15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management – Book Review

Published on: Mon 14 January 2019 by Admin

15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management by Kevin Kruse

The Productivity Habits of 7 Billionaires, 13 Olympic Athletes, 29 Straight-A Students, and 239 Entrepreneurs

Score: 7/10

Biggest Takeaway:

1. Stop making to-do lists
2. Touch things only once
3. Only check emails three times a day

Who should read it:

This book is a go-to for people who want to manage their time better and increase productivity. Business owners, team leaders, entrepreneurs and even parents

P.S. Don’t’ forget to read until the end where there’s a chance to win all three books shortlisted from RightTrack Learning 2019/Q4 BookClub!

There are Only 1440 Minutes in a Day

Time pexels watch

“We can never get time back again. Unlike money, it is irreplaceable. Once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.” Kevin Kruse.

At the end of last year, I found myself questioning my productivity. I constantly had an overwhelming to do list, post-its dotted everyone, indecipherable scribbles on random bits of paper, working non-stop all day and then pondering on the way home: “What did I actually achieve today?!”

So I decided to look for a book that could help me rethink the way I managed my time.

This in itself was a challenge. If I couldn’t fit everything in to the day already, how was I going to find time to read a book. The answer: my commute! Making the most of the two hours I spend in the car each day was the first way I was going to make more of the 14440 minutes there are in each day. I signed up to Audible, downloaded the book and off I went; driving and learning at the same time.

Three Game Changers

Learning blog

What I loved most about this book is that each chapter focuses on just one thing and although I didn’t find all the tools useful, the ones that I did have dramatically improved the way I work and manage my day. I now leave work with a sense of satisfaction that I have achieve my goals for that day.

The three most powerful tools for me have been:

1. To use my outlook calendar and block my time; getting rid of to do lists and post-it notes. Now I know exactly what I am doing, when and what capacity I have to fit in other things
2. To only touch things once; how many times have you opened an email, read it and left it in the inbox to come back to later? Then before you know your inbox is bursting and you still haven’t dealt with any of it. Now, I either deal with it immediately (if it doesn’t take long) or block time in my calendar to deal with it later. (I now look at my inbox with anticipation rather than with dread!)
3. Don’t think about time, think about energy; sitting at your desk from the time you arrive to the time you leave might make you feel like you are productive, however Kevin Kruse quite rightly points at that our energy levels dip and it is important to take regular breaks throughout the day to re-energise. Breaks don’t need to be fixed, everyone is different and if I need to a quick 5 minutes or a walk around the block to refresh and re-energise that’s fine and from experience, I know that it works! (Check out Dan Pink’s ‘When’ book review for more about the importance of taking breaks!)

15 Secrets

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One thing to point out is that when listening to an Audible book, it can be difficult to remember everything that you have listened to. However, this book usefully summarises each chapter at the end and provides a website link that leads to ‘A Quick Start Action Plan’ including infographics, posters and worksheets as well as summary sheet of the 15 secrets (which I would refer to more as tips than secrets, but hey!)

#1 Invest in the 1440 minutes in a day
#2 Set daily priorities
#3 Don’t use to do lists
#4 What can you do now to plan for the future
#5 Time-block priorities the end the day guilt free
#6 Use a notebook to capture what’s on your mind
#7 Only check emails three times a day
#8 Avoid lengthy meetings
#9 Say no to everything outside of your goal area
#10 Follow the 80/20 rule
#11 Delegate or outsource
#12 Work themes for days to focus on major areas
#13 Touch things only once
#14 Have a consistent morning ritual
#15 Don’t think about time, focus on energy

Competition Time

For a chance to win all 3 books shortlisted from RightTrack Learning 2019/Q4 BookClub share one of these the three book reviews on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook and tag RightTrack Learning.

The books are:

  1. ‘The Power of Habit’ by Charles Duhigg
  2. ‘When’ by Dan Pink
  3. ‘15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management’ by Kevin Kruse