Author: Morten T. Hansen
Book Link

Given the demands on time, I can always appreciate solid advice when it comes to work efficiency. Being a huge proponent of GTD, and possibly obsessing over it too much, I’ve read quite wide in this genre. However, if a book is willing to give you one insight that can change things for you, then it’s worth reading.

Hansen has gone into the field to conduct a five year study about the success of people in the workplace. I appreciated the academic approach to this endeavour, which confirmed advice that others have written about with only anecdotal evidence.

The bulk of the insight for me was a reminder of something I’ve been hammering at the past few years: work less and obsess. This is in the beginning chapters of Hansen’s work and he articulates it well by calling people to focus on less, but work extremely hard at those few things. It’s the confirmation to other similar styled books including “Essentialism,” “The One Thing” and “Deep Focus.”

The other two chapters of interest were to focus on adding value (rather than achieving goals) and having a learning loop (constant, small, iterative improvements) in place.

The rest of the book, while interesting and having a great narrative to carry it through, didn’t have the same luster for me as the beginning. This may be in part to my deluge of reading where the advice now seems so commonplace, however, I can see it working for someone who may be new to these key insights.

Worth the read for a few insights?

Absolutely.