Reviews
"As a busy mom who also works part-time outside the home, I am always on the lookout for any tips that will help with productivity, time management, and focus. As with most books in the genre, I began Claire Diaz-Ortiz's Design Your Day simultaneously excited for a new "a-aha!" moment, and skeptical that the book would only contain the same old re-hashed ideas. I'm happy to say that the book delivers new concepts, and reinforces why brainstorming and other efforts that can seem like time sinks are necessary. Diaz-Ortiz spends much time addressing goal setting (including realistic and relevant goals), and an action plan for determining where one should focus his/her efforts based on priorities, core competencies and enjoyment. The book also contains many helpful time tracking, goal setting, and other productivity resources. 3.5 stars. Thank to you NetGalley and Moody Publishers for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review." Reviewed by Jennifer Johnson, Net Galley, Oct 20, 2015, "As a busy mom who also works part-time outside the home, I am always on the lookout for any tips that will help with productivity, time management, and focus. As with most books in the genre, I began Claire Diaz-Ortiz's Design Your Day simultaneously excited for a new "a-aha!" moment, and skeptical that the book would only contain the same old re-hashed ideas. I'm happy to say that the book delivers new concepts, and reinforces why brainstorming and other efforts that can seem like time sinks are necessary. Diaz-Ortiz spends much time addressing goal setting (including realistic and relevant goals), and an action plan for determining where one should focus his/her efforts based on priorities, core competencies and enjoyment. The book also contains many helpful time tracking, goal setting, and other productivity resources. 3.5 stars. Thank to you NetGalley and Moody Publishers for a galley of this book in exchange for an honest review." Reviewed by Jennifer Johnson, Net Galley, Oct 20, 2015, "Days get away from us. "Days shouldn't live themselves, and this is a book about making sure they don't," the author writes. Her strategy is her Do Less Method. It is a productivity and goal setting model designed to get more done in less time and succeed more often. The book is in two parts. The first part concentrates on deciding what is important and what we really want. The second part is about organizing. It includes productivity strategies to reach SMART goals and includes the four steps of limit, edit, streamline, stop. (Decide, Organize, Limit, Edit, Streamline, Stop - DO LESS) I liked her idea of brainstorming and free writing to get as many ideas as possible. We are to welcome unusual ones and withhold criticism. Then ideas are combined and improved upon, then structured into SMART goals. She suggests creating goals for the major areas of life: God/Faith, Family, Health, Personal, Work, Money. But having goals is only half the process. She suggests we limit ourselves to work our best 20%. She helps us understand how to identify those activities. Next she suggests we edit the time we spend at work, like establishing specific work hours, and taking time off. She suggests we schedule our day and gives several strategies for doing our best work at our most productive times. She also helps us know when to stop working, that is, when to stop trying. I really appreciated this book. It is a good book for anyone wanting to get more done in less time. The idea is not to work more but to work smarter. This might take some experimentation to find our best times and places for work. But the reward is getting more done with time left over. This is a good introductory level book on living life more effectively. People who have read many productivity books may not find much new here. Diaz-Ortiz includes many ideas from other authors too. I've read many productivity books yet I was inspired again to write and review goals and plan my day better. She includes a good bibliography for those who would like to read more. Diaz-Ortiz says her goal is, "...discovering why God put me on this earth at this particular time and place and then doing that thing He wants me to do." If you have a similar goal, this book will get you well along the path. My rating: 5/5 stars. I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher for the purpose of an independent and honest review." Reviewed by Joan Nienhuis, NetGalley, Nov 8, 2015, "I received this book just as I was about to start my annual process of setting goals for next year. I have been going about that task somewhat haphazardly in the past, but this book offers some very pragmatic ideas for setting those goals and breaking them down into achievable portions. This is instrumental in actually accomplishing those goals. In addition, the author offered some great insight into organizing a workday in order to be more productive and waste less time. Very practical guide for anyone with busy days or who might want to take a good look at what they want to accomplish." Reviewed by Kathryn Strain, NetGalley, Nov 19, 2015, "Rating: 5/5 stars Before I start, two things about me: One, I might be the biggest procrastinator in the entire universe. Two, I am not the biggest fan of self-help books, however, I have found them necessary in the last few months. While I am still struggling to reach the seventh chapter of Antoni De Melo's Call To Love (which might be due to a poor translation) and yes, I am still putting Joe Barry's Panic Away Program to the test, I successfully tackled Design Your Day within a day (pun not intended, if it is, in fact, a pun). ATTENTION UNIVERSE: Mrs. Diaz-Ortiz deserves all the awards for this book. When I stumbled onto this book on NetGalley, I KNEW that I had to read it. I felt like it was written for me. Now, let me tell you a couple of reasons why I needed Design Your Day in my life, and therefore you need it in yours. First off, the writing. Mrs. Diaz-Ortiz has a one of a kind gift. She has the ability to explain complicated mechanisms with ease and wit which not only makes a usually-slow-moving-genre book interesting, it makes you excited to read the rest. It inspires you to try what it suggests. I started this book at six in the morning (thanks to my cat) with the intention to power through it, wondering if a rainy Saturday morning is the best timing for a self-help book. But I ended up finishing it in four hours AND I already had my WORD OF THE YEAR, as well as a brainstorming session. That's how inspiring it is. Second off, the theories and techniques Mrs. Diaz-Ortiz suggests. While it all sounds complicated and hard to achieve after reading the introduction, once you actually start reading, you'll see how simple it all is. Some day-to-day things we do can make a difference in your productivity. Third off, IT WORKS." Reviewed by Hristina Petrov, NetGalley, Dec 27, 2015
