Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever? ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Undoubtedly, every human being on this planet is striving to find the ways to deliver more. Not only that one wants to deliver more and in lesser time.
And the journey does not end here.
Human being always strives to be better and better.
The elasticity of human potential in terms of physical strength can be judged by the fact that every few year, the old records are broken in every arena of world.
In the field of technology, the human being is continuously finding the ways to bring tools and techniques to automate the human activities and deliver faster results.
But one thing is for sure!
There is and there must always be a human desire to keep getting better and better in all facets of life.
If you reading this article, Congratulations! You are in the game for continuous learning and enhancing the quality of your life.
You and I realize that being productive in our endeavors has immense benefits, just to list a few:
1. We are able to deliver the results faster, deliver more value to the world around and get rewarded.
2. Being productive helps us to keep stress and anxiety miles away from us.
3. The sense of fulfilment which follows with enhanced productivity is beyond explanation.
4. The most important aspect, we feel in our minds and hearts that we are growing and evolving into a newer human being.
Some of you might be wondering, isn?t it very obvious?
The short answer is: Yes. Some may say ?common sense?, but
?Common sense is not so common? ? Voltaire
The reason is that we already have heard a lot about and some of us even feel ourselves as ?experts? on various philosophical aspects of life.
But the problem is that most of us know it merely ?intellectually?, meaning that we have not ?lived? these wisdom nuggets or practically not implemented those philosophies yet to our lives.
But, you know what?
Sometimes, we need to look at the same thing from a different angle to get a better perspective.
You never know, what may click to your brain and it can have a life changing impact. So let?s stay open to the possibilities (even if we consider ourselves as intellectuals or experts)
Okay, but are the books best sources to learn any new stuff, including about productivity?
NO, because the best resource is always the real living person, who has written such book. You may explain your perspective and the situation in life, where you are at any particular point of time and get a real time advise on what to do next.
Yes, real time one to one coaching is the best resource. But it is going to be an expensive one and works once a person is fully committed.
However, the books surely can be considered as the next best resource for sure? Off-course, less expensive and if you are committed to implement the wisdom and strategies in such books, these too work well.
Okay, seems a good amount of explanation about books!!!
Let?s get to the meat now!
Here are 10 most read and recommended books to enhance productivity and effectiveness in our work place and generally in life:
1. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity ? By David Allen
Just look at sheer number of customer reviews! Whoops! More than 2600 and growing?
This book is really a gem of all in the field of personal organization and business success. The Acronym ?GTD? has become shorthand for an entire way of approaching the professional and personal tasks everyone faces in life.
The philosophy and strategies mention in the book are timeless. For example ?do it, delegate it, defer it or drop it? is the most effective rule to empty your inbox quickly.
Getting things done is the best book for you to get rid of the feelings of anxiety, confusion and being overwhelmed with work. A must read for lifetime results. Get more details here.
2. The One Thing ? By Gary Keller
Gary Keller has very categorically stated in this book that at every situation in any person?s life, it is not tons of things that matter. It is really only one piece of change, which can massively improve one?s growth journey.
The book is great in all respect. But I liked in specific the idea of ?focussing question? to be asked in almost every area of life. Choose any area of your life, be it spiritual, physical health, personal life, relationship, job, business, finance etc. and asking below focussing question will immediately change your focus towards the solution.
?What?s the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier of unnecessary??
This book will surely help you to be more productive by allowing you to:
cut through the clutter
achieve better results in less time
build momentum toward your goal
overcome that overwhelmed feeling
revive your energy
stay on track
master what matters to you
and MUCH MORE.
3. The Compound Effect ? By Darren Hardy
Another AWESOME book which explains the principle that your decisions shape your destiny. Little, everyday decisions will either take you to the life you desire or to disaster by default.
Seemingly insignificant small actions taken daily, combined over a period of time will result into massive accumulation of success. The book candidly sets the background to focus on your stronger life objective, before it moves you towards tactics and systems.
This easy-to-use, step-by-step operating system allows you to multiply your success, chart your progress, and achieve any desire.
A very well written and with positive reviews from more than 1600 customers, this book is a bible to create the success you want, if you are really serious about it.
4. First Things First- By Stephen Covey
This book works on an entirely eternal perspective and forces you to look beyond the obvious.
Consider below statement:
I?m getting more done in less time, but where are the rich relationships, the inner peace, the balance, the confidence that I?m doing what matters most and doing it well? Does this nagging question haunt you, even when you feel you are being your most efficient?
If so, First Things First can help you understand why so often our first things aren?t first.
Instead of giving you another clock to put your race against, Stephen Covey gives you a compass and that is because:
?Where you are headed is more important than how fast you are going? ~ Stephen Covey
5. Eat that Frog ? By Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy has very artistically used the metaphor of frog to a challenging work activity, but such work has a great positive impact on your life.
He goes on to explain in the book that there just isn?t enough time for everything on our to-do list ? and there never will be. Successful learn to focus on the most important tasks and make sure those get done. In other words, they eat their frogs.
