I've probably already given a good introduction to this weekly book review thingy, so without further do I give you: The Productivity Project - I'll try to keep it brief so that I can mention at least one golden nugget I dug out while reading the book, that shaped up my thinking in ways I totally didn't expect when I dove into it some days ago. It was a new experience for me but I guess that's what is supposed to happen with every decent non-fiction book otherwise you either didn't chose a book that matches your interests/hobbies well or your reading comprehension is not as good as you might think.
Genre: Self-improvement/ Self-help
Aesthetics
Even
though it's less than 300 pages long. The book itself is rather large and thick
due to a material used by a manufacturer. It's not really a drawback because
you get to read it in a larger font with more appropriate spacing that makes it
really easy to follow its formal structure, however, I prefer small, compact
books that take up less space in my backpack as I carry them around.
The
formal structure itself is, in my opinion, marvellous. There is a summary and
estimated time reading attached prior to each chapter, which makes it a
feast for your eyes even if you just skim through the book without
actually reading its contents.
Informative value
There are a total of 25 productivity strategies presented in this book. A
vast majority of them are viable in many situations and they are easily
applicable to one's everyday life once he musters enough courage to proceed
with them and is not afraid to get his hands a little dirty or feel fairly
uncomfortable at the times. The tactics themselves are respectively sorted out
into 7 well thought out categories.
Each
one of them is clearly distinct from the other so there is a very little
information overlap (a phenomenon from which many of books in this genre
lack simply because at times, there is not enough source material for an author
to draw from) throughout a book.
And
finally, the icing on the cake: there is a practical exercise after each
productivity tip. Sounds like a pain in the ass? There is no point in reading a
self-help book if you are not willing to apply (after considering whenever it's
helpful for you) advice written there with the intention to augment your life.
And if you want to apply it, then these exercises are exactly what you need -
no need to scrub your head like a monkey in an attempt to figure out how to
apply theory into practice. Just sacrifice a little extra time so you can get
the most out of this book and you will see where will it take you.
Expressiveness
Chris Bailey uses more informal yet compelling style of writing. He uses
anecdotes appropriately, mostly to describe how he applied a
particular productivity strategy and how did that work out for him.
Description of concepts he explores in the book is concise, yet witty,
eloquent and offering real added value - in some books, you can get away with
just reading a review consisting of golden nuggets extracted from the book
without losing much value, however, this book is surely worth the proper read
to familiarize yourself with concepts presented in it or to dive deeper into
personal motivations/circumstances surrounding author in a time of writing the
book.
Overall feel
The
Productivity Project was an extremely pleasant read and if I had
to recommend myself from the past one book, to stop lying and start accomplishing
stuff, I would probably choose this one. This book is more of an overview
discussing a variety of issues ranging from approaches that might help
you if you have a trouble concentrating to elaborate tips on the
enhancement of your eating regime.
These
kinds of summary books can go both ways. They either serve as a good starting
point to the topic because they enumerate a variety of ideas and
approaches the person can take to improve quality of their lives or they are
just a giant clusterfuck of ideas that leave the reader in a state of
utter confusion upon finishing it. I am happy to say that The Productivity
Project fits into the first category. I consider it a guidebook for anyone who
wants to turn their life around but they just don't know where to start and the
ideas I attained reading it will hopefully serve me for a very long time.
Golden Nugget (s)
This
is the part of a review in which I am supposed to spill out the best of the
best. The hidden gems of a
particular book, that are just waiting to be unrevealed by the reader but I am
not going to do it with this particular book. Why?
Firstly, the review is in my opinion already a little too long to digest
in a one sitting and secondly, I honestly believe that this entire book itself
is a giant golden nugget. I am not exaggerating when I state that, in process
of reading this book, I've never even once felt like I am just wasting my time
or reading something I'll surely not apply in real life. Although if I had to
pick one thing that hit the bullseye for me, it would be to think about why one
wants to be productive because productivity for productivity sake only is
useless. You ought to have a reason that motivates you, to push yourself even
though you would probably get by just fine with the way your life is right now.
For me, it's to explore as many possibilities of life as I possibly can. Life
is but a fatal disease with 100% mortality rate. The question is not if I do go
out - because everybody does eventually - the question is how do I go out on
top of my game.
Hope you
are having a wonderful day
Cheers
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