Tuesday 25 February 2014

The Secret to Peak Productivity : A Simple Guide to Reaching Your Personal Best / Tamara Myles, AMACOM

Tamara Myles, a Certified Professional Organiser, outlines her tips and tricks for becoming more productive both at work and at home. By climbing the steps of the Peak Productivity Pyramid you can organise your life, align your goals and reach your full productivity potential.

The Peak Productivity Pyramid is much like the traditional hierarchy of needs used in so many business models. Starting with paper organisation, moving through electronic organisation and taking in time management on the way there is something for even the most productive of people to learn. The reader is encouraged to take stock of their particular situation and then decide where they need to start rather than taking each step in turn.

The book takes the time to explain the reasons why people feel the way they do about organisation rather than just launching into an explanation of what needs to be done. Tamara also talks about taking time to orgainse your mental clutter before launching into your physical space. I found this really useful as it helped me to think about new ways of achieving productivity. 

Full of simple, practical suggestions the book is written in a very easy to read style which makes the points made easier to take on board. Each chapter ends with productivity pointers which act as a useful summary. Not only do these highlight key points but they help the reader to see if the chapter is something that they need to explore in more detail. Good use is made of real-life anecdotes to illustrate the points made and I found myself relating to many of the people mentioned. At the end of the book there is a case study chapter which brings together many of these anecdotes into a readable narrative. Every step of the pyramid is further broken down into clear easy to achieve steps which can be put into practice by the reader as needed.

The main aim of the book is to persuade the reader to manage their time, align their tasks with their key goals and achieve their peak productivity. Although this is nothing particularly groundbreaking, the style of the book is as uncluttered as its approach to organisation. I would highly recommend this book to those who are looking for sensible, actionable tips to help them achieve their productivity goals.

For more information on this title please visit the O'Reilly product page.

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