How To Be A Productivity Ninja

by Graham Allcott

In the age of information overload, traditional time management techniques simply don’t cut it when it comes to overflowing inboxes, ever-expanding to-do lists and endless, pointless meetings. Thankfully there is a better way: The Way of the Productivity Ninja.

Using techniques including Ruthlessness, Mindfulness, Zen-like Calm and Stealth & Camouflage you will get your inbox down to zero, make the most of your attention, beat procrastination and learn to work smarter, not harder.

Written by one of the UK’s foremost productivity experts, How to be a Productivity Ninja is a fun, accessible and practical guide to staying cool, calm and collected, getting more done, and learning to love your work again.

Genres: Nonfiction, Productivity, Self Help, Business, Personal Development, Audiobook, Psychology

378 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2014

About the author

Graham is the founder of Think Productive

Reviews

[Zoffix Znet · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book. The Ninja theme and the drawings on the cover and on the initial pages were fun and they dragged me into reading this book up to page 90.

It is at that point I realized I still haven't learned a single useful thing from this book. All it did was introduce meaningless and vague metaphors and make ludicrous and simplistic assumptions. The Ninja is Ruthless, The Ninja is Mindful—well, that's freakin' great, but isn't helpful in the least. The assumption that we have a static rhythm of when our attention is high or low is overly-simplistic and asinine—you can't make schedules based on that, as the book proposes you should do.

Several of the things the book recommends I outright disagree with. It advocates you deliberately let all calls go to voicemail, under a premise that when you call back, you'd be midway into the conversation already. Utter nonsense; advice not grounded in reality. Not only you'll be annoying everyone who tries to reach you, by the time you navigate your voicemail system, write down caller's info, and call them back, you'd have wasted a load of time—both yours and the caller's—not to mention most voicemails would be just names and numbers, so there'd be no midway conversations.

The "boss/worker mode" (another stupid metaphor) attention use is also nonsensical. The book argues you should spend your most active, most energetic, most aware, most awake moments of the work day making schedules and lists and planning what you're supposed to be working on, instead of actually using that energy for getting down and doing quality work.

I flipped through the rest of the book and saw pages about "meditation," "second brain," "5-milestone model," "emotional fallout," a 5-item list of the types of lists you're supposed to have, and a full-page productivity model chart. It's clear to me the rest of the book will contain more awkward and meaningless metaphors and more "productivity" ideas that do more damage than good.

The positive reviews for this book rave about all the tips the book provides that you can use straight away. All true, but my question is: do those tips actually make you more productive? Do you actually accomplish more or do you only get deluded that you're productive because you've surrounded yourself with schedules and checklists that you're constantly making and checking off. Based on what I've read, I think the latter is true.

Here's my tip on how to be more productive: avoid this book.

[Richard Tubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of books on Productivity over the years, but "How to be a Productivity Ninja" stands out as one of the best. It draws on famous productivity books such as Getting Things Done by David Allen and blends the advice within those well known books with the author Graham Allcott's own experiences and thoughts.

My favourite chapter was near the end of the book where the author looks at running an effective meeting. The advice within this chapter was worth the price of the book alone, and for anyone who has ever wasted their time sat in a meeting with no seemingly clear purpose or direction - then this chapter will be essential reading.

From getting to inbox zero to getting started and maintaining momentum on a project and everything in between, "How to be a Productivity Ninja" is my new recommended "must read" for anyone who is struggling to feel in control or achieve more in their day-to-day life.

[Sergei_kalinin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Автор зацепил меня фразой, которую я и сам частенько цитирую :)) - "Тайм-менеджмент умер!" - после чего книгу было решено читать. Что интересного под обложкой?

Значительная часть книги - старый добрый GTD имени товарисча Дэвида Аллена. Не без авторских "фишечек", но читалось это всё на расслабоне, т.к. родное-знакомое. (По секрету скажу, что вся система в виде краткого чек-листа представлена в конце 8 главы ;)) Желающим ускорить процесс освоения системы - сразу туда!).

А вот что оригинального авторского?!

1) Понравилась идея-метафора автора про "ниндзю продуктивности" :)), обладающего 9 навыками-компетенциями:

1. Дзен-спокойствием - т.е. стрессоустойчивостью, которая даёт возможность действовать наиболее рационально и целесообразно. Стрессоустойчивость обеспечивается с одной стороны системой/инструментами продуктивности, а с другой стороны личностным совершенствованием.

2. Безжалостностью - это мой любимый навык :)) - умение говорить "НЕТ!" + жёсткий фокус на приоритетах

3. Владением оружием - использованием инструментов (гаджетов, программ и проч.)

