By Maura Thomas

In 2015 I ran across a book called Personal Productivity Secrets. (Here is my recommendation.) I was so impressed by this book that I wanted to meet the author, so I reached out to her and that began an intermittent, but ongoing conversation with her about productivity and more. In Maura, I found someone who asked some of the same questions I asked, though she asked them to help her clients, and I asked them, mostly, for myself and perhaps my team.

I had the chance to read an early draft of this book (and provide a brief review – which you will see if you go to Amazon to buy a copy), and talk to her about the construction of the chapter titled “the location of work.”

I share all this to let you know that I might be a bit biased, and that I was eagerly anticipating the book. When I received it last week, I read through the final version, and immediately knew I wanted to recommend it to you here.

The subtitle of the book provides the promise that the book delivers: An Executive’s Guide to Attention Management, Productivity and the Future of Work – with just one caveat – it isn’t just for executives.

This book expands on Maura’s belief that there is no time management, only attention management, and while that idea permeates the book, this isn’t a time management or productivity book alone. Rather this book takes the challenge of disruption and distraction and places it into the context of our work; looking at office environments, email, vacation policies, where we work and much more.

The book provides practical ideas for helping you and your team improve, and provides a higher level view of what is happening in the world of work and challenges us to think about it.

If you buy a copy and read it, I would encourage you to look at two other books with interesting connections to this book, without being repetitive – Deep Work by Cal Newport (Amazon and my recommendation) and Under New Management by David Burkus (Amazon and my recommendation).

This slim book will help you understand what you are already seeing, help you see some things in new ways and give you practical suggestions to make your work, and the work of those around you more effective.

Note: If you are interested in learning more about these ideas and from this author, she’s been a guest on The Remarkable Leadership Podcast. You can listen to that episode here.

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Kevin Eikenberry is a recognized world expert on leadership development and learning and is the Chief Potential Officer of The Kevin Eikenberry Group. He has spent over 30 years helping organizations across North America, and leaders from around the world, on leadership, learning, teams and teamwork, communication and more.

Twice he has been named by Inc.com as one of the Top 100 Leadership and Management Experts in the World and 100 Great Leadership Speakers for Your Next Conference. The American Management Association named him a “Leaders to Watch” and he has been twice named as one of the World's Top 30 Leadership Professionals by Global Gurus. Top Sales World has named him a Top Sales & Marketing Influencer several times, and his blog has been named on many “best of” lists. LeadersHum has named him one of the 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2023.

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