Singletasking


Book Description

“Can literally double your productivity and performance overnight. This may be the most important book on time and personal management you will ever read.” —Brian Tracy, international bestselling author of Eat That Frog! Your mind can’t be two places at once. Too many of us have become addicted to the popular, enticing, dangerously misleading drug of multitasking. Devora Zack was once hooked herself. But she beat it and became more efficient, and you can too. Zack marshals convincing neuroscientific evidence to prove that you really can’t do more by trying to tackle several things at once—it’s an illusion. There is a better way to deal with all the information and interruptions that bombard us today. Singletasking explains exactly how to clear and calm your mind, arrange your schedule and environment, and gently yet firmly manage the expectations of people around you so that you can accomplish a succession of tasks, one by one—and be infinitely more productive. Singletasking is the secret to success and sanity. “Devora Zack shows us how doing one thing at a time reduces stress, increases efficiency, and produces higher quality results. If you want to work smarter, not harder, read this book!” —Ken Blanchard, #1 New York Times-bestselling coauthor of The One Minute Manager® “Don’t let Zack’s lighthearted tone fool you—Singletasking is backed by hard science, and this book’s pragmatic advice can really change your work and your life.” —David Bach, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Automatic Millionaire “Zack shows readers how they can manage the expectations of others, unplug from technology (at times), and operate in the moment.” —Library Journal




Summary of Devora Zack's Singletasking


Book Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 You are a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad multitasker. I know you’re thinking, I’m not a bad multitasker, or perhaps I’m really good at multitasking. For example, I simultaneously: Respond to an e-mail Send an e-mail Call my mom Call my sister Call my client Call my friend Call my boss Call my wife Call my mom again! I once read that C-list celebrities are known for their ability to perform many tasks at once. Typically, I think the items on the C-list are: Call C-list celebrities and ask them to perform tasks for you. -> Multitasking is a myth. We try to tackle several tasks at once, but in reality, we fail at both and end up with nothing done well or at all. We are constantly disrespectful to the people right in front of us. #2 Multitasking is a myth. We try to tackle several tasks at once, but in reality, we fail at both and end up with nothing done well or at all. We are constantly disrespectful to the people right in front of us. #3 Don’t multitask. It makes you lose focus, causes you to be impolite, and is unproductive. Blocking the flow of information into short-term memory decreases your ability to accomplish tasks. #4 We can’t multitask. We can only task-switch, and that is not the same thing. Attention is limited to one task at a time.




Networking for People Who Hate Networking


Book Description

Shows how the networking-averse can succeed by working with the very traits that make them hate traditional networking Written by a proud introvert who is also an enthusiastic networker Includes field-tested tips and techniques for virtually any situation Are you the kind of person who would rather get a root canal than face a group of strangers? Does the phrase working a room make you want to retreat to yours? Does traditional networking advice seem like its in a foreign language? Devora Zack, an avowed introvert and a successful consultant who speaks to thousands of people every year, feels your pain. She found that most networking advice books assume that to succeed you have to become an outgoing, extraverted person. Or at least learn how to fake it. Not at all. There is another way. This book shatters stereotypes about people who dislike networking. Theyre not shy or misanthropic. Rather, they tend to be reflective - they think before they talk. They focus intensely on a few things rather than broadly on a lot of things. And they need time alone to recharge. Because theyve been told networking is all about small talk, big numbers and constant contact, they assume its not for them. But it is! Zack politely examines and then smashes to tiny fragments the dusty old rules of standard networking advice. She shows how the very traits that ordinarily make people networking-averse can be harnessed to forge an approach that is just as effective as more traditional approaches, if not better. And she applies it to all kinds of situations, not just formal networking events. After all, as she says, life is just one big networking opportunity - a notion readers can now embrace. Networking enables you to accomplish the things that are important to you. But you cant adopt a style that goes against who you are - and you dont have to. I have never met a person who did not benefit tremendously from learning how to network - on his or her own terms, Zack writes. You do not succeed by denying your natural temperament; you succeed by working with your strengths.




Managing for People Who Hate Managing


Book Description

Professional success, more often than not, means becoming a manager. Yet nobody prepared you for having to deal with messy tidbits like emotions, conflicts, and personalities—all while achieving ever-greater goals and meeting ever-looming deadlines. Not exactly what you had in mind, is it? Don't panic. Devora Zack has the tools to help you succeed and even thrive as a manager. Drawing on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Zack introduces two primary management styles—thinkers and feelers—and guides you in developing a management style that fits who you really are. She takes you through a host of potentially difficult situations, showing how this new way of understanding yourself and others makes managing less of a stumble in the dark and more of a walk in the park. Her enlightening examples, helpful exercises, and lifesaving tips make this book the new go-to guide for all those managers looking to love their jobs again.




