Time Tactics of Very Successful People B. Eugene Griessman McGraw-Hill, New York (1994) We are all strapped for time.  This book shows you how to use it wisely for your purposes. Book Review © Dr. Terry J. van der Werff, CMC

We each are given 24 hours a day.  How we use them separates the successful individuals from those who are not.

Dr. Gene Griessman - writer, speaker, university professor, Emmy-award winning producer, and good friend - has written a gem of a book to help you be more effective and efficient.

Fear not!  This is not a time management system with rules to follow.  Rather, it is a collection of time tactics, practical tips that save seconds, minutes, and hours to give you extra time to invest as you please, richly illustrated with examples and vignettes from real life.  These time tactics come from Griessman's lifelong study of the behavior of highly successful people and how they allocate and use their time to achieve so much.

The tactics are ultimately based on two premises.  First, successful people have sharply focussed goals they seek to achieve.  They rank their priorities and put them in writing.  Second, they are always conscious of the value of time and invest it only where it can help them reach the goals they have set.

The chapter titles give you a flavor of the topics covered:

 

	Get a handle on your time
	Get organized
	Increase your efficiency
	Shortcuts
	Find hidden time
	Learn to focus
	Pace yourself
	Avoid procrastinatio
	Avoid time-wasting activities
	Don't let others waste your time
	Enlist others to save you time
	Invest time to save time
	Plan ahead
	Use technology that works
	Balancing work, family, and social life

Not all the tactics will be equally applicable to you.  Indeed, some are even contradictory.  Pick and choose what works for you.  Here are some that have proven particularly effective for me:

	Consider your time more valuable that anyone else's.
	Set priorities.
	Ask yourself: "Will doing this help me reach some important goal in my life?"
	Schedule a specific time for each task on your to-do list, just as you would a meeting.
	Highlight and annotate what you read, for easy reference later.
	Use templates for routine correspondence and customize them appropriately.
	Have something to do while you wait.
	Ask yourself: "Is there an easier way to do this?"
	Create routines to tap into the rhythm of work.
	Don't just do it now - finish it now!
	Know when to cut your losses and stop investing your time.
	Sometimes good enough is good enough.
	Be decisive.
	Don't adopt other people's monkeys.
	Tip in advance.
	Learn to let some things go.
	Become an expert.
	Think it through, then follow through.
	Handle a piece of paper once or put it into a specific file for later action.
	Have a plan B.
	If it's not worth doing, be sure not to do it!
	Give yourself prime time.

Do yourself a favor.  Buy and absorb this book.  Your life will be better for it.

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For convenience, you may order this book from:     amazon.com  Barnes & Noble

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