Book Review: Time Rich by Steve Glaveski

I remember listening to a podcast interview with Steve Glaveski where he talked about 'being in flow' and how artists and other creative people struggled with time management because they needed to be in the 'flow state' to do their most creative work.

The 'flow state' is basically being on such a roll with whatever you're doing you don't want to stop just because your diary says you've scheduled something else for the next 30 minutes.

I don't remember too much from the podcast but it really resonated with me so much that I immediately ordered a copy of Steve's second book, Time Rich - Do Your Best Work, Live Your Best Life that he was promoting at the time.

To cut straight to the bottom line, probably one of the most disappointing books I've read in quite a while. Which is not to say the content is bad, it's just the title and blurb information, in my opinion, completely misrepresents what the book is about.

There is a strong suggestion of individual self improvement right from the subtitle "Do Your Best Work, Live Your Best Life" but virtually the entire first half of this 292 page book spends much of its time explaining how organisations routinely waste their employees time with unnecessary meetings, poor decision making, rigid work structures (probably... I don't know, I got so frustrated with how long Steve spends demonstrating how everyone's time is being wasted).

Then, when the book does start getting into the detail of becoming 'time rich' it still focusses on this, mostly, within the context of working within an organisation. This is a book about what you can do to streamline your time and your team's time so they can worker smarter rather than harder.

The concept of 'flow state' is covered in chapters 3 and 4, over about 20 pages, and really just explores what it is and ways to foster it within your own work day. Beyond that there is no big idea about flow and how to really use it to your advantage.

As a creative person, I can tell you, when I'm in flow on a project, everything else gets pushed to the side. Consequently all those things not getting done start to build into an overwhelming to do list. Hence why I thought Steve's book may have some insight on managing 'flow'.

The solutions this book offers on becoming time rich are not revolutionary or new. Automating mundane tasks, delegating better, only having people at meetings who actually need to be there, looking after your health etc. It's all useful information, even for solopreneurs like myself but there's no real focus or system to it.

Steve presents you with a bunch of things to try that you can sort of pick and choose what works for you if you can be bothered, or remember them. There are tasks to complete at the end of each chapter to put the things you've read about into practice, but who ever does those on the first read through?

The book also relies heavily on quotes and research from a whole range of people and organisations to illustrate various points, which is fine but in the later chapters I felt I was just jumping from quote to quote rather than reading original thoughts and ideas from the author.

I think what really killed it for me was the chapter on Productivity tips and tricks (6 pages). It leads with to-do lists, followed by the Pomodoro Technique...

The Pomodoro Technique is the enemy of being in flow. If you're not familiar with it, you set a timer for anywhere between 15-40 minute cycles. At the end of each cycle you take a five minute break. At the end of four cycles you take a longer break of 15-30 minutes, then start the sequence again.

I've tried the Pomodoro technique (there are even free apps devoted to it of which I downloaded one to my phone). Once you're in flow, even 40 minute cycles is too short. As a result you start skipping breaks so you don't break your flow. Once you've skipped several breaks in row, are you even using the Pomodoro technique anymore or are you just working how you always have?

I find the Pomodoro technique to be both distracting and stressful. There's never enough time to get what you're doing done inside a single Pomodoro but you'll still try anyway. I tried the Pomodoro method for several months. It wasn't anymore productive for me.

Anyway, Steve's book. If you're running a small to medium size business, or a team of any kind, there's probably a lot of useful information here for you. If you're a solopreneur, like me, maybe the chapter on automating tasks is going to be the most useful for ways to maximize your time.

If you're looking for a cohesive system to maximise your productivity, to give you more time, this book isn't that. Especially if you're an organisation of one. Maybe that can be the focus of Steve's next book? Developing a productivity system that allows for flow while still getting everything else done too.

* This article contains Amazon Associate commission links that help keep this site free.

Comments

How to Transfer Any Line Art to Your Griptape - Easy Skateboard Griptape Art Tutorial

Dog Star Griptape Art by TET Griptape art is once again gaining popularity amongst modern skateboarders. For those of us who have tried to create our own griptape art, using paint pens, you'll know reproducing your design onto the grip, without making any mistakes is incredibly challenging. Mostly because you just have to go for it and draw the design freehand, with paint pens, directly onto the griptape. You can make the odd mistake here or there but if you get the proportions of the design completely wrong, it can be very difficult to fix. Often you just have to live with the mistake. To address the problem I've come up with an easy way anyone can transfer a line art design to their griptape, removing almost all the anxiety of getting the proportions wrong. In fact, you could do this with any line art design, even if you have no drawing skill at all. Watch the video below to see my technique in action and/or skip past the video where I highlight the basic steps to get your de

Skateboard Trick Tips: Two Ways to Ollie North (Ollie One foot)

