rules

 Note: Because this is a thick, very detailed book full of “how-tos” and designed not to be read from cover to cover, coming up with a useful summary is long and takes time. I am therefore publishing it in two parts, of which this is the second. The first is here .

Summary and Book Report, Part Two:

One Sentence Summary: In life there is theory and practice, and there are things that “usually” work a certain way, that in actual practice work differently; discover how things really work in the professional world by exploring these 32 Ways To Do Less and Accomplish More and have a more productive and calmer life.

By Bill Jensen, 300 pages, 2003.

Note: Because this is a thick, very detailed book full of “how-tos” and designed not to be read from cover to cover, coming up with a useful summary is long and takes time. I am therefore publishing it in two parts, of which this is the first

Summary and Book Critique:

In my recent critique of  Cut to The Chase, I asked myself about the relevance of collections of rules, given that most of the rules in these books are certainly interesting, but are of the “in one ear and out the other” variety and that this type of book has difficulties getting into the subject deeply. I wondered if the best way to use them was rather to put them on your desk, choose one rule a day, and try to apply it that day – you could also do one rule a week.

Well, apparently Bill Jensen asked himself that question before writing his book because this is designed to be put into practice after spending a minimal amount of time reading it. Firstly, the author begins by strongly recommending 3 rules to use his book in the simplest and most efficient manner possible.

It’s the first time that I have ever seen a book begin by advising you to absolutely not read all of it!

What’s more this book has an unusually interesting and original format that uses highlighting for the contents (at the moment only  The Creative Habit and 45 Effective Ways for Hiring Smart can claim as much among the books in my challenge). Actually, every chapter begins with a “Less-O-Meter”, a “Doing Less Counter” which gauges the courage required, the difficulty of the task and the amount that applying this tip/method will yield on a scale of 1 to 10:   

The author did not guess at the values. He asked 260 people over the course of 6 months to evaluate, test and change everything in the book, then he asked them to rate each rule on the three criteria. The rating provided is the average of the ratings for all 260 people.

Moreover, the book uses pleasantly different fonts and font sizes, it is also filled with drawings – often funny – and explanatory diagrams of all kinds:

And finally each rule is presented in the same format:

1. The “Less-O-Meter”
2. Why you should do less
3. How to do less 
4. Optional : To get more out of it, often accounts and real-life situations of people who have lived this in a company setting.   
5. Optional: , additional resources for those who want more. 

The format is therefore brilliant, absolutely brilliant, there is no other word. Because of it, everyone can make their own “mini-book,” read what interests them and begin to apply it. But what’s inside? Let’s take a look:

(more…)