Optimism is the key that will unlock many doors for you. Time management defines that optimism in a solid way. Without a good grip on time management, there will be more obstacles than opportunities. Therefore, we need better time management to unlock the doors of achievement. Time management is life management.
In this article, I’m introducing five time management books picked for everyone to be the everyday winners. These five books will ignite your productivity and joy in all aspects. So, don’t forget to write the titles in your notebook to read them and improve your time management skills.
1. Deep Work
The exceptional quality required to stand among the best in the field in this 21st Century depends on the quality of our focused work, which is what the book Deep Work is all about.
Quality Work = enough time × focus intensity
Activities performed in a distraction-free state or environment to produce at an elite level are called ‘deep work.’
This kind of focus improves the quality and speed of our work. It creates good value and the ability that is hard to replicate. The ability/quality of working deeply is becoming quite rare and increasingly valuable in our economy.
Learning a new skill, making quality video content, writing a good book or an article, developing a strategy, exercising, or simply studying – all of these can be the ideal examples of the term ‘deep work.’
Professor Cal Newport is a renowned author of several bestselling books ‘So Good They Can’t Ignore You,’ ‘How to Become a Straight-A Student’ and the ‘Study Hacks’ blog. In the Deep Work book, he gives an idea of focused work and why and how the quality of working deeply will uplift you in your work field. It’s a classic hit on task management, I’d say.
2. Essentialism
What if we shift(ed) our paths from the somewhat ‘undisciplined pursuit of more’ to the ‘disciplined pursuit of less (but better)’? Talented author Greg McKeown in his brilliant book, tries to make you (more) brilliant in an enlightening way.
Essentialism enables us to use our time and energy best through a satisfying journey and the fulfilling destination. It means to channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter—doing (or dumping) the right thing (or things) at the right time.
Highest point of contribution = right thing × right time
Distinguishing the ‘vital few’ from the ‘trivial many’ boosts our lifestyle as we detach ourselves from the noise and not doing so opens the door for many failures by especially hampering our time and energy. Our one-time decisions often lead us to a thousand future ones, which makes learning and applying essentialism very crucial in our lives.
The book Essentialism is another must-read, classic time management title and its principles have been highly suggested in almost every other effective book including The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, Eat That Frog, The One Thing, Deep Work, Atomic Habits, As A Man Thinketh and so on.
“Essentialism & Deep Work complete each other and act as a currency by being the two sides of the coin” — this is how I sketch it.
3. Make Time
A radical squadron of two former Google employees penned down this time management book offering a menu of 87 interesting tactics designed to improve your personal and professional life.
The book follows a four-step framework to help you plan your days, avoiding distractions while focusing on the tasks and being energetic. I prefer this as my go-to read on the time management topic.
Highlight → Focus & Energize → Reflect
Make Time guides you on managing focus and energy, making more out of your day, and avoiding the Busy Bandwagon and Infinity Pools (constant busyness, endless distractions).
The tactics are designed so that you may choose the best ones that work for you—written enjoyably with excellent illustrations. The book is a friendly collaboration between Jake and John, two tech-industry fellows.
Besides adding more sweetness to the story, Jake’s sons Luke and Flynn drew some of the illustrations, and Jake did the total. A little space in our lives can hatch opportunities to unlock creative energy, and the book is here to help.
4. 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management
Despite having excellent content, this one’s a little unpopular in the genre. It is a straightforward book with 15 solid ideas to build a good relationship with time.
Entrepreneur and author Kevin Kruse took the initiative to find the solid ideas that aren’t to be missed if you want to make the most out of the calendar, such as– The 1440 minutes reminder (nurturing the total amount of minutes we get in a day), Designing a calendar-based lifestyle perhaps using to-do lists only, Gaining/managing time by maintaining good energy-levels and a dozen more to be mentioned.
Apart from the 15 main ideas, the book has excellent bonus content that will be pretty helpful—interviews of highly successful people, more than a hundred uplifting quotes about time, etc. The book will educate you in many ways for sure.
5. Master Your Time, Master Your Life
Brian Tracy is a well-known name in the self-help genre, especially in the time management segment. It is one of his best books to consider.
His most famous book titles are ‘Eat That Frog,’ ‘No Excuses,.’ Although Master Your Time, Master Your Life book is an unsung title, it is high-quality.
As I mentioned earlier in the intro of this article, we must master our time to unfold life’s most outstanding achievements, and this book’s title delivers that message in bold letters.
The book wraps practical advice in an inspiring tone, so I’ve chosen it as the fifth and final entry in this list. Consisting of 10 chapters (Work Time, Creative Time, People, and Family Time), each provides you with practical approaches that make a healthy use of time.
‘Master Your Time, Master Your Life’ will help you with effective time management knowledge alongside advising the importance of not wasting it.
Conclusion
Here is a quick recap of each book listed above
- Deep Work: Helps you find a fruitful work style.
- Essentialism: Assists you in finding a value-driven lifestyle.
- Make Time: Refreshing guidelines on managing focus and energy.
- 15 Time Management Secrets: About building a good relationship with time.
- Master Your Time, Master Your Life: Wrapping practical knowledge in an inspiring tone.
Whether you read the books all or pick up just a single one, you’ll not be disappointed either way. These books will serve more than just plain time management knowledge.
I have gone through many depths to curate and come up with this list. Now, it’s your turn to gear up and be more energetic.
“give your Soul an Energetic design and so, be The energy..”
___ Tanweer Muhammad
