Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265402 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-27
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

Waste of Time
Ironically a book on time management and organization takes 72 pages to get to the first time management tip, "focus on tasks that are closest to the revenue line". The first chapters are wordy cliché discussions such as work life balance, develop an entrepreneur mindset...blah blah blah. I found myself skimming the paragraphs looking for any specific original material. She has endless bullet points and numbered lists that are shallow random thoughts that read like a collection of Oprah magazine articles. Even worse are the self indulgent verbose romance novel examples, including this gem from page 165 "A news writer for a national trade magazine, Claire was a five-foot-one dynamo transforming her industry. Working alone, she was a one-women wonder, churning out cutting edge stories from an office as wild as her mane of curly black hair. Claire's eyes sparkled with a sense of adventure, and her face was always on the verge of a huge, warm smile....." This dribble goes on for 3 more long paragraphs. Morgenstern undermines her credibility with these exaggerated fairy tale descriptions. She should purchase a copy of Strunk and White Elements of Style, save us the sophomoric prose and write a 50 page concise, focused time management and office organization book. A terrific alternative is 4 hour workweek by Timothy Ferris which covers many of the same points in a more compelling, concise and convincing manner.

Great For Employees of Small(er) Businesses
Small or large, the tasks and responsibilities every organization must complete to be successful are pretty much the same. But employees of smaller businesses have a wider range of responsibilities than the more specialized staff of larger firms. Small business employees--and their owners--continually are confronted by many more types of tasks requiring attention. Additionally, smaller businesses tend to "run lean" with limited back up if someone is absent. These factors tend to foster an unfocused and inefficient workplace.

This book offers employees in such situations with insights and strategies that show them how to be more productive and efficient. If done well, it will also result in better work life balance and a less stressful workplace.

Two caveats, particularly for management and business owners:
1. Woefully inadequate attention (in this book) to the value of planning as the most effective way to minimize "fires" and "the tyranny of the urgent";
2. No apparent consideration for time and attention necessary for maintaining the culture and values of the company (e.g., customers always come first, or great performance every time or measure twice, cut once, etc.)

New way of e-mailing
"Never Check E-Mail In the Morning" is not about e-mail, it is about time management, self-discipline and productivity in general. The book helps you in self-assessment, helps to embrace your work/life balance, to develop entrepreneurial mindset, to choose the most important tasks, to create the time to get things done, to control the nibblers, to organize at the speed of change, to master delegation, to work well with others and to leverage your value.

Like other popular self-help books, "Never Check E-Mail In the Morning" has no "references" section, which I don't like. Once you have completed this book, you have no direction what to read next. Julie Morgenstern, the author of many time management books and a monthly columnist for O, The Oprah Magazine, and a guest on television and radio programs, probably supposes that you will continue with her further publications.

When the author writes about e-mail and the productivity issues that relate to e-mail, I fully agree with the author. She offers to break counterproductive habits and stereotypes related to our way of emailing. She covers the problems related to e-mail much better that "Hamster Revolution" by Mike Song.

I highly recommend "Getting Things Done" by David Allen and "Time Drive" by Gleb Arkhangelsky in addition to this book.