My favourite time management and productivity book recommendations
Time management and productivity books
There are so many books on time management and productivity that it can be overwhelming to know where to start! There are over 4,000 results on Waterstones website for productivity books, and when I searched Amazon (which I try and avoid as much as possible, but for the purpose of this I thought it would be interesting!) I found over 60,000 results for time management books.
There’s definitely a market for it… most people I meet, when I tell them my niche is time management, have an area of concern regarding their time and use of it. The gap that I see is people’s ability to distill the knowledge that’s available online or in books, and apply it to their own life. It takes dedication to experiment with different techniques (there are lots!), and figure out what works best for you. And that’s where I come in, as a time management coach… where I can help gently hold you accountable as you navigate through it.
Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to read some of my time management and productivity book recommendations…
My favourite time management author
My favourite author in the time management and productivity genre is American writer, Laura Vanderkam. I own at least 5 of her books, maybe 6 even, with a favourite being “168 Hours. You have more time than you think.”
A book to help change your mindset on time
I really enjoyed Oliver Burkeman’s book “4000 weeks. Time management for mortals” which I read a few years ago, and would recommend giving it a read. I would re-read this one, so you know it’s worthwhile picking up a copy.
“Our limited time isn’t just one among various things we have to cope with; rather, it’s the thing that defines us, as humans, before we start coping with anything at all.”
An oldie but a goodie
“Time management from the inside out” by Julie Morgenstern is one I find myself returning to often. It was written in 2000, but is still very relevant today. There are lots of practical suggestions of things you can implement.
A book I often share
Fellow Scottish coach, entrepreneur and now friend, Marie-Claire Donnelly, wrote a book during the Covid pandemic called “It Is What It Is: Universal and everlasting lessons from lockdown”. This isn’t a time management book, but I love MC’s take on SMART goals, which is somewhat related to time and productivity… and it’s this section of the book I often share!
For the business owners
Another author I like is Kate Christie, and she wrote a book “Smart time investment for business” which shares 128 ways the best in business use their time.
“Time is your most precious resource - guard it jealously; leverage it; protect it; invest it with intent and always use it well.”
There are some others I like, but because I listened to them on Audible rather than having a hard copy… I tend to forget about them. Titles like, The 12 Week Year, Atomic Habits and The Compound Effect on in my Audible library.
I also have the biggest book wish list I’ve ever seen (catalogued in my Asana project management tool!) - an exaggeration of course, but there are lots of books still to be purchased! It’s my preference to buy books second hand from wob and then I can highlight paragraphs to my hearts content!
Let me know in the comments if this was helpful, I also have suggested reading for mindfulness, slow living/living with less and personal development that I could share.