Describe your latest book/project/work. I've been studying the life and work of photographer W. Eugene Smith for 13 years. My first book (Dream...
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Most of my friends and clients describe me as highly organized, but I have never felt that way. I have always felt as if I were spending far too much effort on being organized and far too little on accomplishing meaningful work. I had read and followed the traditional time management books. I thought they worked well, and that the problem was in my execution. Then, while looking at Firefox extensions, I ran across a Gmail organizer based on David Allen's Getting Things Done. I installed it and played with it. Within a few hours, I actually had an empty inbox and was getting things done. At that point, I realized there were ideas here that were new to me. I read the book. Since then, I've seen some very critical reviews of the book by people who either missed Mr. Allen's point or whose lives are not complicated enough to require a lot of organizing. I do marketing work for 10-12 book publishers at any given time, so my life is busy, and I have to get a lot done while quickly shifting from project to project. I like Getting Things Done. It works for me, and it works for my friends in engineering as well as for my friends in marketing. It works for people who have a lot to do. The worst criticism I have seen of GTD is that it is obvious and too simple, but for those of us who enjoy life by taking on more work than we can handle and by always pushing ourselves, it's great.
I highly recommend it, and actually am on the Powell's site so I can have copies shipped to some friends.
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(11 of 15 readers found this comment helpful)
This book was recommended to me by a friend after I described some of my typical reactions to loud, public places. We were at a library conference, and I was exhausted by the mercury vapor lighting and echoing vibrations of conflicting boom boxes repeating children's songs in some of the exhibit booths. I have avoided exhibit halls, shopping malls, casinos and other highly stimulating environments all my life because they wear me out. I can stay out of casinos and shopping malls by choice, but because of my work exhibit halls are something I just have to live with. Some people enjoy them. They exhaust me.
My friend told me about Too Loud, Too Bright and when I read it I was amazed to find that I was not the only person to suffer from overstimulation. Further, I recognized some of the signs of sensory defensiveness (the author's term) in my friends and family. Heller's explanation of the neurological basis for sensory defensiveness, and her well-researched list of ways to calm the nervous system in order to better tolerate stimulating environments, have helped me a lot. I am a reasonabily intelligent person and fairly calm by nature, but noisy, bright places unnerve me. Yet, those are the places where I need to be at my best. Having tools to calm my nervous system so I can function in them has helped me do my work better as well as enjoy life more.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels tired or flustered by noisy, bright environments or who finds tight clothing or itchy labels seriously annoying. I also recommend it to the parents of children who have trouble dealing with too much sensory stimulation.
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(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)
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Customer Comments
Peyton has commented on (2) products.
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
Peyton, August 24, 2008
Most of my friends and clients describe me as highly organized, but I have never felt that way. I have always felt as if I were spending far too much effort on being organized and far too little on accomplishing meaningful work. I had read and followed the traditional time management books. I thought they worked well, and that the problem was in my execution. Then, while looking at Firefox extensions, I ran across a Gmail organizer based on David Allen's Getting Things Done. I installed it and played with it. Within a few hours, I actually had an empty inbox and was getting things done. At that point, I realized there were ideas here that were new to me. I read the book. Since then, I've seen some very critical reviews of the book by people who either missed Mr. Allen's point or whose lives are not complicated enough to require a lot of organizing. I do marketing work for 10-12 book publishers at any given time, so my life is busy, and I have to get a lot done while quickly shifting from project to project. I like Getting Things Done. It works for me, and it works for my friends in engineering as well as for my friends in marketing. It works for people who have a lot to do. The worst criticism I have seen of GTD is that it is obvious and too simple, but for those of us who enjoy life by taking on more work than we can handle and by always pushing ourselves, it's great.I highly recommend it, and actually am on the Powell's site so I can have copies shipped to some friends.
(11 of 15 readers found this comment helpful)
Too Loud, Too Bright, Too Fast, Too Tight by Sharon Heller
Peyton, December 11, 2007
This book was recommended to me by a friend after I described some of my typical reactions to loud, public places. We were at a library conference, and I was exhausted by the mercury vapor lighting and echoing vibrations of conflicting boom boxes repeating children's songs in some of the exhibit booths. I have avoided exhibit halls, shopping malls, casinos and other highly stimulating environments all my life because they wear me out. I can stay out of casinos and shopping malls by choice, but because of my work exhibit halls are something I just have to live with. Some people enjoy them. They exhaust me.My friend told me about Too Loud, Too Bright and when I read it I was amazed to find that I was not the only person to suffer from overstimulation. Further, I recognized some of the signs of sensory defensiveness (the author's term) in my friends and family. Heller's explanation of the neurological basis for sensory defensiveness, and her well-researched list of ways to calm the nervous system in order to better tolerate stimulating environments, have helped me a lot. I am a reasonabily intelligent person and fairly calm by nature, but noisy, bright places unnerve me. Yet, those are the places where I need to be at my best. Having tools to calm my nervous system so I can function in them has helped me do my work better as well as enjoy life more.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who feels tired or flustered by noisy, bright environments or who finds tight clothing or itchy labels seriously annoying. I also recommend it to the parents of children who have trouble dealing with too much sensory stimulation.
(0 of 1 readers found this comment helpful)