Home :: Books :: Business & Investing  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing

Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
The Procrastinator's Handbook : Mastering the Art of Doing It Now

The Procrastinator's Handbook : Mastering the Art of Doing It Now

List Price: $17.95
Your Price: $12.21
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Don't Put Off Buying This Book!
Review: I've been looking for help with procrastination for a while and was excited by a piece in USA Today on this terrific little book. It's all here, in a nutshell. It hadn't occurred to me to question myself about what I feared if I actually did the job in front of me. It's also comforting to know that I'm not alone. There are lots of different types of procrastinators and Ms. Emmett knows them all and offers help for all. Thanks!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awakener. Humiliater. Lifesaver.
Review: I've pored over Lord-knows-how-many self-help tomes in my time, furrowed brow, best-intentioned, sincerity blazing.
Ms Emmett's is the first that made me go "Ouch!".
By the Nine Gods of Clusium, she has my number. 'Hypocritical Procrastination'? Bullseye. That chapter alone does it.
Even mid-reading, I was reaching for the phone to call my honey on some daft pretext; rising from my desk to go chatter with colleagues; re-shuffle papers ....
I actually slammed the phone down, stayed put, killed the CNN link ... told a colleague "Actually, I *am* busy right now. One hour from now?"
This is working for me. Ain't easy - a lifetime of indulgence and the most appalling self-delusion - but I need to folow its lessons and Emmett has the spot-on tone that gets to me.
Don't buy it: I have a lot of catching up to do and it might work for you, too, in which case that's one more rival I won't be overtaking. Bless you, Rita E. Right! Enuff of this time-wasting composing of a review; I have filing and ironing and writing to me mum to do, not to mention cold calling that swine of a landlord to fix my fridge. I'm a busy man and there's no perfect time to act; there's only now. Yoda had it right: Do or do not. There is no try.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Easy reading, shallow content
Review: If you are serious about ending your procrastination then do not waste MORE of your time reading this book. The author gives plenty of tips, common sense advice, and even famous quotes but in a very disorganized and unstructured manner. The whole book is like a long pep talk, full of good intentions but failing to solve the problem: your procrastination. I'm sure that you've tried most of the tips in this book (writing a To Do List, planning your work, scheduling, etc.) so it does not make sense to buy a book that basically tells you to try them again. Oh, you'll try them for a week or two (again, for the n'th time), and then go back to procrastinating, because that's what we procrastinators do! We start something and then never finish it! In the back cover, Frank McCourt (author of Angela's Ashes) calls it a "light-hearted book", proving that even the editor knows this is not a serious book on procrastination, and uses McCourt's comment to sell the book as easy reading, but definitely not serious content. I recommend Neil Fiore's NOW HABIT. It's deeper, structured and a serious read. Not a "light-hearted handbook".

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I'd skip the cheerleading
Review: In parts one and two, and go straight to Pt 3, "Proven Strategies". This book is not without merit(again, part 3), but I wasn't crazy about it.
If, like me, you dislike the insufferably cheerful types who want to sell you stuff and get you full of pep, I'd recommend Albert Ellis's **Overcoming Procrastination** over this book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great Book for Yourself or as a Gift
Review: It's hard to imagine ANYONE who wouldn't get a lot out of this book...

THE PROCRASTINATOR'S HANDBOOK speaks to the most common attitude, or habit, in the human condition today. With every page I turned, not only did I see myself, but dozens of other folk I've known over the years. It's almost as if the pages were made of tinfoil.. they reflect so much! I've already decided that much of my holiday shopping will be handled by a bulk order of this delightful publication.

Just about everyone I know is, or has been, one of the types of procrastinators Rita Emmett outlines in this book. This includes myself, of course. (Until I heard about this book, I thought all procrastinators were my subjects, and I was their Queen.) As I read, I made a mental list of all the wonderful people I know who would benefit from the clear, self-affirming, logical tips, and "Extra Credit" tasks Rita presents. I also bookmarked the many pages that gave me sound plans for attacking both the physical and mental clutter that generate so much unnecessary stress.

