Mind Management, Not Time Management

Productivity When Creativity Matters (Getting Art Done)

By: David Kadavy

Narrated by: David Kadavy

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

You have the TIME. Do you have the ENERGY?

You’ve done everything you can to save time. Every productivity tip, every “life hack”, every time management technique.

But the more time you save, the less time you have. The more overwhelmed, stressed, exhausted you feel.

“Time management” is squeezing blood from a stone.

Introducing a new approach to productivity. Instead of struggling to get more out of your time, start effortlessly getting more out of your mind.

In Mind Management, Not Time Management, best-selling author David Kadavy shares the fruits of his decade-long deep dive into how to truly be productive in a constantly changing world.

Quit your daily routine. Use the hidden patterns all around you as launchpads to skyrocket your productivity.

Do in only five minutes what used to take all day. Let your “passive genius” do your best thinking when you’re not even thinking.

“Writer’s block” is a myth. Learn a timeless lesson from the 19th century’s most underrated scientist.

Wield all of the power of technology, with none of the distractions. An obscure but inexpensive gadget may be the shortcut to your superpowers.

Keep going, even when chaos strikes. Tap into the unexpected to find your next Big Idea.

Mind Management, Not Time Management isn’t your typical productivity book. It’s a gripping listen chronicling Kadavy’s global search for the keys to unlock the future of productivity.

You’ll learn faster, make better decisions, and turn your best ideas into reality. Buy it and start listening today.

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

©2020 David Kadavy (P)2021 David Kadavy

Personal story intertwined with productivity stuff

1.⭐️5 star for the productivity tips and systems. Great observations, if I want to apply some productivity system on branched creativity world, I would 1 use Davids.
There are some nice tips, observations and connections, which would probably be more digestible separately:
Great point that state of mind/attitude matters much more in certain areas then time frame (and maybe in much more then we think).

2. Davids Personae and a bit of mine
I think that being a great writer is still only Davids dream and wish, but maybe in the future he will really become one with all this tools he prepared for this journey. For now he is not for me in comparison to others - even in the self help category, but they dont say they are writers about themselfs constantly. David should decide if he want to present those tools, himself and his life or some actual creative work (personaly I would present those parts separately). I think he dont have that much talent for writing, so it takes more work, but it is a bit presented like he was already there. That does not say he didnt created a good podcast or is not a good graphic designer or dont have interesting life - his narative about himself just dont corelate with the reality in my eyes (I dont know all Davids work - to this time I read Heart To Start, this book and Davids newsletters, heard some podcast episodes). David is a bit narcicistic self obssesed control freak (at least a little bit) with his ego and reason is to create a legacy in books (and other creative work). A am actually very similar, so Davids life is kind a study for me, some narative triggers me for the same reason and some projection could be present too. For the same reason I like to donate by buying Davids books (donate because I think the price is relatively high for the actual extent, but thats debatable) and I hope Davids journey will be really successful at the end (especially for him). Being the same type as me, I think David have same tendency to overstructure things and life as me, but I think he is dealing better with it - in that he is my example. David reminds me that writer from Easy series (on Netflix) for whom everyone was his his therapist... Anyway, I am staying his fan.

3. Precision versus creativity
Some examples (or stories from Davids life) wasnt really needed and was redundant in my opinion. Some neurology stuff (like short term memory) should have been explained with more scientific precision when they were used like they were in the book. I think there are combined relatively precise scientific findings with authors personal views and experience - thats not necessary for the point or productivity, but I would like it declared. Thats the problem of trying to write productivity - more science, practical based book with artistic depiction of ones life. It would be better separated (I think). Now its all about David with adjunct creative productivity advice.

4. Personal story intertwined with productivity advice.
As I mentioned at poing 1 for the productivity advice I would give 5 stars - despite in some points its more good collection (and connection) which was already said in other forms. So if they would be only the productivity stuff (with real life examples, thats not a problem), I would give 5 stars in self help category. I would even give 5 stars if there were a separate, more detailed Davids life story book in the category memoirs/personal stories. But in this, a bit chaotic, combination, its ⭐️4 stars for me overall, maybe a little less (but I am counting other Davids works that adds up to this book).

Someone’s story

-it might be of some help to a specific audience: writers
-it feels like I heard description of how someone likes to plan their work; the planning felt quite tedious and not reproducible. Idea of some habit forming techniques are better described in other books.
I had a hard time finishing the book, would not recommend.

Not much new, just daily routine

I don’t think you should take my reviews if you are new to personal development, it may be good for you. For me it was just repeating and reading the author daily tasks and routine. Not much new. Boring for me.

Excellent perspective shift on creative work

As a software engineer who has had a habit of consuming TONs knowledge while not producing anything outside of work besides philosophical conversations with friends and a bunch of half completed projects, this book gave me the perspective shift I needed to write my first blog post.
More importantly, it gave me the feeling I can do more creative work at a reliable rate. The words started flowing easily. I was shocked to find out I'm capable of writing more than todo lists and lines of code.

Excellent for creatives

I really enjoyed reading this book.

It highlights why some work seems impossible to focus on and complete at certain times, and why it is easy at others.

There are definitely a number of takeaways for me that I will work to apply in my life.

If you have creative works that you generate this is likely to appeal to you more. If you can use some abstract thinking, which that in of itself is creative, then there are many parallels that can apply to almost all jobs.

great

very interesting. I had already learned to do some of these things to keep track of tasks. but I liked learning how to do it better.

Guidelines for creative genius

Great to hear the author's methods for producing content in his own words and voice. Been following his work since Design for Hackers and this gives us insight into how that and subsequent works came into being. Frequently tasked with producing creative works, I'm still beginning to experiment with the techniques discussed, but I'm optimistic they will help.

If you’re REALLY looking for a break through

A little slow, but it’s for a reason. Could you up to understand the concepts of what he’s trying to teach.

Would be great book if it was half the length

While there are valuable insights and recommendations in this book, they are overshadowed by painfully long and useless, repetitive anecdotes of authors’ life experiences.

Couldn't relate with daily job

Nice testimonial on author's journey to organize for writing a book and other creative work. But hard to apply.

Awful voice

Couldn’t get past chapter 1.

His voice is too grating. Un-listenable.

Bought book instead.

Enjoyed for unexpected reasons…

More than anything I learned about mind management or the creative process, this spoke resonated with me because of David’s travel writing! How liberating to hear of that somebody else knows what it’s like to bang their head against the wall in a Latin American country time and again. A very well captured account for extranjeros… Thanks David, writing from Lima, Peru

Some interesting parts

Some interesting parts scattered among personal stories, worth another listen for the sake of what I did not get because life happens to butt in.