There?s an old saying that if the first thing you do each morning is eat a live frog, you?ll have the satisfaction of knowing you?re done with the worst thing you?ll have to do all day.
This short book is broken down into Twenty One Tips that Tracy himself uses to create his own outstanding success. The tips are very accessible and the book easy to read making it a great starting point for beginners.
6. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World ? By Cal Newport
As the name suggest, this book is about focussing on your deep work. The work which provides immense value to the world and which ultimately rewards.
This book explains the human mind?s general tendencies of getting distracting. Moreover in the ever dynamic well connected world and evolution of social media to insanely intrusive level, the capacity of mind to focus on deep work is greatly diminished.
Cal Newport has researched and implemented in his own life, the methods and mindset that foster a practice of distraction-free productivity at work, and now, in DEEP WORK, he shows how anyone can achieve this elusive state.
He explains why mastering this shift in work practices is crucial for anyone who intends to stay ahead in a complex information economy, and how to systematically train the mind to focus.
Put simply: developing and cultivating a deep work practice is one of the best decisions we can make in an increasingly distracted world.
7. Vision to Reality: How Short Term Massive Action Equals Long Term Maximum Results ? By Honoree Corder
Honoree Corder is all about setting big hairy ambitious goals and the explaining the strategies to achieving them in the shortest possible time frame.
She has brilliantly come out with the idea of setting 100 Days Goals, instead of one year goals. The reason behind this is very simple. While one year period is too long to easily get swayed away and not accomplish anything. On the other hand, the weekly or monthly goals are too short a period to achieve anything significant.
So the 100 days goal, a reasonably short, but is not too long period to set and achieve your goals.
The unique concept of STMA- Short Term Massive Actions (read more about this in book) is worth diamonds. When you become clear on exactly what you want and how to get it and apply STMA, you?ll get results at lightning speed.
In this book, you?ll discover:
A step-by-step process to identify and achieve your vision
How to create Big Hairy Audacious Goals and start taking action toward their realization
Why laser focus can give you the power to do more than you ever thought possible
How to get the best out of your team and yourself
See more details about the book at Amazon
8. Living the 80/20 Way: Work Less, Worry Less, Succeed More, Enjoy More
The 80:20 Principal, also known as Pareto Principle has been the cornerstone of our society and is much more relevant in today?s age with overwhelming pace and information overload.
This principal states that the world works around the principle that only 20% of your activities (even lesser) are as important to deliver to you as the 80% results (even more) in your life. It could be substantiated by following facts:
1. 99% of the World?s wealth is accumulated by only 1% of the people.
2. 80% or more of every business?s turnover/profits are contributed by only 20% or less of its customers.
3. If you satisfy 20% of the people in your life with your work, that will give you an 80% assurance of the perfect working life.
4. And list goes on and on?.
Richard Koch takes the widely renowned 80/20 principle and shows how in today?s cluttered and stressful world, working out the few things that are really important, and the few methods that will give us those things, leads to increased happiness and greater success.
Living the 80/20 Way explains why ?less is more? isn?t just a saying, but a sure-fire method to achieve your goals and live your best life.
9. The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life Before 8AM ? By Hal Elrod
As aptly named, this book has the power to make your morning (and therefore the days) miraculous. The concept of Miracle Morning has created a revolution around the world. Just Google it or look at the Facebook, there are groups, communities or forums with the name ?Miracle Morning? around the world.
While the book covers the principal behind morning rituals, it does not stop there. It gives the practical tips and the ways to start implanting the philosophy in your life.
I loved the S.A.V.E.R.S. principle stated in this book, which is all about putting some cornerstone habits (Silence, Affirmation, Visualization, Exercise, Reading and Scribble (journal)) in your early mornings and the rewards are immense, in the form of enhance mental clarity, sharp focus, clear vision and more productivity in your all working hours. And more importantly, it explains how to fit this in your daily schedule.
So Come on!
Enter The Miracle Morning. What?s now being practiced by thousands of people around the world could perhaps be the simplest approach to creating the life you?ve always wanted. It?s been right there in front of us, but this book has finally brought it to life.
10. MAKE SMART CHOICES
Do you want to radically upgrade your decision making skills?
Check out my book MAKE SMART CHOICES
This book will help you understand your decision making archetype, understand the hidden traps that lead to bad choices, learn effective techniques to make smarter decisions & take your life to the next level!
If you are new to audible.com, you can listen to the audiobook version of this book for Free (during trial period).
Get Audiobook of Make Smart Choices Here
Hope you liked this article!
Would you give me a clap or two? Also share this resource with your friends.
If you liked above , you may also want to check my other articles below:
A Simple Formula to Activate ?Flow State? the Way High Performers Do!
Learn How Procrastination Can Help You Generate New Ideas (step-by-step process)
Understand 4-Zones of Your Activities and Live A Happy & Fulfilled Life!
Want To Massively Boost Your Performance?
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