My favorite element of the book is its "just folks" tone. There is never the sense that the author, nor the audience, is immune to the menial, the drudgey or the mundane tasks common to modern life. Rita speaks of scrubbing her kitchen walls, rather than attack a typing task she despised. How many books these days assume their audience to be "above" such real-life chores? How often does one get a suggestion about the least distasteful time for getting laundry folded? It's almost as if Rita is chatting with me over coffee at my kitchen table.. or hers, since my house isn't "ready for company" yet. We're "just folks" together, and she shares with us her experience of real life and how to make it more satisfying.

Another element of the book that I find most appealing is her refusal to sugar coat the unpleasant truth. She writes that, "Life seems to overflow with" unpleasant tasks, the stuff we just know we won't want to do, but must, if we wish to be considered functional human beings. The tasks are just there, though sometimes we're unable to find anything appealing in the doing of the task. Rita reminds us that we can "change our minds to change the game," and focus on the time AFTER completion of the task, where we're able to simply bask in the glow of a job (well) done. If basking isn't enough for you, Rita gives us a great starter list of rewards we can promise ourselves for gritting our teeth and plowing through those tasks. When you approach things this way, there's really nothing one cannot get oneself to do. In fact, thanks to Rita, I'm going to resume my efforts to get started on graduate school and end ten (well, okay, seventeen) years of putting THAT off.

I believe a lot of us in this "modern" generation are pulling away from Mom's Homespun Wisdom, and Rita does a significant service to her audience by bringing some of that back to us, in a most affirming, considerate, noncritical way. She tells us to get the worst stuff out of the way early in the day, so as to eliminate dread, and put a shinier glint on whatever follows. I know MY mom encouraged me to do that as well, but coming from Rita, it's not so hard to hear.

So... I say, get your hands on this book right away, make a pot of coffee, grab a highlighter or some bookmarks, and even your holiday shopping list, and sit down to a TERRIFIC read.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent for procrastinators
Review: Really good info on how to avoid waiting until tomorow to get your tasks done.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best how to change yourself books out there
Review: Rita Emmett has done a great job of putting together a, I could say THE, book on how to stop procrastinating. As a therapist I recommend the best books I can find to clients and others and this book certainly fills the bill. If you procrastinate, don't put off buying this book to help you solve the problem. When you buy it, don't procrastinate or hesitate in reading it to help you solve the problem.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dont put off tomorrow what you can do today
Review: Rita Emmett when you die you will get your angel wings because this book is a gift from God and I am so thankful. See... I am a well meaning person who has goals. The problem is I get sidetracked and that means I am a procrastinator. Personally I think the higher the IQ the more a person will fit this label.

The book is small and just over 200 pages long and it is the only book I have ever read that deals with learning as the sub-title says "Mastering the Art of DOing It Now" that I have found really works. The book is in a three part Play layout. The First part is about Getting a Grip on Procrastination 1. Tacking the Dread 2 What's Your Excuse 3 The Games People Play

Part Two is Why We procrastinate 4. The Fears That Stop You Cold 5. I Wanna Do It All 6 Help! I'm Overwhelmed

Part Three is Proven Strategies for Conquering Procrastination 7. Plan Time to Plan 8. Clutter Busting 9. Dollars and Sense 10 What Dreams Are Made Of

At the end of each section you get questions and a place to write down what she asks you to answer. She also has a website at www.ritaemmett.com The part on Clutter Busting will prove to be a help to every reader. The Plan Time to Plan points out that you have to have a basic plan, because people who just jump into a task, can find they lack the proper tools or that the task requires more time than they thought which in turn can end up being a discouragement and simply another task set aside that never gets done yet adds to ones depression.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Idea For A Gift
Review: Rita Emmett's first book is an excellent, easy read, fun way to help us stop procrastinating!! It is filled with many personal stories, that you might relate to. If you have a hard time getting to a project, you can find a constructive way to get yourself going. At least getting this book is one step further to ending your never ending "To Do List". It would be an excellent idea for a pre-Christmas gift for that last minute, shopping husband!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Procrastinators unite! (tomorrow would be better for me)
Review: Rita, I could Kiss you! This is the best little book I have ever read. I was looking for inspiration. If that failed I feared I would need therapy or threaputic drugs.

I found so much inspiration in a little easy to read book that costs nearly nothing...but is priceless!

It is nice to know I am not alone. I feel so much better. (and powerful too)


<< 1 2 3 4 5 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates