 "It's painful to read. You should read it." | 2009-08-07 |
| - Reviewed By User: A33NV7LR8266HF |
I'll try to describe this book in as short a summary as possible:
It has some very great advice and techniques for time-management. It gives you a new perspective on your life and what you're doing with your time. It doesn't teach you to prioritize and shift around stuff you shouldn't be doing in the first place. It helps give you a broader perspective on what sort of things you're doing in the first place, and more importantly, what sorts of things you're not doing that you should be doing. It will have you think of yourself as a person fulfilling multiple roles, rather than someone who's drowning in a single-dimensional calendar that has no perspective on life and personal satisfaction.
Now for the cons of this book that made me give it only 3 stars instead of the 5 that it would otherwise deserve:
This book should be 75 pages tops, not 350 pages - Maybe 100 pages if a larger font was used. The author's writing style is very *very* painful for someone who doesn't come from a background of "faith". I had a tough time swallowing some of the material simply because instead of evidence, he kept asking for a leap of faith. His examples are littered with those such as (para-phrasing here) "I gave a lecture somewhere... the students were completely against my points. I asked them to look into their conscience. They started not being sure about their logical comebacks." These are the sort of arguments that a religious person makes, not someone who is trying to convince others to buy into an intelligent argument.
The other problem with the book is the appalling use of the sort of jargon that only a pointy-haired boss from a Dilbert cartoon would use. I'm an engineer; about 1/3 of the way through the book, when the author was still promising of what was about to come in the rest of the book (yes, the first 1/3 of the book is self-promotion about the book) I reached a sentence along the lines of (para-phrasing) "this book will help you use your endowments in a synergistic way according to true-north principles, to think of third-alternative solutions." Each one of those horrible made-up expressions is used tens of times. The word "synergy" is used hundreds of times in the book. I was about to close the book immediately at that point and cut my losses. I would have, if it wasn't for the very concise testimonial from Larry King: "I can't think of anyone who wouldn't be helped by [this book]." Notice he didn't say the stuff is great writing. He just said it's helpful.
I read the book to the end, and it certainly did help. I have changed how I manage my time and I feel indebted to the author for it. I highly recommend, if you feel like you're spread too thin in your life, for you to read this book. I also recommend to the author to get rid of most of the fluff in the book and come out with the Cliff notes. A similar book in management (which is about leadership, not time-management) is "Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the box". That book has a brilliant writing style and so far I haven't been able to put it down too often. If you're reading this book, you might want to look into that as well, for your self-improvement. |
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 "At his best" | 2009-05-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A33TIG6TU07QY7 |
| This book (well ...CD) might very well be his best. The headline in itself might be enough to guide you successfully through life, ...when you start discovering what is truly first in life. The idea of writing up your tombstone is excellent... |
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 "Covey's Best Work" | 2009-05-04 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2B3VF1AR1LPP4 |
I found this book to be surprisingly good for what it was. I picked it up because someone told me it was good for time management strategies, but I found it was nicely more than that. It indeed is about time management, but it also integrates a well thought out personal philosophy that asks the reader to really think about what's important to him or her. In addition, he suspects that after you ask yourself about those values, you'll likely be like everyone else in wanting to live, learn, love and leave a legacy in the world. This is a nice take on the enterprise of time management, because it gives everything context. If time management is about organizing for efficiency, it's crucial to do some soul searching to realize what's important in life in order to organize around. In essence, Covey uses this work to get the reader to not fall into the trap of efficiency for efficiency's sake, because that doesn't lead to fulfillment, only more tasks neatly organized that might well be more exasperating. Instead, Covey notes that there are ways to overlap things in our life that are truly meaningful to us.
But there are quite a few bad things about the book as well. First and foremost, Covey does something that is a pet peeve of mine with books, writing forever about what's going to come later on in the book. It's like the author keeps telling you what will be talked about instead of talking about it. That just irritates me. Though it does diminish later in the book, it made my skin crawl for the first half of the book. As well, it does take him a bit too much time to get into the meat of exercises, choosing to expand a little too much on the more philosophical concepts for quite a while in the beginning. Not that he should've have talked about them, but each time he talks about one of those underlying core concepts, he could really get the message across in a fourth of what he uses to say what needs to be said. So, the book does seem a bit drawn out.
I think some of the other reviewers that were negative on this book were a bit harsh about the unrealistic nature of its message. I think Covey well realizes that we don't always have the luxury of deciding to do what we're most passionate about, but even then, such a work as Covey's can be practiced as it very much mirrors Sartre-like existentialism as well as cognitive-behavioral psychology where feelings, choices and behaviors are ultimately open to the individual to practice in a respectable, thoughtful, and meaningful way with integrity. So, suffering at a monotonous job to put food on the table may well be necessary, but how one approaches that and to what greater end after simply putting food on the table in the long run, is still open to the individual. The person need not simply go to work and come home and think that's all there is because he or she is at the mercy of the world. That's exactly what Covey is saying isn't correct, which I agree with him on.
By far the best of the Covey books. I've seen some good synopsis of this book online that you might want to check out first, because, again, the material takes a while to unfold in the book which can grate on the nerves. |
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| "Another book ALL OF HUMANITY needs...." | 2008-12-16 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2QHK2R9BEH24O |
The author's of this book had a buyer when I heard it was co-authored with Mr. Covey (whom I greatly admire) and I found out that Mrs. Merrill had her family's menus planned months in advance.
Also, I love the Covey/Merrill families (all that I have read about them), their faith and successful children, and family lives. And I am not a naturally organized person (I have severe ADD) and every tool I can have in my arsenal helps.
But this book, like The 7 Habits, transcends just mere organization and really helps you focus on WHAT REALLY NEEDS TO BE DONE and GETTING IT DONE.
Thanks in part to it and the 7 Habits books, I now have a VERY organized household, a much happier husband, more time to spend with family, better work habits, and am well on my way to having 3 books published!
If you have any organizational or time management issues, or are simply just pursuing being the best person you can be, PLEASE GET THIS BOOK.
If I could give it to everyone ON EARTH I would.
Thanks authors! |
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| "This booked really helped me" | 2008-07-23 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2RGJM0CDMPGSA |
I give this book five stars as it really helped me organise and prioritise my life.
I develped a great mission statement, I review my roles weekly, and I am so happy with all the things I am achieving.
I am also developing Integrity, really! Rather than just talking the talk I am walking the talk. I have had a few friends recently comment on my input into their lives.
I now can schedule, my personal goals weekly, my family goals with my two young children, making my husband happy, doing commmunity work and looking out for my friends. Whilst I am still a work in progress, this book together with the 7 habits, have made a huge impact in my world.
I have read SO many self help books, but in the end they just made me feel bad that I wasnt achieving all these things. But FTF, really makes you think about whats important to you, there is no use in following someone elses plan if those values dont resonate within your own world or heart.
Go ahead and get this, read it and apply it. Slowly you will see how putting FTF can rock your little world.
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| "A great simple framework" | 2008-06-21 |
| - Reviewed By therosen |
The book provides a great framework for being productive - focusing on the important over the urgent. It covers the dangers of spending too much time on things that others deem mandatory, sacrificing what is truly valuable.
Two dissenting thoughts on the book. The first is the obvious - "If only it were so easy..." Of course if it were easy, there would be no need for the book. The second is that the key concepts could be delivered in a much shorter format. But that's a small complaint - how expensive is a $12 paperback? It pays for itself with even a small improvement in personal productivity. |
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