Most of us, if given the choice, would prefer to go things the easy way rather than the hard way. It’s human nature; why make thing more difficult for yourself if there’s some way to avoid it, right? But life doesn’t work that way, unfortunately. For many things, particular difficult to control things like time management, there is NO easy way, and we simply need to confront the difficult task ahead of us. Sometimes, we just need a kick in the pants.
No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs
Summary
No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs opens with a Preface, introducing the goal of the book (to help entrepreneurs change their relationship with time, leaving them with more of it), and introducing Dan Kennedy and his accomplishments to justify taking his advice. Chapter one looks at how to set your monetary and time goals, looking at how to value an hour of your time, so you don’t do anything that isn’t worth at least that much.
Chapter two looks at time vampires, the people and things that prey upon your time and leave you with less of it available. In particular, it looks at meetings and trivial issues raised by employees, and discusses ways to cut down the amount of time they consume (if not eliminate them completely). The third chapter covers ways to get rid of common interruptions in your life, from refusing to accept incoming phone calls when first made (and returning them, if necessary, at your convenience) to setting time limits on all your communications.
The fourth chapter stresses the importance of being on time with all your meetings. Kennedy stresses the connection he’s noticed between punctuality and honesty in other business dealings, and stresses the need to drop your interactions with those who aren’t on time to meetings with you (and being punctual to your own meetings if you don’t want the same to happen to you). The fifth chapter stresses self-discipline, noting how being self-disciplined can draw respect, money, and yes, if done right, leave you with more time available for your purposes.
Chapter six covers ten methods to make the most of your time and leave yourself in the best time management situation. These suggestions include everything from minimizing your number of meetings to living ‘off-peak’, doing everything possible at times when few other people are active. Chapter seven looks at turning time into wealth, reaching a point where you have enough money coming in that you can spend most, if not all, of your time doing what you want to do, not merely what you need to do.
The eighth chapter looks at traveling, particularly business travel, and how to limit the time (and aggravation) involved in that travel. Between vengeful wishes against airline executives and stories of horrible trips, there are numerous suggestion about how to limit the time you spend at the airport, away from places you could be getting work done. Chapter nine looks a how to handle the information overload facing us each day, with the opening part of the chapter covering how to ‘shovel’ through the magazines, books, and newsletters we all generally face. There are also plenty of advice on how to organize and manage the ideas you face, including suggestions on how to specialize (but not too much) in a few areas to limit how much information you need to digest.
The tenth chapter looks at how to delegate the tasks in your business to those other than yourself, to decrease the amount of time and effort you need to invest in your business. It goes further in this concept, getting into how you should strive to render yourself completely dispensable, and then enjoy the time you free up. The eleventh chapter covers several random points of time management not worth, as Kennedy notes, of their individual chapter. From maintaining a sense of urgency in what you do to using your home office effectively, several points that don’t fit smoothly into any other chapter are covered.
Chapter twelve looks at some of the psychological issues involved in productivity, from learning some of your psychological triggers (for productivity or the lack thereof) to a short introduction of Feng shui and its affect on how much you accomplish. Chapter thirteen looks at why so many people don’t accomplish much in their entrepreneurial efforts, looking in particular at the common sense of entitlement among so many groups (giving plenty politically incorrect examples to prove the point). It stresses the need to do a lot in order to get a lot, and to make sure your efforts are aimed at the bigger picture, rather than focusing on tiny matters.
The fourteenth and final chapter looks at some commonly asked questions about productivity and time management, providing Kennedy’s best answers to the questions. The book finishes off with some books and other sources recommended by Kennedy (including his own books), and provides the introduction to two of his other books, No B.S. Business Success and No B.S Sales Success.
Pros
No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs is exactly what it says, a take-no-prisoners guide to getting your work under control and controlling your time. Most of the suggestions are quite sound, and the firm delivery makes for a forceful impact of the message. The accomplishments of the author make the message that much more impressive and likely to stick, and the casual and humorous delivery helps the material covered to actually stay in your mind when the book has been put down.
Cons
The politically incorrect portions are more than a little off-putting. Most of the material covered here is covered in other time management sources, frequently in more detail that discussed in a 160 page book (not counting promotion of other books). There are also plenty of promotions in the book: for other books, websites, and seminars, making some portions of the book read more like marketing campaigns.
Overall
No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs
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