4. Уловками и маскировкой - как способностью уходить от ненужных активностей, делегировать рутинные задачи и проч.

5. Оригинальностью - как способностью действовать творчески, нестандартно

6. Маневренностью - как способностью быть гибким, использовать новые и доступные возможности

7. Осознанностью

8. Готовностью - как умению слушать других и заранее готовиться (планировать) к продуктивным ситуациям.

9. Способностью быть "просто человеком" (а не сверх-человеком) - т.е. учиться на неудачах, и не загонять себя.

2) В книге достаточно неплохая глава №2 про стресс-менеджмент

3) Очень толковая третья глава про внимание ("результат = время + правильно потраченное внимание"). В моём понимании эта глава в большей степени про энерджи-менеджмент. Автор выделяет три уровня внимания/энергии: проактивное, активное, инертное. После чего предлагает понаблюдать за собой в течение дня и составить собственный "график внимания". Каждый из трех видов внимания является контекстом, для которого надо подобрать вид деятельности, который будет самым продуктивным в данном состоянии.

4) Самой полезной в книге мне лично показалась глава №9 - про исполнительские техники повышения продуктивности (т.е. не про планирование или про сортировку информации по алгоритму GTD, а именно про то, как всё это реализовать!). Что-то знакомо (типа "помидорного тайм-менеджмента"), а что-то откровенно порадовало - вроде правила Джобса: "Настоящие творцы отгружают" :)

5) В 10 главе отличные рекомендации по проведению совещаний

6) И очень рекомендую главу 11, где автор вводит понятие momentum - некое самодвижущееся, целостное состояние осознанности-продуктивности. Похоже и на "поток" Чиксентмихайи, и на "силу момента" Э.Толле, и на гештальт-состояние. Моментум - особое состояние высшей продуктивности, когда внутри нас "выключены" все препятствия, блокирующие её.

Предлагается 2 метода борьбы с сопротивлениями: игнорирование и преодоление; для каждого из методов предлагаются свои техники, кстати, очень толковые. Например, чтобы преодолеть сопротивление, его можно высмеять :).

В качестве резюме: хорошая книга по навыкам и техникам повышения продуктивности. Она, конечно, вторична, но читается легко и авторская подборка техник довольно обстоятельна. Рекомендую!

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wonder now why I bought this book as I am the most organised and efficient person I know but I was hoping there would be more tips and ideas of how I could improve further. Unfortunately a lot of the things suggested I already do or are not relevant as I don’t work in a typical office. That said I can speak from personal experience that a lot of them do help you become more productive. If you’re a person that struggles to get things done and you always feel stressed and overwhelmed by your workload and lack of organisation then this book is definitely for you. It’s simple stuff like organising emails into folders, creating rules and putting time aside to check them and then different time to work through and process them so you always have an empty inbox and are less likely to check it so often. Another suggestion was to get a system in place like an app to store all your projects and to action checklists so you can review them and order them in terms of relevance and deadlines. I recently started using the app Trello and I can honestly say it’s been so useful for me personally; when it’s on there it’s not in your head anymore and it’s across platforms so you can access it on the laptop and on your mobile if you’re on the go. One tip I did get from the book was thinking about when to schedule tasks based on how I’m feeling so for example if I’m flagging in the middle of the day to schedule in some easy and mundane tasks that don’t take as much effort as oppose to trying to drag myself through something heavy. The only other thing that was discussed was how to conduct a productive meeting and so really there were so many other ways that could have been suggested to improve productivity that I’d say don’t bother reading the book come and talk to me and I’ll sort you out!

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alcott is offering here a solution to the email overload, the tedious meetings, the office politics and the general bedlam that is the modern working life.

He offers methods of dealing with your working challenges in todays office. There are solutions for getting you email to zero, the best way to run a meeting, methods of getting organised and suggestions on the best way to deal with your work load.

A lot of it is very similar to the GTD religion method as developed by David Allen, but Allcott brings a British slant and humour to his book. As a business book it is readable, as similar books can be humdrum and frankly dull, and this isn't. A useful book, in some ways, and one I may yet buy.

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed the How to be a Study Ninja and have found it incredibly useful, however, this books simply lacks the innovative tools that I expected to find. Sure, there are some great tips in there, but, at the end of the day, I don’t think I’ve learnt much about how to be productive

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok. I liked the chapter on how to process email effectively, that made the book worthwhile for me.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good read for those who want to create a system for productivity.

