Author:Laura Vanderkam
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast is a powerful book about high productivity from bestselling author Laura Vanderkam.
We're all busy. But we all waste time. What are the secrets of using every hour productively? How do the most successful people spend their time?
In this brilliant accessible book, Laura Vanderkam inspires you to rethink your morning routine and jump-start your day. If you use your mornings wisely, you can build habits that will lead to a happier, more productive life.
She also helps you to rethink your weekends. She explains why doing nothing can be more exhausting than doing something, how to balance work and play, and why Sunday nights are crucial.
Finally she challenges you to make the most of your time at the office. Focusing on matching your to-do list to your natural body clock, she shows you how to maximize your productivity so you can accomplish more in less time.
By blending stories of fascinating people with cutting-edge scientific research, Vanderkam shows us how to maximize our valuable mornings, make the most of our working hours, and enjoy the results with deeply satisfying weekends.
Laura Vanderkam is the author of 168 Hours and All the Money in the World. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, CBS MoneyWatch, USA Today, and Fortune, among others.
...the most comprehensive picture yet of how the company went off the rails. The sheer accumulation of detail makes it possible for the first time to understand how Enron got away with its blend of hubris and incompetence for so long. . . This is more than a business story. It is also about what can happen to any institution when weak and complacent leadership allows itself to be swept along by strong vested interests and the mood of the times.
—— Richartd Lambert, ex editor of Financial Times and member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy CommitteeA leader's most important job is to make good decisions, which - minus perfect knowledge of the future - is tough to do consistently . . . The Heath brothers explain how to navigate the land mines laid by our irrational brains and improve our chances of good outcomes.
—— Inc.The writing is humorous and often surprising . . . coupled with their insightful analyses, the book proves particularly insightful.
—— Publishers WeeklyThis book contains immense practical value that could be transformative for your company. If you have a project that requires people to accomplish, your first act should be to read and be guided by Scrum.
—— Stephen Lundin, New York Times bestselling author of Fish: A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve PerformanceScrum is mandatory reading for any leader, whether they’re leading troops on the battlefield or in the marketplace. The challenges of today’s world don’t permit the luxury of slow, inefficient work. Success requires tremendous speed, enormous productivity, and an unwavering commitment to achieving results. In other words success requires Scrum.
—— General Barry McCaffreyJeff Sutherland has written the essence of Scrum for the masses. In this easy-to-read book, which is filled with lively stories, apt metaphors, and illuminating quotes, Jeff has converted all the ‘tacit knowledge’ he has gained -- as a West Point cadet, fighter pilot in Vietnam, Aikido enthusiast, academic, technology expert, and father of Scrum -- into wisdom. This book elevates Scrum from a fix-it tool to a way of life.
—— Hirotaka Takeuchi, Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business SchoolJeff Sutherland's book masterfully speaks truth to the political complexities that easily stand in the way of getting a lot of work done in the least amount of time. He lays out a doctrine of simplicity, showing -- with surprising insight -- how to categorize roadblocks, systematize solutions, choose action over prolonged study, and retain the important emotional aspects of work that ground meaningful interactions. The busy professionals who’ll likely be drawn to this book will find not only an effective manual for getting things done but, also, a how-to guide for living a meaningful life.
—— John Maeda, Design Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & ByersThis extraordinary book shows a new way to simplify your life and work, increase your focus, and get more done in less time than you ever thought possible.
—— Brian Tracy, bestselling author of Eat that Frog and Time PowerEngaging…Sutherland tackles the problem of the perennially late, over-budget project—and actually shows how to solve it. His fascinating examples of rescued projects will change the way you think and act.
—— Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swap, authors of Deep Smarts: How to Cultivate and Transfer Enduring Business WisdomJeff Sutherland is the master of creating high-performing teams. The subtitle of this book understates Scrum’s impact. If you don’t get three times the results in one-third the time, you aren’t doing it right!
—— Scott Maxwell, Founder & Senior Managing Director, OpenView Venture PartnersJeff Sutherland used the common-sense but seldom-applied principles of the quality movement, user-centered design, and lean development to come up with a process that dramatically increases productivity while reducing employees’ frustrations with the typical corporate nonsense. This book is the best description I’ve seen of how this process can work across many industries. Senior leaders should not just read the book—they should do what Sutherland recommends.
—— Jeffrey Pfeffer, Professor, Stanford Business School and c-author of The Knowing-Doing GapGroundbreaking…Will upend people’s assumptions about how productive they can actually be…Here Jeff Sutherland discloses to the non-tech world the elegantly simple process that programmers and Web developers have been using since he invented Scrum, showing how a small, empowered, and dedicated team can deliver significantly higher quality work at a faster pace through introspection, iteration, and adaptation.
—— Michael Mangi, Senior V.P. of Interactive Technology, Social@OgilvyThis book will change the way you do everything. Even better, it will help you feel good in the process. Just read it, and get more done.
—— Arnold V. Strong, CEO of BrightNeighbor.com, and Colonel, US Army ReserveThis deceptively simple system is the most powerful way I've seen to improve the effectiveness of any team. I started using it with my business and family halfway through reading the book.
—— Leo Babauta, creator of Zen HabitsA rip-roaring read.
—— People ManagementEvery manager should read it.
—— Scottish Business InsiderMakes you rethink the fundamentals of successful management.
—— Flight TimeWhether you’re building schools in a third world country, teaching a classroom full of elementary students, or building websites, Scrum is highly effective because it matches many of the instincts that drive human nature; as Sutherland put it in his book, “Happiness is not complacent. It is a process, not a result.”
—— SpeckyboyIf there was a Nobel Prize for management, and if there was any justice in the world, I believe that the prize would be awarded, among others, to Jeff Sutherland, Ken Schwaber and Mike Cohn for their contributions to the invention of Scrum.
—— Forbes magazine