and clarity. This is the perfect book for anyone wanting to work and live at their very best.
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 192 pages
  • Publisher: Viking Adult; 1 edition (September 11, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0670032506
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670032501
  • Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #280,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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More About the Author

David Allen
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Completion of open loops, whether they be major projects or boxes of old stuff we've yet to purge and organize, prepares the ground for cleaner, clearer, and more complete energy for whatever shows up. Read the first page
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life
54% buy the item featured on this page:
Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life 3.9 out of 5 stars (48)
$13.57
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
37% buy
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity 4.4 out of 5 stars (607)
$9.76
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
4% buy
The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play 4.4 out of 5 stars (128)
$10.17
Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life
3% buy
Making It All Work: Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life 3.7 out of 5 stars (45)
$10.88
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Customer Reviews

48 Reviews
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3.9 out of 5 stars (48 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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358 of 370 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars David Allen's new book hits the mark., September 15, 2003
By Bruce C. Houghton (Jefferson, NH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (Hardcover)
Let me start by admitting that while I'm a huge fan of David Allen and his wonderful productivity theories and practices, I found his first book "Getting Things Done" a rather tough read. A lot of great info was certainly there, but somehow the way it was written left my head spinning. Eventually I began to understand the systems and implement them, but I couldn't get over the nagging feeling that these theories and practices that were so basic and logical did not have to be so hard to grasp.

All of these shortcomings have been fixed in this great new book. Allen's theories, practices and strategies are delivered in 2-5 page bite sized pieces which much better suit his writing style. Each of the 52 short chapters can be devoured in a few minutes and can be understood and internalized individually or in well organized clusters as fits you best.

In a perfect world I'd suggest skimming Allen's first book so that you get an over view of his "systems"; then read this book for a bunch of "I get it!" moments; and then back to "Getting Things Done" for a more careful read. In fact, that's what I'm going to do.

But even if you never read Allen's first book; this new one is well worth the time because it will force you to look at work, time, and all of the stuff that clutters your mind and life in entirely new ways.

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149 of 153 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Unnecessary, January 30, 2006
By Winter Aura (Orange County, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (Hardcover)
I can not recommend David Allen's earlier book, Getting Things Done, highly enough. I read it six months ago and continue to follow his system, using the Outlook plug-in sold on his web site. I had made a reminder when I finished that book to re-read it in six months. When the time came, I decided to pick up this book instead. It was a mistake.

Ready For Anything is a series of short inspirational essays on productivity. It has a strong self-help feel to it. If you've read GTD and aren't convinced that the system is worth implementing, maybe this book will sell it to you. For those who are already practicing the system, it doesn't offer a whole lot. Many essays are about the importance of having a system, or the importance of the weekly review, a key element of the system. Others are simply meanderings with no concrete purpose. There are quotes peppered in the margins throughout. While some are thought-provoking, they distracted me from the main text. I'd prefer to see them at the beginning or end of the essay.

If you haven't read Getting Things Done, absolutely read that first. If you need a little motivation to keep you on track, maybe Ready For Anything will help.
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205 of 214 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Tune-up after Getting Things Done, January 4, 2004
By peederj (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work and Life (Hardcover)
While this is an outstanding book, I highly recommend his first work, Getting Things Done. Since this doesn't have a consistent narrative but is instead broken up into numerous tiny essays, it will be harder to get the maximum benefit from his approach to personal productivity from this alone.

Readers who "got" Getting Things Done don't need my advice on this one...they've already bought it I'm sure.

David Allen is probably the smartest personal productivity coach in print. I would buy Getting Things Done for every employee in my organization, and I would have copies of this one lying around to remind people and elaborate on some of the finer points.

Oh and I would like to add one point. I believe there is one thing missing from Mr. Allen's algorithm. That is finishing. I think his plan is outstanding for getting unstuck: figure out the next action, and do it without hesitation. But I don't find any attention paid to how to decide how many actions are "enough" for a desired outcome of a project.

You can always find some next action, and founder in what software engineers like myself call "permanent beta" or "feature creep." Yet external constraints are best not relied on exclusively for these decisions. It's best to volunteer a ruthless focus on the essence of your project's deliverable, isn't it?

So I would like Mr. Allen to write his next book about finishing projects, if he is able to develop insights into that stage as strong as his insights into the process of the middle stages.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good follow-on to 'Getting Things Done'.
David Allen is back with an add-on to the popular book, "Getting Things Done". I prefer this one, simply because it has less jargon and gives you something to work on every week... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Martin Gollery

5.0 out of 5 stars Allen in Bite Sized Bits of Wisdom
Anything David Allen writes is something I'm going to read. Even if he slips one day and writes a "bad" book, it will no doubt have at least three ideas that can change your life... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Vincent Harris

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Answer To The Why's of Organization
Full disclosure: I am already a David Allen fan from Getting Things Done. GTD is definitely more comprehensive, in terms of how-to. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Caroline@SixFigureStart.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Black-belt GTD
An overlooked follow up to the now famous "Getting Things Done". In this book, David Allen builds on his earlier work and fills in many of the missing pieces - more examples, more... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Ilya Grigorik

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fire Burns After a Storm
1) read Getting THings Done. The knowledge inside this work has been so powerful it has even effected how I sleep; much better. Read more
Published on June 24, 2008 by El Coyote

1.0 out of 5 stars Lame
This book is a waste of money. It is a collection of emails that David sent to his subscribers and repackaged in book form. Read more
Published on June 5, 2008 by 10ashus

3.0 out of 5 stars Shrug - good, not great
Compared to nothing, perhaps this book gets four stars, but you just can't be objective about the writer of the classic book "Getting Things Done. Read more
Published on April 19, 2008 by Donald Dwoske

4.0 out of 5 stars The reiteration of "Getting Things Done"
Both books by David Allen: "Getting Things Done" and "Ready for Anything", are amazing. I recommend starting with the first book and then proceed to the second one. Read more
Published on March 8, 2008 by Maxim Masiutin

5.0 out of 5 stars Productivity and Self Discovery
David Allen's "Ready for Everything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work & Life" is excellent! As the companion book following his widely popular "Getting Things Done", it is a... Read more
Published on March 3, 2008 by kh82399ny

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine tunes the GTD philosophy.
This book is a great follow up to Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. It probes a little deeper into the areas that he explains in GTD. Read more
Published on January 28, 2008 by K. Souza

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