Find More Time: How to Get Things Done at Home, Organize Your Life, and Feel Great About It

By: Laura Stack

Narrated by: Gabrielle Gold

Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

You have a sink full of dishes to wash, three loads of laundry to do, 17 bills to pay, 36 e-mails to answer, a big stack of novels on the nightstand you would love to read, and zero minutes of free time. You cannot add more hours to the day, but Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro, will help you make the most of the time you do have and get things done. She will enable you determine what you have under control and where you need to improve. Are you good at managing your bills but don't have time to exercise? Do you get your kids to all their activities but end up constantly behind on laundry? Stack shows you how to improve every area of your life.

Find More Time will help you organize to reduce stress and create and sustain a productive home environment, so you will have more time to enjoy life. Whether you need help with just a few things or your life is totally out of control, Find More Time will help you organize your space, time, chores, projects, paper, bills, children, errands, and information. The book identifies eight pillars, or "factors", of personal productivity that support successful, productive lives. Each pillar is a chapter, and the first letter of each factor starts with the letter P: Plans, Priorities, Personality, Pests, Possessions, Paper, Post, and Play. Listeners can determine their own Productivity Quotient (PQ) by answering 10 questions per factor. Find More Time today!

©2006 Laura Stack (P)2011 Laura Stack

Good book - not great in audio format

If you could sum up Find More Time: How to Get Things Done at Home, Organize Your Life, and Feel Great About It in three words, what would they be?

Good information but a quiz and lengthy list of suggested names of files to be set up in your filing system make this book better suited to experiencing in hard copy than in audio book format.

What aspect of Gabrielle Gold’s performance would you have changed?

The reader needs to slow down and calm down a bit. She raced through the material like an over-caffeinated cheer leader. Using the half-speed setting on my iPod didn't help because when I did that the audio took on a weird echo quality. The chiripy delivery interferred somewhat with my ability to identify with the organization challenges and solutions in the book.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Despite my critical comments, I'm glad that I've "read" the book, although I wish I'd have gotten this one in hard copy. There are nuggets of helpful info in this book and they will probably be different for each reader, depending on the areas in which you want the most help with organizing your time, possessions and activities. The author delivers on providing practical ways to get organized.

Any additional comments?

A few of the systems suggested -- like doing a detailed analysis of why one item on your to do list always gets pushed to the next day (which analysis only leads to the conclusion that it's okay to let low priority items carry over to another day) -- are overkill.

Almost couldn't finish it...

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

but I did so that I could justify writing a review. This book might perhaps best be enjoyed by the manufacturers of the many products Ms. Stack pushes in page after page. I have never heard so many brand names and web site addresses in my life. I have to wonder if she was paid for product placement.

What could Laura Stack have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I would have appreciated hearing some anecdotes and examples from some source other than her family. Her kids' chore list, their favorite dishes and toys, the cute thing they said at church, etc. Also there was one long list after another, which maybe worked better in print but was a disaster in audio. I think I came closest to deleting the rest of the book unheard when the narrator rattled off an entire grocery store layout.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I actually checked the speed on my iPhone because I was sure it had gotten set at 2X. Nice for getting through the many lists but a major detraction otherwise. There was little variety in her delivery---a touching or humorous story got the same inflection as a list (!) of what to keep in the glovebox. The chapters seem to be divided into many confusing sections and sub-sections, the titles of which all had to be announced rapidly whenever we started a new one. Again, (maybe worked better in print.)

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment. Wish I'd saved that credit. Either of the David Allen books, as another reviewer suggested, would be much more useful.

Less Ranting and Complaining more Information

I would recommend "Getting Things Done" by David Allen instead. While the author of "Find More Time" does give some helpful tips, she really doesn't say it better or offer more information than Allen. Reading Allen's book you will also save yourself from wading through unnecessary and irrelevant angry rants about people you don't know. If you really care that she thinks her "friend" is a disgusting slob for not throwing away stained dish clothes or that her brother is the devil for not wanting to spend his free time with her kids that she herself complains about throughout the entire text, then this one may be for you afterall.

Really hit home.

Like a step by step guide on how to prioritize your life. Great resource for women who work inside the home. SAHMs need to be organized for themselves AND their family. I love the anecdotes she uses because I can really relate. Listen to it over and over.

disappointment

I was very disappointed. tips were common sense and not helpful at all. i was hoping for better step by step insights but author did not deliver