Organizing Your Day, Felton and Sims

Quick book review. Great for college/just out of college folks in particular.

Felton, Sandra, and Marsha Sims. Organizing Your Day: Time Management Techniques That Will Work for You. Grand Rapids, Mich: Revell, 2009

I found Felton and Sims' Organizing Your Day to be extremely helpful because of its careful detail and focus on real practicality. If you've read any of the more popular books on time management, you'll recognize some of the tips and processes, but likely find plenty to help you think productively about your time. The book is organized into 24 short chapters, which lets the reader easily pick and choose the ones that speak to her particular challenges. Each chapter includes about three page-long "case studies," which can help the reader to diagnose her own biggest problems with organization and time management.

The chapters cover the challenges of multi-tasking, goal setting, project management, procrastination, interruptions and time-wasters, behavior changing, physical organization, and more. The book taught me to build more efficient work habits into a daily routine, and to think concretely about my responsibilities and how my work environment can both help and hinder those. For example, I schedule projects that require higher concentration for the quietest times around the office, and work on more routine tasks during the times of day that have more interruptions. I've stopped working on projects chose to the due date, and instead work on them during the "appointments" that I make for them. It's made a great difference in my stress level and my productivity. Felton and Sims take the reader through all the questions one might ask about the work environment, the nature of one's projects, personal and personality-based challenges with productivity, and personal habits.