Come Up for Air

How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work

By: Nick Sonnenberg

Narrated by: Nick Sonnenberg

Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Read by the author with audiobook-exclusive commentary.

The practical guide to go from "drowning in work" to freeing up an extra business day per week for everyone on your team

“There just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done!” Sound familiar? Forget the old concepts of time management and the hustle culture of working until you burn out. You and your entire team can get more done, in far fewer hours, with the right blueprint. Come Up for Air is that blueprint.

Through years of building a leading efficiency consulting business, Nick Sonnenberg has discovered the primary reason why so many teams are overwhelmed. It's not because they don’t have enough time, managers expect too much of their employees, or there aren’t enough people. The problem is that everyone is drowning in unnecessary work and inefficiencies that prevent them from focusing on the work that actually drives results.

In Come Up for Air, you’ll discover the CPR® Business Efficiency Framework, a proven system for leaders, managers, and teams to maximize their performance and reduce overwhelm by using the right tools in the right way, at the right time. The end result? More output, less stress, happier employees, and the potential to gain an extra full day per week in productivity to use however you’d like.

You’ll learn the proven empirical strategies from someone who not only turned his company around when it was on the verge of bankruptcy, but has also helped thousands of organizations around the world become more efficient and leverage the right systems and tools for explosive growth. Come Up for Air is the employee manual you never received.

Turn to Come Up for Air to:

• Gain an extra full day per week in productivity for everyone on your team.
• Reduce stress and burnout by creating a more stable work environment.
• Eliminate the 58% of employee time per day spent on “work about work” instead of being productive.
• Improve company culture by empowering your team to spend their time on work that matters.
• Save an average of two hours per week just by optimizing email with the R.A.D. System.
• Stop wasting time on the “Scavenger Hunt” of trying to find where information is stored.
• Increase employee happiness, satisfaction, trust, and retention by making work easier.
• Stop wasting time in meetings with four proven techniques.

A quiz and accompanying figures are included in the audiobook companion PDF download.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Nick Sonnenberg (P)2023 HarperCollins Leadership

The book I wish I had 10 years ago

When I was burned out at my other corporate jobs going on a scavenger hunt, trying to find information in archaic old systems…it was exhausting. If you’re looking to get your team to align on tools and systems so you can actually breathe and do the work that brings you the most joy…this is the book you need. No questions asked.

Fantastic read!

Nick has done an incredible job distilling a ton of information into this wonderfully written book! Thank you!

Game-Changing Read

When my boss first told our team about the contents of Nick's book, we were so excited. We are thought that this is was exactly what we needed. Come Up For Air is an incredible resource and tool that is designed to help anyone looking to be more productive, efficient, and simply have more joy in the workspace. My entire team has read Come Up For Air and our office has completed transformed. It has been a game-changer. Thanks, Nick!

I benefited from this book

I benefited from this book.
But certain things are sort of obvious, and already heard on other books, like the concept of okr, for example, he just changed the name.
The idea to use these tools and give proper attention to them itself pays my investment on time and money.
Some of the resources he mentioned I did not find in his website.

Leveraging automation is a game changer

I received an early copy of the book from Lee Brower and it was so powerful I immediately bought the audible version and sent copies to my team.

Nick's book nailed the concepts and outlined the exact steps for how companies should be operating in today's world. There are so many forms of technology and understanding how to properly utilize them to streamline our businesses and to create efficiencies provides a HUGE advantage on the competition. I immediately put our team into motion on rolling out the missing pieces in our company. I've also referred this book to every business owner I know.

Time is our most valuable asset that should be protected at all costs. Coming Up for Air is the best gift you can give yourself, your team and your clients. EXCELLENT work putting together this information Nick. This book will impact so many businesses and lives in such a powerful way. Thank you!

Very actionable

I got a lot of miles out of this book. It was the perfect manual for the stage I’m at operationally in scaling my business. I’ll be working from my notes for the next few months to implement and I see the changes affecting the coming years of my business.

Another quick note, this book was very clarifying for me in separating the signal and noise surrounding tools. There is an infinite variety but at least this gives you a framework for how to use and what to use tools for. That simplifies things a lot.

Lots of practical tips for teams and individuals

Excellent efficiency and productivity booster! I'm going to recommend it to anyone who wants to tune up their teams and insist on it for any mentee who has yet to make a habit of valuing their time.

Nick does a great job, some age old wisdom applied to a brand new world!

I comment as a business owner who has 40 + years involved with building companies of various sizes working with a team of 6 to 600. Nick presents methods that take both new ideas and age old wisdom, and practically applies them to the ever growing complexity and fast changes of todays world. His disciplined practical well thought out approach can be applied at many levels and intensity’s, and the implementor of the various actions he recommends will benefit, No Doubt! Just the extra time each day/week/month available as “thinking time” that does occur…validates what Nick calls” banking future time” .I bought copies for my team and it’s what we use .
Steve Goldbloom- Goldbloom Wealth Management LLC

Insightful Strategies with Room for Streamlining

Come Up for Air by Nick Sonnenberg offers a treasure trove of productivity strategies, with his breakdown of CPR Framework (communicate, plan, and resource) and processes being pure gold. Sonnenberg’s insights are invaluable for anyone seeking to optimize their workflow and regain control of their time.

Sonnenberg delves deep into various techniques, providing practical advice that can be implemented immediately. His emphasis on CPR is particularly enlightening, offering a systematic approach to evaluating and refining processes for maximum efficiency.

However, I must deduct one star due to the book's length. While the content is undeniably valuable, the extensive narrative contradicts the concept of efficiency that Sonnenberg advocates. Additionally, the excessive focus on the "inbox zero" concept feels redundant and drawn out.

In comparison to similar works like The Replaceable Founder, where Ari Meisel efficiently breaks down concepts in a fraction of the time, Sonnenberg's repetition and prolonged explanations seem unnecessary. While his ideas are commendable, a more concise presentation would enhance the book's impact. I actually only listened to this book because of what Meisel said about him, but I much prefer Meisel's style.

That being said, I do recommend this book if you have the ability to push aside the superfluous information. There is a lot of hidden gold. Come Up for Air is a commendable resource for those seeking productivity enhancement strategies, albeit with room for streamlining its delivery. Sonnenberg's insights are valuable, but a more condensed format would better align with the efficiency principles he advocates.

If you're reading this: Buy. This. Book.

With wit, wisdom, and a wholehearted passion for helping people harness ultimate productivity, Sonnenberg delivers a roadmap for radically reimagining the solutions to ever-present and elusive efficiency challenges inherent to growing successful teams and businesses. Whether you're an entrepreneur, COO, intern, or anything in between -- this book is only going to make you better.