1. THE VALUE OF ATTENTION
I often find myself trying to be more productive on routine tasks, as a way of saving my time. But as soon as I settle down to do a difficult task, I just waste away the time I had saved before. I always think its because I lack productivity, but attention is probably what I really need more of.

Through this book, I was introduced to the concept of attention management. According to Graham Allcott, there are three main levels of attention: inactive < active < proactive. With this in mind, you can usually observe periods of highs and lows in your attention level throughout the day, which may follow a noticeable trend. With this observation, you can then schedule your day according to the level of attention you need for each task.

2. CREATE A SYSTEM FOR PRODUCTIVITY
We often work better when we have a system. For example, you may have a morning routine. You may eat breakfast first, write a few hundred words, then go to the gym. When this system becomes routine, you rarely have to force yourself to do it. Of course, this routine may not be perfect, which is why it is always important to notice how you can improve. The same thing applies to productivity.

The system this book highlights is the CORD Productivity Model, which involves (C) capturing your thoughts with a second brain, (O) organizing those thoughts and figuring out what should be done with each, (R) reviewing the list of tasks you made in the organize stage in order to plan ahead, and (D) actually doing the tasks you have assigned for yourself.

3. GET RID OF THE “BIG ROCKS”
Every day, I usually have at least one huge task that I would like to finish. But in the end, I find that I try to delay doing that task for as long as I can, and sometimes end up leaving it for another day.

Graham Allcott labels these tasks as “big rocks.” Something valuable I got from this book is that these “big rocks” should be the first task you set out to do. When you plan to finish these “big rocks” first, they will likely give you the motivation you need to jumpstart your day.

No matter how many productivity books you read, you will never actually be productive if you don’t put your mind to it. It’s the act of actually doing that makes you productive. The hardest part is starting. So think of the most important thing you could do right now and start doing it.

[Synthia Salomon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just sold my townhouse, bought a new house, and had a baby. I am a productivity ninja. I did all of this while being a full time teacher, mother, and wife. This book was helpful to me but included a lot of things that I naturally do. According to Blinkist, “Productivity is a learned skill. And with the right techniques and mindset, you can reach ninja levels of elite productivity. By staying agile, mindful, and organized, even the most daunting to-do list can be swiftly dealt with.

And here’s some more actionable advice:

Don’t give yourself more time than you need.

Ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? Work expands to fill the time allocated to it. Whether you have two weeks or two days to write a report, you’ll probably still be putting the finishing touches on it when you hit your deadline. So be ruthless with the amount of time you allocate for specific tasks. There’s no point allowing yourself five hours to do your expenses when, if you really knuckled down, you could get them done in one.”

[SHYAM · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm totally disappointed with this book. Unfortunately i didn't learn much from this book. Book is completely filled with lot of productivity tips, But most of the tips are very complex and i felt less practical. Hyper Focus by Chris Bailey is much better book than this one.

[Mai · Rating 2 out of 5]

The entire book was just full of dragged-out metaphors and I gained absolutely nothing from it in the end. Realized that I wouldn't be a fan after about 100 pages, but I hate quitting, so I had to finish it. Also, it is so, so Outlook-focused, which really got on my nerves - I don't use Outlook and I do not think I will switch to it, ever. Ugh.

If you think about it, this book actually made me less productive, as I could have been doing something productive or at least something I enjoy instead of trying ot power through it.

[Ashraf Bashir · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best! A full practical working framework! I am amazed, I have read tens of productivity books, most of them give you a psychological boost that fades away in your daily routine, this one is different, it's not selling you dreams and psychological games, it digs deep to the core of the challenge, it is practical, to the point, full of details on how-to & why, and it covers it all.

It's a must must-read! Its real power is manifested if and only if you are a manager in a job that needs more innovation before the alignment of execution, in a domain where you always have more to do and deliver than potential capacity, here the book is a masterpiece helping you to be “productive” in the correct sense of the word, meanwhile, if you are an individual contributor with repetitive tasks to do daily, this book won't help you.

I read it, and bought many copies which I shared with those whom I am in their direct reports lines, super highly recommended!

[Alexandru · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was better than I expected. Even though it is full of redundant analogies and typical self-help book characteristics, it contains some good tips, that I used even before reading the book. The author's style is also easy to digest and not boring to read, which is quite rare in books of this type.

[Elise Edmonds · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a reread. My fav productivity book ever. I use some of the principles every day and fancied a refresh as my job has changed recently.

[Venera Arakelyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

By reading this book you can find a lot of reminders on different technics of productivity that you may already know, though you will find at least one new idea that can be used right away.

[Youmna Gebril · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very enjoyable and has really good tips and tricks.

