The only time management book you’ll ever need to read

15successful2_final_kindle-e1439588423197I would be shocked if “manage my time better” is not on the New Year’s resolution list of nearly every small business owner and solopreneur. And possibly near the top of the list. Time management is such a perennial challenge that a whole industry has grown up around it, with books and seminars galore.

I know I’ve sat through several workshops hoping I’d learn how to get the poor time management monkey off my back. I have been a habitual procrastinator ever since high school and college, where I rarely started to write an essay or term paper until the day before it was due. As you can imagine, this turned out not to be such a good habit once I chose writing as my career. I’ve only been saved by the fact that I’m a fast writer…I have to be!

Well, I have excellent news if you, too, have issues with time management. New York Times bestselling author Kevin Kruse recently released a new book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management, and I guarantee this is the last book on time management you’ll ever need to read. I only wish I had discovered Kruse’s valuable advice much earlier in my career; I am certain my work life would have been significantly less stressful.

Kruse combines extensive research into time-tested methods of productivity and organization with his own business experience building and selling several multi-million-dollar companies. He includes advice from internally known entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban and Richard Branson, along with tips from Olympic athletes and successful business owners.

While introducing new angles to time management, Kruse debunks a few traditional ways we structure our workday, including to-do lists, which, as we all know, add stress and more stress to our days as they inevitably get longer and longer. As Kruse shows, truly successful people don’t use to-do lists; they run their lives via their calendars instead.

Kruse’s goal is to not just keep you focused, but also relaxed enough to enjoy the pleasures work can provide. He provides the keys to work-life balance that we all desperately want but too few of us actually achieve. His writing style is very straight-forward and you quickly feel like he’s an old friend giving you some very helpful and actionable advice. I particularly like that each chapter concludes with how five different types of people can put that chapter’s particular advice to use: entrepreneurs, executives, freelancers, students, and stay-at-home parents.

Kruse is a Forbes leadership columnist and was named as one of the Top 100 Business Thought Leaders by Trust Across America. Throughout his career as a serial entrepreneur, his companies have won both Inc. 500 awards for fast growth, as well as Best Place to Work awards for employee engagement.

15 Secrets is available on Amazon in paperback and for Kindle. Each copy also provides a wide array of free online tools to help form the habits of successful people.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, but the opinions expressed here are solely my own.

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