10 Game Changing Productivity Books You Should Read

Productivity Books

In this digital age we are always on call, always connected and always on the go. Whether it’s in your professional or personal life, staying productive can be difficult.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by your daily work load, doing busy work isn’t going to get important things done, you’ll only be stuck in this never-ending cycle.

To help give you a push to get organized and started, I’ve put together a list of top productivity books that can help you regain your focus and energy.

Toss the excuses aside and learn how to master productivity and avoid distractions. Work smarter and not harder with these top 10 productivity books below (the books aren’t listed in any particular order).


The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris

If you’re looking for a practical way to incorporate work-life balance, The 4-hour Workweek by Tim Ferris will be a great read. This book is filled with more than 50 practical tips on how you can reinvent yourself, real-world templates and innovative tools and tricks that can help you go from overworked to pleased with your daily routine.

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller

The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller

In this national best-selling book by Gary Keller, you’ll learn how to lessen your distractions and increase your productivity, reduce stress and increase satisfaction with your work and personal life. The author highlights techniques that you can use to overcome habits that are blocking your productivity, purpose and priorities.

Overcome the overwhelming feelings and revive your energy by mastering what’s important to you.

Work Simply by Carson Tate

Work Simply by Carson Tate

Have you been struggling with finding the best time-management techniques or ways to make things less complicated than it is? If you feel like you’re taking more time organizing your work than doing it, expert Carson Tate has got a step-by-step guide to help you make your work simple; and in a way that’s best, specifically for you.

In this book, the author talks about 4 different productivity styles and how you can use this awareness to choose the best tools to increase your productivity.

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta

The Power of Less by Leo Babauta will show you how to set limits that will allow you to work less but smarter. The author will demonstrate how to create new habits, polish your focus, how to break down your goals in manageable tasks and more.

This book will help you to identify unnecessary tasks and show you how to eliminate them from your daily life to accomplish your goals.

Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

On of the most popular books on productivity, Getting Things Done will give you a fresh approach to managing your professional and personal life. In the age of multi-tasking and social media this book will give you practical methods to leverage your time.

The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bailey

The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy by Chris Bailey

The author of this book gives you a hands-on real-world account on what he learned through a productivity experiment he conducted in himself. Chris Bailey will teach you the rule of 3, how to schedule less time for important tasks, the 20-second rule to distract yourself, the concept of productivity procrastination and much more.

The author will also give you 25 best practices that will help you implement these methods that will help you not only in your professional life but also your personal life.

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by Jocelyn K. Glei

Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by Jocelyn K. Glei

At the end of the day, you find our that you haven’t completed your priority items on your agenda when you leave the workplace this book is for you. The authors of this book put together wisdom from 20 leading creative minds that comprise of a toolkit that can help you to manage your day-to-day work, minimizing the busy work so that you can do your best work.

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

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

The author Cal Newport doesn’t focus on how terrible distraction is, he celebrates the opposite. Deep work is noted as the ability to focus on cognitively demanding tasks without distractions. With this book, Cal Newport cultivates your habits and thinking with no-nonsense advice, the 4-rules for transforming your mind and habits, along with a collection of readings from Carl Jung, social media pioneers and more.

Achieve the results you want with the “Deep Work” ethics presented in this book.

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future
by Ryder Carroll

The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future by Ryder Carroll

A New York Times bestseller, The Bullet Journal Method is your ideal book to attain an all-around organizational system. The author developed this method not only to organize your tasks but to also create “intentional living” that allows you focus your time and energy on things that matter in both your personal and professional life.

To track your past, order your present and design your future, Ryder will help you to transform your goals and tasks into structured and meaningful actions steps.

If you’re a frustrated List-maker, this book will be a great read.

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

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

According to the author, B. Tracy, eating a frog is a metaphor for completing the most challenging task first so you’ll know that you’ve completed the worst or the most vital task for the day.

This book will give you 21 ways to stop procrastination and get things done in less time – highlighting methods that will show you how to zero-in on critical tasks and finishing them in an efficient and effective way.

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What do you do to boost your productivity?

Do you have any books that you refer to when you need to recharge and revive your work-life balance?

Leave a comment below and let us know what’s on your bookshelf.

Author:
Michael is an avid project controls blogger and is the Chief Learning Officer here at Plan Academy. Michael has taught 1000s professionals how to use project controls software like Primavera P6 over the past 10 years through his online courses and tutorials. Michael is a member of AACE, the Guild of Project Controls and holds his PMP certification from PMI.