We all desire to be better at everything that we do. We want to work harder, play better and even love deeper. One way to do this is to increase your focus. By doing so, we are able to have more attention on our work and produce better quality results. Another way to perform at a higher level is to be more productive. This allows us to complete much more work in a shorter period of time. How can we achieve both of these? Here are 20 books that will teach you how to enhance your focus and productivity.
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
Many of us find ourselves in a situation where we sit down to work and then get totally distracted by factors such as social media, our emails, applications or even games. This prevents us from working effectively. Cal Newport indicates how to work without getting distracted in his book, Deep Work. The book has direct and no nonesense guidelines on how one can maximize their cognitive ability and improve their focus. The tips are direct and delivered in a no nonesense method.
The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less
According to the Pareto Principle, 20% of the efforts we make drive 80% of our results. Written by Richard Koch, the 80/20 principle explains this principle in detail. This book shows us how to produce high quality results in a short period of time. It shows you how to maximize your productivity even when you have few resources. By focusing on exactly what you are good at and outsourcing the rest, you can maximize how productive you are and transform your output for the better.
Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating
With a very interesting title, this book shows us how to maximize our productivity. Written by Brian Tracy, it is an entertaining yet highly educative read. It has 21 different strategies to maximize your output. The most outstanding of these is that you should begin your day by eating your frog. This is the most important task of your day. This is the one that has the most positive effect on your life. Brian encourages us to complete thus task with no hesitation because if you had to eat a frog, it wouldn't be a good idea to stare at it for too long. Other concepts in the book include single tasking and the rule of forced efficiency.
The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right
The professionals of today are faced by so many tasks on a daily basis. These tasks can overwhelm them. The results of being too overwhelmed include making errors. The author indicates that some of these errors can cause losses even in terms of life. Written by Atul Gawande, the Checklist Manifesto shows us how to maximize our focus by creating checklists of the tasks that we have to do and then following them. This book can help you to maximize your focus and promote efficiency.
The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting
Highly recommended for working professionals, this book is the ultimate guideline on how to be productive. Written by Peter Drucker, the book shows professionals how to do what other people overlook and also avoiding the work that is not productive. He also encourages professionals to outsource the tasks that are not essential to business processes. Peter goes on to support results over effort. In addition to that, he shows you how to create a proper mindstate for the generation of results.
The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up
Author Marie Kondo has come up with a method of living that is known as KonMari. In her method, you simply look at everything you own and vet it. Does it bring you joy or not. If it does, keep it. Otherwise, you throw it away no matter what it costs or who gave it to you. In her best selling book, Marie indicates that this will transform your life and make your mental and emotional space better. In this way, you can promote your focus by cleaning up your working space.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Do you want and in-depth method of getting rid of all the tasks that overwhelm you currently? This is normally done through promoting productivity. David Allen is the author of this book and he helps you to get your tasks done effectively and in time. He writes the book based on one major concept. Every job has its own special place and time. The key is knowing where and how to do each one. The book has three sections that give you an overview, explain the process and then give you the benefits of the process. David is a legitimate coach for productivity today and his book is a reliable guideline.
The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the Essential...in Business and in Life
To maximize your focus in anything, the main activity that you should conduct is to ensure that you deal with only the essentials. This principle can be applied in both business and life. Like many other self help books, this one is divided into two main sections. The first one shows you how to simplify your life and set limits. After that, the second one shows you how to manage the tasks that you have chosen. By giving you gems on how to get organized in effective, simple guidelines.
The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results
The key to maximum productivity is to identify a task and then pursue it relentlessly. In this book, the author shows us how to do exactly this. There is only one way to know your true potential. This is by picking one thing and going full force on it. This book shows you how to do this. The main point is to get rid of all the distractions that could be plaguing you. After you do this, you can now succeed in your family or professional life.
Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way
No matter how many books on productivity you read, it all comes down to serious work. Many people are unable to achieve their true potential because they are not willing to do the hard work. Author Steven Pressfield indicates that it is not about seeking better ideas or getting more time. It is all about getting past the initial resistance and staying committed to a specific path of action. Are you currently handling a major project and you want to become more productive in it? This is the book to read.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
Written by Stephen Covey, this is a book that can help you to become exceptionally focused in your work. This results in being effective at what you do. Sought by presidents, CEOs and even students, this book helps you to declutter your life and develop efficiency. By helping you to develop a methodology to your activities, this book assists you to focus and excel.
How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day
Leonardo Da Vinci is most famous for painting the Mona Lisa. He is also known for his inventions and genius level knowledge. He is well known for having hundreds of inventions and planned projects. How did he do it all? Da Vinci mastered the art of productivity. If you want to be as productive as he was, this book by Michael Gelb is an excellent read.
The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Habits are the recurrent behaviors that we engage in on a daily basis. Some of them are beneficial and others are negative. This book looks at what they are, how we make them and how to change them. In the first section, you get to learn how to change your habits by focusing on them and making the changes. The book is written by Charles Duhigg and emphasizes focus.
Getting Results the Agile Way: a Personal Results System for Life and Work
Written by J.D. Meyer, this book is all about productivity. It shows you how to get results instead of focusing on the activities or processes involved. It shows readers how to set goals that are flexible and the tasks that are involved. By changing your perspective on work, the book helps you to be oriented on the final products instead of the process.
The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal
This book has been written after extensive research on athletes and performers. The authors observed that athletes perform best when some factors in their lives are well controlled. For example, professional athletes normally manage their energy on a daily basis. In this way, they stay highly productive. Not only does this book show you how to increase your productivity, it shows you how to maintain high energy throughout your daily life.
The Willpower Instinct: How Self Control Works
By using conscious self control, you can boost your focus on daily tasks. You can also actually promote your health, business and other responsibilities in your own life. The author is known as McGonigal and they indicate that willpower can be used to promote one's focus in daily activity. The book contains guidelines about how you can increase your focus.
The Power of Story: Change Your Story, Change Your Destiny
This book shows you how to promote and enhance your productivity. It shows you how to identify your mission in life and stay motivated to pursue it. The guidelines in this book are straightforward and easy to apply in life. The principles given by Jim Loehr in this book are ideal for boosting your productivity and ensuring your life story is one of success.
Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Getting Things Done
Written by David Allen, this book is a collection of stories of wisdom that indicate how you can increase your productivity. The book indicates the activities that you need to engage in for ypu to maintain focus on your life and work for the purpose of success. It is a sequel for another book by the same author that is known as Getting Things Done.
The Now Habit: a Strategic Program to Avoid Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play
Procrastination is one of the most common negative habits that we deal with today. This Habit is well known to be a major time waster. It prevents us from focusing on the key activities that we should engage in every day. This book has tips and tools that you can use to get rid of this habit. With this in check, you can focus better on the activities that you have planned for your day.
Thinking Fast and Slow
Last but not least is this amazing book, the author who's a very accomplished psychologist shares with us all of the secrets of our minds. Throughout this book you'll learn about the two "systems" that we all live with in our minds. You'll literally be able to take back control of your decisions and behaviors. This one is a highly suggested read for anyone who's interested in taking back control over his/her powerful mind.
The Important Take Away
If you can increase your productivity and your focus, you can achieve literally anything you desire. The list above contains books that can help you to be as productive as you can. read them and learn how to get closer to your goals.
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