We’ve all read different self-help or productivity books, and there are many that talk about a narrow section of a particular topic. I mentioned this as I started this season, and I’m interested in exploring what it could look like to take several of these books and start to put the concepts together to get a more broad view of the topic.

Now, there are many reviews and summaries available that cover the topics, but I’d like to start exploring how these different books intersect – how they fit together, like a puzzle.

I haven’t really started delving into this yet, but I’d like to share how I hope to approach this, and then probably start rolling through this over the upcoming months.

Here are some of the books I have in mind (and a little about each one):

• The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
  • What is the one thing I can do such that doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?
• Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
  • Less but better.
• Procrastinate on Purpose: 5 Permissions to Multiply Your Time by Rory Vaden
  • Eliminate
  • Automate
  • Delegate
  • Procrastinate
  • Concentrate
  • Interview I had with Rory
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do what We Do in LIfe and Business by Charles DuHigg
  • How habits work (the habit loop) and how to create new habits
• Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal
  • Opposite of distraction is traction (this blew my mind – I thought it was focus)
• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
  • Develop deep work routines to drastically improve your focus while working
• Grit:  The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
  • Grit is about stamina, not intensity
  • Passion is not quite what I thought it was
  • I participated in a 2-month book club on this book
• Time Management Magic: How to Get More Done Every Day and More from Surviving to Thriving by Lee Cockerell
  • Haven’t listened yet, but I have listened to Lee Cockerell’s podcast and have heard many of the principles he has in the book.
  • Lessons he’s learned and fine-tuned while working as a VP at Disney World as well as in other management positions in the hotel industry
• Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
  • Get everything out of your head and on paper
  • “Being creative, strategic, and simple present and loving don’t require time – they require space.”

There are probably many other books or resources I could include in this, but these 9 were readily available on my Audible account.

As you can see, they all relate to time management and productivity in some way, but all from different angles and perspectives.

I don’t have a solid plan on how I’m going to tackle this project or how I’m going to share results with you when I do, but I want to at least take the first step and introduce this to you. I also don’t know what it’ll look like when it’s done, but that doesn’t really matter right now.

Maybe you would even be interested in working with me on this – maybe like a virtual book club or something. If so, send me an email: jr@joshuarivers.net, and let me know that you’re interested in this. If I get enough people interested, we’ll get something started.

Also, let me know if there are any other books you think I should add to this list.

I’m going to have links to each of these books in the show notes, in case you want to check them out.