18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction and Get the Right Things Done

Published by Hachette UK Audio

The most important business/self-help book since EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE and THE ONE-MINUTE MANAGER. Unabridged edition, written and read by Peter Bregman

How often do you get to the end of another long and frantic day and wonder why so many important things didn't get finished? We've never worked so hard and felt so unproductive and unfulfilled.

18 MINUTES takes this challenge and turns it on its head. Peter Bregman, top HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW columnist and global management consultant, shatters the myth of getting it all done by offering a clear and simple plan for getting the right things done.

He shows how the best way to fight distracting interruptions is to create productive ones ourselves, a practice that can be easily implemented in 18 minutes a day. The result is a simple yet comprehensive approach to managing your life a year, a day, and a moment at a time so that your life moves forward the way you want and at the pace you want.

Written and read by Peter Bregman

(p) 2011 Hachette Audio

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette UK Audio
• Release date: Dec 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781409132752

Reviews for 18 Minutes

[ffortsa · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I normally avoid self-help books, except when they are short, cheap and may have a nugget or two to help me get organized. This was all three - although I'm not sure I can implement any of the suggestions without flash-cards pinned to my wall.

[jacobusp_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There are many books in this general category (i.e., How to Transform Your Life to Get Things Done, etc.). It's hard for me to find many things that aren't already out there -- David Allen's Getting Things Done is a good example, and is even quoted in the book. I've read enough of these titles that I wish I had just read a summary of this one -- there are a couple of gems in the later chapters worth finding, but the rest seemed to be a fresh packaging over material I've already seen.

[amandabock-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I saw him speak at AASL in the fall. I find his ideas compelling and helpful.

[melanielgarrett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I hesitated in my choice of star rating for this book. I would say I personally got 10 stars of value out of it. However, for a book about finding one's focus it didn't half go on. It felt to me that the information conveyed in 253 pages could have been easily, and perhaps more usefully, condensed into half this number. It's all very folksy. If you are the sort of person who likes to have five examples illustrating the same point so you can get there yourself, then you will love this. Me, I just like to be told the point.

Having said this, I did find it to be the most useful of all the time management books/systems I've ever read about. Just reading some chapters made me feel more organised.

I'd definitely look for more of what Peter Bregman has to offer.

[amimariscal · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book starts slow but revs up in the middle and finishes with a bang. I have read about many of the subjects Peter Bregman covers otherwise I would probably have liked it even more (since the ideas would seem revolutionary)... Bregman does a great job tying together ideas of social economics, strengths & weaknesses positive psychology and productivity in a way that I have never seen done. The ideas are backed by scientific studies and he resummarizes the information tying it into the next concept in a way that makes all the information easier to remember.

[deldevries · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not the typical time management book. Written with a story telling focus in short chapters. Nicely organized around annual focus, daily plans, and ideas for distractions from yourself and others.