8 Productivity Books To Read Your Way To Success

Dr. Ankit Sharma, PhD

11 months ago

A fantastic productivity book is an ideal ally in the pursuit of peak efficiency and time management proficiency. Regardless of your experience level or where you are in your journey, productivity books may provide invaluable strategies and insights to support you in achieving your objectives.

Time is not on our side. Even if everyone gets 24 hours in a day, there are moments when it feels insufficient. But productivity isn’t about time; it’s about the outcome, and some individuals can produce more in less time with no trouble at all. Are they privy to information that the rest of us are not?

Some Popular Productivity Books

1. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

Countless little things, such as social media, phone calls, and sporadic ideas and occurrences, divert us from what matters, making it difficult for us to focus. Because we’re addicted to fast dopamine, we can’t bear boredom and spend all of our spare time doing worthless things like scrolling through our screens.

Because of this, even when our minds are intensely concentrated and capable of coming up with the most amazing ideas, we never enter a state of flow. In his Productivity Book, Newport emphasizes that you may become a highly productive person who enjoys your job if you can work “deeply,” manage your time well and exercise willpower.

2. The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

This one of the Best Productivity Books is centered on one idea that produces remarkable outcomes. It discusses how we often split our focus between many projects and concepts, making it difficult for us to give any of them our whole attention. However, if we focus all of our concentration on one important task, we will do it effectively and move on to the next.

The book opposes multitasking since it is not the greatest choice for the human brain, as shown by scientific research. To get exceptional outcomes, get rid of anything that is not necessary and rank the items that are left by asking yourself, “What is the most important?”

It is among the greatest books available for time monitoring and productivity. Do you doubt that engaging in low-impact activities is a waste of your time?

3. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown

We are under a lot of pressure from society to accomplish everything; we have too many options and too much knowledge, and we are supposed to do it all. But when we attempt to succeed by adhering to this impossible standard, we doom ourselves to failure. We must have the ability to set priorities to achieve the goals that are important to us.

The idea behind McKeown’s “essentialism” approach is to identify what is essential to you and then get rid of everything else. Three basic facts form the foundation of essentialism:

You decide to take action.
A few things are important.
Anything is possible for you, but not everything.

Living by essentialism entails making thoughtful decisions and using your resources wisely.

4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

The premise of this self-help book is that we are all products of our perceptions. Because of this, to alter the circumstances, you must first alter your perspective of them and focus on improving your inner motivations and character. A positive mental paradigm transforms challenges into opportunities, while a negative one causes you to perceive the world in dismal hues.

Although society dictates that independence is the highest achievement, the seven habits Covey outlines in the book are meant to help you transition from a dependent to an independent and ultimately interdependent state.

This is because only interdependence—that is, working with others—can lead to maturity and great outcomes. According to Covey, success is about more than simply fame or fortune; it’s also about personal development and helping others.

5. Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt

It’s not necessary to cram more and more activities into your calendar to be productive. Instead, you should decide for yourself what your top priorities are, making time for the important things and putting a stop to any interruptions or diversions.

In actuality, multitasking lowers your productivity, even if it may seem like a fantastic talent. Your energy level decreases as a consequence of working longer and being restless. You may experience persistent tension. In this sense, inattention results in nonpoor decision-making, which lowers the caliber of your output. Productivity is the exact opposite of this.

Hyatt provides a three-step strategy (stop, cut, and act) in his Productivity Book that may help you do more with less effort. You pause to inhale deeply, consider your objective, and then choose what is and is not significant.

After that, to make practical use of your time, you fire employees who aren’t needed and assign or automate certain jobs. At last, you begin working on the valuable chores.

6. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time by Brian Tracy

The premise of the book is that if eating frogs is your job, you should eat them first thing in the morning, and if eating two, you should start with the largest one. The greatest strategy to overcome procrastination, in the author’s opinion, is to tackle the most difficult chores first.

Important advice is provided in the book to assist readers, including how to use technology, plan, divide large activities into smaller ones, and be conscious of the implications. Key quote: Putting forth extra effort to complete a task that didn’t need to be done is one of the worst ways to spend time.

7. Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

In the hopes that they can help you discover your own, millionaire Ray Dalio offers the ideas that have guided his success in both life and business in this book. This one of the Best Productivity Books teaches you how to uncover strategies that can help you succeed and is all about finding the truth and making decisions.

While values help you establish who you are and what matters to you, Dalio contends that they are impractical when faced with difficult choices. You must act, and by using principles, you can lay out a plan of action that will get you where you want to go while still being consistent with your beliefs.

Incorporating his path with over 500 principles, he breaks them down into higher-level, mid-level, and sub-principles. Additionally, he offers a 5-step approach for achieving your goals.

8. How to be a Productivity Ninja: Worry Less, Achieve More and Love What You Do by Graham Allcott

Many methods and applications claim to be able to assist you reach amazing production levels, but the issue with these claims is that they are unachievable. Superheroes don’t exist; therefore, you can’t take on 100 things at once or sleep for a few hours every day and still be productive. But ninjas do.

The word “ninja” originally referred to practitioners of Japanese martial arts. Alcott interprets it differently, using it to characterize knowledgeable individuals with a laser-like focus.

Ninjas are composed and can refuse. They’re unorthodox and willing to take chances. They are quick to react to threats and seize opportunities because of their agility. However, because consistency rather than perfection is what they strive for, it’s alright if they aren’t flawless.

Alcott describes in his Productivity Book how anybody can become a productivity ninja by using the appropriate methods, such as creating lists of things to accomplish and ideas to write down, using time management strategies like “pomodoro,” and monotasking.

What Makes Productivity Books a Smart Choice

It turns out that folks in the US read very few books these days. According to a recent survey, over 26% of Americans acknowledge that they haven’t even skimmed a book in the previous year.

Nevertheless, if you have the opportunity to read a Productivity Book this year, choose one that focuses on sharpening your productivity; it will help you become more efficient both at work and in your personal life. Additionally, they often provide tactical, easy-to-digest advice as well as practical, immediately applicable ideas and methods.

Overall, reading books geared towards productivity is a wise use of your time, but it also benefits your mental health: According to a University of Sussex research, reading may cut stress by 68%. Not too terrible, huh?