Get Everything Done And Still Have Time To Play

I decided that a book review would be helpful.  At some time in the very near future I’d like to offer this as a service.  For now I have enough on my plate though, more about this later. Meantime the book this week is Mark Forster’s, (2000) Get Everything Done And Still Have Time To Play,Hodder and Stoughton, London

  

With some anticipation I was really looking forward to reading this book as I had heard of Mark Forster’s reputation in the time management world and because time management is something I have always been interested in.  I was looking for new information and wasn’t disappointed.

  

This book was published in 2000, in today’s world that seems like a long time.  Much of the world of work has changed considerably due to the advances and availability of post-modern technology.  Which if it were to be believed, should help us to be more efficient.  However I doubt if the word efficient is really on Marks mind when he wrote this book. Like the seminal work The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People (1) the focus is on effectiveness, not efficiency. We can be highly efficient but completely in the wrong direction.

  

Mark focuses on effective time management outcomes such as maximising our enjoyment of work and leisure.  The good manager he says is decisive not impulsive. The key to this book and its main strength is that the author writes from his own experience.  He has tried and tested many of the other time management guru suggestions and basically found them wanting.

  

He doesn’t throw the baby out with the bath water however.  Rather he has adapted common time management techniques to his own style.  And in fact encourages the reader to do the same with his suggestions too.  He clearly practices what he preaches.  Only by dealing with resistance says Forster will his system and others will work.
 
Success he says is got by repeated, consistent, focused action with a bit of hard work thrown in. Do things in short bursts with frequent planned breaks. Add to that potent mixture automated systems to deal with the main culprate which is resistance, aversion, avoidance or the P words procrastination and perfectionism.  Something which according to Burka and Yuen affects 25% of US citizens. (2)

  

The system is based on project check lists, not to do lists (which he says are really for emergencies only), and deal with resistance by using his check system and halving technique (described on pages 120-3) to deal with free flowing activities, e.g. emails, phone calls, letter writing, projects and so forth. This allows a person to keep on track, taking small steps at a time whilst working in short bursts and taking frequent breaks.

  

He says we need to learn to allocate our work time and free time properly in order to maximise the available time and learn to cope with interruptions and emergencies.  One of the basic tenets is simply saying “No” to tasks until you can give the right time and attention to them. By simply removing added commitments, over time we focus on what we need to be working on much more effectively. We can also look at our current commitments and remove the ones that are no longer necessary.  This in itself will result in freeing valuable time and helping us remain more relaxed which is important for effective work.

 

One criticism I would have is that to do the tasks you must use a timer and stick to it rigidly, I think this might be were many people might fall down.  However, this is only for the initial stages, over time as you get more disciplined it is not as necessary to do. Another criticism is that there is no empirical evidence to back up a lot of his theories and principles on time management.  What works for him, may not work for you. I would also have liked to have seen a more updated version, mine was from the local library, with more diagrams and pictures, which tend to make it easier to read.  One positive thought here was that he did have useful summaries (action points) at the end of every chapter.

I found this book to be a very valuable, easily readable and simple steps that when applied would help most people.  I have personally applied several of his key principles and experienced increased enjoyment of what I am doing and the added confidence in completing task on time with less stress.

  

REFERENCES

(1) Covey, S.R. (1992) The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People, London, Simon & Schuster
(2) Burka, J B. & Yuen, L M. (2008)  Procrastination: Why You Do It, What To Do About It Now, Cambridge, MA, USA, Perseus Books Group

 

 

 

 

 

Peace,

 

 

 

Gavin J Gowans