You have to be quick to see my Ollie Norths! Ollie One Foots, otherwise known as the Ollie North, is one of those skateboard tricks you learn and then tend not to do very much as more interesting trick challenges grab your attention. However it does look really cool if you learn how to kick your front foot well past the nose of your skateboard. Still shot from Braille Skateboarding's Ollie North tutorial. I was inspired to make my video below, showing two different techniques to achieve a successful Ollie One Foot, when I not only saw that Braille Skateboarding's Tutorial used a different method to the one I had learned but also, when I looked at various other video tutorials, I discovered yet another technique, with no one using the method I had originally learned. Braille's method is to simply Ollie and drag your front foot past the front of your board. The second method I came across in several video tutorials is to Ollie, drag your front foot and tap your

Celtic Festival, Kapunda 2007

My first visit to Kapunda, Australia's oldest mining town, was to experience one day of a three day event, the 32nd Annual Kapunda Celtic Festival. Blonde Rose and I attended the second day which was a Saturday. As far as Celtic Festivals go, this one had a Celtic flavor but my impression overall was that this could have easily have been a Town Festival. Largely because many of the market stalls and some of the performing artists weren't specifically 'Celtic' themed. That said, I didn't get to see all of the Celtic performing artists such as dancers, singers and more. Perhaps if I had I would've been left with more of a Celtic experience. Don't get me wrong, I was not disappointed with the festival at all. Kapunda is an exceptional town with a lot to see. Which is why I didn't see all the entertainment. Too busy looking in local art galleries and exploring the excellent basement Kapunda history display at the Visitor Centre, as well as the basement mu

The Braille Skateboarding App - How it Changed My Mind on Switch Skating

My Profile on the Braille Skateboarding App. Braille Skateboarding launched it's new Skateboarding App worldwide on November 23rd, 2020. About a month prior to that they did a 'soft launch' via email for anyone living in Australia. I'm guessing this was to give the app a final test in the real world before launching it proper. Rather than explain what it is, watch Aaron Kyro, founder of Braille Skateboarding, run you through the app in the launch video below. In a nutshell the app is virtually everything Braille has to offer accessed right from your phone, from tutorials to the Braille Army Community. The app is free but you can unlock more features if you upgrade to a paid membership. Braille App Trick List. One of the apps unique free features is keeping track of the tricks you've learned and giving you an overall score so you have some way to measure your progression. There is an extensive list of tricks, covering all types of skateboarding, categorized by diff

A Practical History of How The New World Order is a Global Cycle and Where We Are Now According to Ray Dalio

Still from Animation, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order by Ray Dalio When you hear the term 'The New World Order' which is somewhat interchangeable these days with 'The Great Reset' your mind may tend to wander to global conspiracy theories and The World Economic Forum (who I've previously established as so evil they don't even hide what they're doing). While I don't put much stock in what people think the WEF is doing (as opposed to what it actually is doing) there is such a thing as 'The New World Order' that can be demonstrated as a reoccurring construct of change throughout history. Ray Dalio , the founder, co-Chief Investment Officer and co-Chairman of Bridgewater Associates , which is a global macro investment firm and is the world’s largest hedge fund, is also connected to the WEF (so must be up to no good), has written a book, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order (Amazon Affiliate Link), in which he

How to Start From Nothing - a Video by Sorelle Amore Finance About Starting Any Kind of Business

Sorelle Amore. It's the million dollar question for many people wanting to start a business who feel they don't have the knowledge, money, skills, time, or all four, "How do I start from nothing?" If that's something you want to know too then the video below by Sorelle Amore , an Australian photographer and social media entrepreneur success story, who is most known for literally writing the book on how to take an #AdvancedSelfie, has an answer well worth considering. Just in case you feel advice from a professional selfie photographer couldn't possibly be meaningful Sorelle's journey to financial freedom in just two years is well worth looking into. One takeaway for me is that at age 28 she was broke, but turned things around and was a millionaire by age 30. While that's an exceptional result of quite a lot of hard work, writing books, building courses, and more, what it says to me is, it's possible to be financially secure in less than two years

Discussion Retrospective.

One of the oddities of internet forums is that discussions can be preserved long after the interest of the participants is over. My partner and I met up with some online forum friends recently at a local restaurant. Most of them we've known for years but hadn't met in person until now. At this event I was reminded by two people about a forum discussion that I remember having but couldn't for the life of me remember the actual details of what I'd said. However, it must have been profound and informative because three people recalled it and at least one had thought it interesting enough to copy the discussion and show it to people not involved with the forum. I still couldn't remember the exact details despite the subject being a pet topic of mine. Afterwards I went home and looked up this discussion on the forum. It took a little bit of finding because it was buried in the archives. Turns out this was a discussion that took place nearly two years ago. No wonder I

TET.Life (The Extraordinary Tourist Life)

Search This Blog