Review: Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business
I’ve been working my way through Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive In Life and Business, the newest book from Charles Duhigg. In 2012, If his name sounds familiar, Duhigg’s The Power of Habit spent 60 weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller list. He’s also had a couple of interviews I’ve passed on to you on the Andy Stanley Leadership Podcast and also the Catalyst Podcast.
Like The Power of Habit, Smarter Faster Better, is a very fascinating and engaging read. Duhigg’s style and format has a Malcolm Gladwell feel; his ideas are drawn from the latest discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics—as well as “the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters—this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don’t merely act differently.”
The structure of the book hinges on eight key productivity concepts that explain why some people and companies get so much done:
- Motivation
- Teams
- Focus
- Goal Setting
- Managing Others
- Decision Making
- Innovation
- Absorbing Data
Packed with true stories and “scientific discoveries that explain that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don’t merely act differently. They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly different ways.”
Smarter Faster Better is both a page turner and a book that will frequently cause you to turn down page corners to be read again later. My copy is very marked up and dog-eared, starred and underlined, pages littered with notes in the margins.
If you’re looking for a book to throw into your summer reading stack, don’t miss Smarter Faster Better. If your job is like mine, if you never seem to be finished with a project or a process at the end of a cay, the takeaways can easily be applied to build productivity.