Networking for People Who Hate Networking


Book Description

Shows how the networking-averse can succeed by working with the very traits that make them hate traditional networking Written by a proud introvert who is also an enthusiastic networker Includes field-tested tips and techniques for virtually any situation Are you the kind of person who would rather get a root canal than face a group of strangers? Does the phrase “working a room” make you want to retreat to yours? Does traditional networking advice seem like it’s in a foreign language? Devora Zack, an avowed introvert and a successful consultant who speaks to thousands of people every year, feels your pain. She found that most networking advice books assume that to succeed you have to become an outgoing, extraverted person. Or at least learn how to fake it. Not at all. There is another way. This book shatters stereotypes about people who dislike networking. They’re not shy or misanthropic. Rather, they tend to be reflective—they think before they talk. They focus intensely on a few things rather than broadly on a lot of things. And they need time alone to recharge. Because they’ve been told networking is all about small talk, big numbers and constant contact, they assume it’s not for them. But it is! Zack politely examines and then smashes to tiny fragments the “dusty old rules” of standard networking advice. She shows how the very traits that ordinarily make people networking-averse can be harnessed to forge an approach that is just as effective as more traditional approaches, if not better. And she applies it to all kinds of situations, not just formal networking events. After all, as she says, life is just one big networking opportunity—a notion readers can now embrace. Networking enables you to accomplish the things that are important to you. But you can’t adopt a style that goes against who you are—and you don’t have to. “I have never met a person who did not benefit tremendously from learning how to network—on his or her own terms”, Zack writes. “You do not succeed by denying your natural temperament; you succeed by working with your strengths.”




The Cactus and Snowflake at Work


Book Description

This hilarious and profound workplace guide proves the rigorously rational and the supremely sympathetic can meet in the middle and merge their strengths. Readers will discover how blending with their opposite opens the pathway to being their truest selves. Carl Jung's personality typology introduced the distinction that Feelers (who lead with their hearts) put more weight on personal concerns and the people involved, and Thinkers (who lead with their heads) are guided by objective principles and impartial facts. This book calls them Cacti and Snowflakes—each singularly transcendent. But can people with such fundamentally different ways of making sense of and engaging with the world work together? Yes, says Devora Zack! The key is not to try to change each other. Zack says we can directly control only three things: what we say, what we think, and what we do. The best use of our energy is to focus on our own reactions and perceptions rather than try to “fix” other people. This book includes an assessment so readers can learn where they are on the Thinker/Feeler spectrum—and because it's a spectrum, readers might well be a snowcactus or a cactusflake. Then Zack helps them figure out where other people might be, guiding them through a myriad of modes of communication and motivation based on personality type. She includes real-life scenarios that show how to nurture one's nature while successfully connecting with those on the other side. As always, Zack fearlessly and entertainingly dispels myths, squashes stereotypes, and transforms perceived liabilities into strengths. And she once again affirms that, like chocolate and peanut butter, we are better together.




The Myth of Multitasking


Book Description

"A fresh take on the problem of time wasters in our corporate and personal lives, "The Myth of Multitasking" will change your paradigm about what is productive and what is not."--Hyrum Smith, co-founder, Franklin Covey.




Work the System


Book Description

A Simple Mindset Tweak Will Change Your Life. After a fifteen-year nightmare operating a stagnant service business, Sam Carpenter developed a down-to-earth methodology that knocked his routine eighty-hour workweek down to a single hour—while multiplying his bottom-line income more than twenty-fold. In Work the System, Carpenter reveals a profound insight and the exact uncomplicated, mechanical steps he took to turn his business and life around without turning it upside down. Once you “get” this new vision, success and serenity will come quickly. You will learn to: • Make a simple perception adjustment that will change your life forever. • See your world as a logical collection of linear systems that you can control. • Manage the systems that produce results in your business and your life. • Stop fire-killing. Become a fire-control specialist! • Maximize profit, create client loyalty, and develop enthusiastic employees who respect you. • Identify insidious “errors of omission.” • Maximize your biological and mechanical “prime time” so that you are working at optimum efficiency. • Design the life you want—and then, in the real world, quickly create it! You can keep doing what you have always done, and continue getting mediocre, unsatisfactory results. Or you can find the peace and freedom you’ve always wanted by transforming your business or corporate department into a finely tuned machine that runs on autopilot!




Networking for People Who Hate Networking, Second Edition


Book Description

Would you rather get a root canal than face a group of strangers? Does the phrase “working a room” make you want to retreat to yours? Devora Zack, an avowed introvert and successful consultant who gives presentations to thousands of people at dozens of events annually, feels your pain. She found that other networking books assume that to succeed, you have to act like an extrovert. Not at all. There is another way. Zack politely examines and then smashes to tiny fragments the “dusty old rules” of standard networking advice. She shows how the very traits that make many people hate networking can be harnessed to forge an approach more effective and user-friendly than traditional techniques. This edition adds new material on applying networking principles in personal situations, handling interview questions, following up—what do you do with all those business cards?—and more. Networking enables you to accomplish the goals that are most important to you. But you can't adopt a style that goes against who you are—and you don't have to. As Zack writes, “You do not succeed by denying your natural temperament; you succeed by working with your strengths.”




Making it All Work


Book Description

The author of Getting Things Done makes recommendations for altering one's perspectives in order to see life as a game that can be won, offering suggestions for handling information overload, achieving focus, and trusting oneself while making decisions. 125,000 first printing.