5 Books to Help Increase Your Productivity This Year
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I think we’ve all set goals or intentions to start the next week, month, quarter, or year, feeling more productive. Whether it’s in our job or working on a side hustle, the feeling of being productive is almost unparalleled. It can make us feel energized, motivated, and feeling like we can do just about anything.
Here are 5 of the best productivity books to read this year.
Atomic habits is such a practical book that can help you in every area of your life. If you think about it, our habits, for good or for bad, can radically change the course of our lives. You’ll also love that the author provides helpful examples, tools, and strategies for creating habits and systems that actually work. This would also be great for a book club so consider getting a few friends or family members together to read and discuss it alongside each other.
Great quotes from the book:
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.
“Be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it.”
The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
This is a book that you’ll find on almost every list of must-read productivity books. And, if you aren’t a morning person, but would like to be, the Miracle Morning will give you the framework you need for structuring a great morning routine. I first read this book about 10 years ago and I still love referring back to it. Also, if the whole routine feels overwhelming at first, you can take it slow and pick and choose the elements from his system that you want to add to your life. Then, you can continue to add more steps over time to find what works for you. Hal also has a great online tribe and big following so you could even find great accountability partners as well.
Great quotes from the book:
“Remember, the moment you accept total responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you claim the power to change anything in your life."
“How you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days- which inevitably create a successful life.”
Flow by Mihaly Cskikszentmihalyi
At first glance, you might not see the connection between a book on flow and productivity. However, if you think about moments of your life where you were in a flow state, you probably achieved more (and had more fun doing it) in a short period of time, compared to other periods of working for long hours with far lesser results. As you think about how to be more productive make sure that you’re not just focusing on tools and tips, but that you’re getting the most of every hour that you put in. In fact, this is honestly one of my favorite productivity-related books and one I hope to read again this year.
Great quotes from the book:
“The best moments of our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times – although such experiences can also be enjoyable if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
“Few things are sadder than encountering a person who knows exactly what he should do, yet cannot muster enough energy to do it.”
Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky
If you’re a visual learner or a creative person, you’re sure to love the drawings and fun pictures in this book and it will certainly be one of your top productivity books. The authors are former Googlers that know what it’s like to have demanding work lives with conflicting outside priorities. If you’re someone that likes to be given lots of options where you can pick and choose what you want, this is exactly what you’ll get with this read. You’ll also find that their tips and tools have catchy names which make the ideas easy to remember and implement.
Great quotes from the book:
“Perfection is a distraction – another shiny object taking your attention away from your real priorities.”
“You only waste time if you’re not intentional about how you spend it.”
You may or may not know that Eat That Frog is considered one of the best productivity books of all time. The basic premise of the book is that you should always begin your day with your biggest task or challenge. This way, you immediately start the day off by feeling accomplished. For many of us, the first few hours of the day are when we have the most energy and focus, so it’s important to make the most of these hours. This is also one of the best productivity books for students, especially if you consider yourself to be a procrastinator!
Great quotes from the book:
“One of the very worst uses of time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.”
“The hardest part of any important task is getting started on it in the first place. Once you actually begin work on a valuable task, you seem to be naturally motivated to continue.”
Now, the next step is to choose one of the books above and buy it, download it on your phone or iPad, or get it from your library. Then, make it easy on yourself by committing ahead of time to a specific time or place where you plan to read. This could be 15 minutes during your lunch break, one chapter before bed, or listening in the car during your commute. Whatever it is, find a time that works for you, and stick with it!