How to be a Productivity NINJA

If you are like me, you are always looking for ways of becoming more productive - this book offers a new slant on the topic by focusing more on attention rather than time management. It also recommends developing a number of characteristics including Zen-like calm, ruthlessness, mindfulness, agility, preparedness and unorthodoxy. Very few of us have a sense of completion on a daily basis as we feel overwhelmed with information and to-do lists. This sense of completion gives us some clear space, and in one chapter is usefully applied to advice on managing one's inbox. One also needs to set aside time for creative thinking during periods of proactive attention (the other two forms are active intention and inactive intention - we are advised to workout our own rhythm in this respect). The heart of the book is the CORD model – capture and collect, organise, review and do. I have already applied the advice on project, weekly and daily checklists, which one can keep together on a single Excel spreadsheet. There is good advice on meetings where 40% represents preparation, 20% the meeting itself, and another 40% follow-up; also on inertia and resistance, which we are all very good at and that needs overcoming on a daily basis if one is to keep things on track. Highly recommended.