[Norina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Power hour.

[Karo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips, tricks, tools and techniques. Also pretty funny.

[Bettine Pluut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Practical and pragmatic. It really changed how I organise my life, especially by building a second brain.

[Nattatida · Rating 3 out of 5]

รวบรวมเทคนิคในการจัดการงานและกิจกรรมในชีวิตให้สำเร็จ รวบรวมเทคนิคจากหนังสือ how to หลายๆเล่ม เช่น เทคนิค 80/20, work flow getting thingdone เป็นต้น โดยเปรียบเทคนิคให้คล้ายลักษณะของนินจา

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is super specific in that almost every bit of advice is only applicable to a typical office based job. I did of course expect it to be based on that (not that it said anything about office work in the description) but my experience with such things in the past has been that the principles can be understood and applied in the context of my own life as a student.


Nope! Categorising stuff into thinking work or doing work does not remotely stand up next to the work of a student. Despite him making reference to things such as writing essays once or twice, none of his principles seem to apply to this type of work. The work that I do can be writing essays, solving problems, practicing exam papers, reviewing, summarising and trying to understand and commit to memory large amounts of information, attending lectures, laboratories, tuition sessions... Honestly I don't think I could relegate a single one of those to mindless doing work.


The irony is that the whole time I was listening to this I knew that I should be putting it down and using the time more productively but I just kept going in the belief that he must finally touch upon something applicable beyond the office. He didn't.

I would however recommend this to someone who does do office work. I simply take objection to the fact that it wasn't made clear in the description that it so tightly applied only to that. Would have saved me 9 hours and 40 minutes of attention!

[Cody Faldyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his book Allcott combines all of his teachings from his public productivity workshops from all around the world into a simple, effective guide to working faster and smarter. The goal of the book is to teach you how to overcome procrastination, how to use email more efficiently, new ways to increase your personal time, and how to declutter an information overload.

For your convenience, I had Graham Allcott on my podcast, The Entrepreneurs Library, to give a deep dive on How To Be A Productivity Ninja. With Graham’s experience he gives amazing insight on how to master the art of productivity. If you would like to hear a real review from the author himself check out episode 189 on the EL website or you can find the show on iTunes.

[Drae Box · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this thinking from the reviews on Amazon that it might be useful, but in all honesty, if you have a handle on most things, it isn't. This book assumes you are in complete shambles with every element of your life, and then provides you with overly complicated processes to get things back under control.

It would be handy for someone looking for a way to get their life sorted, but there's also so much fluff (which though usually expected in non-ficiton, just continued throughout the book). Each section went: fluff. Small exercise. Sad really, as it could have been really helpful to others, and half (maybe even a third) smaller in size.

I did like the internal formatting though - it was organised like a school book, but if you like your serif fonts (Times New Roman, Georgia), expect sans-serif (Arial, etc.) instead.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a massive collection of productivity hacks from authors and bloggers. I'm not sure if there is anything new here at all. I might appreciate this more if I wasn't familiar with the sources (which are cited, by the way, so no issue there).

[Suzi Dafnis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Speed read this one for an interview with the author. Great guy. Great book. Very practical and loads of detail. The chapter on email management alone is worth getting the book for.

[lluu · Rating 3 out of 5]

ชอบไอเดีย CORD model แต่ก็ยังถือว่าไม่ใช่อะไรใหม่ ทุกอย่างในนี้หาอ่านได้ในหนังสือแนวๆนี้เล่มอื่นๆ

[Jung]

Productivity is a learned skill. And with the right techniques and mindset, you can reach ninja levels of elite productivity. By staying agile, mindful, and organized, even the most daunting to-do list can be swiftly dealt with.

And here’s some more actionable advice:

Don’t give yourself more time than you need.

Ever heard of Parkinson’s Law? Work expands to fill the time allocated to it. Whether you have two weeks or two days to write a report, you’ll probably still be putting the finishing touches on it when you hit your deadline. So be ruthless with the amount of time you allocate for specific tasks. There’s no point allowing yourself five hours to do your expenses when, if you really knuckled down, you could get them done in one.

---

Your attention is valuable currency, so spend it carefully.

Productivity is all about time management – or so the conventional wisdom goes. But ninjas are hardly conventional. And a productivity ninja knows that attention management, not time management, is the key to ultra-high productivity.

You can follow all the time-management hacks you want – getting up 15 minutes earlier every day, scheduling meetings during your lunch break, and taking work calls on the treadmill. But if you can’t bring a high level of attention to those extra tasks you’ve managed to squeeze in, then all that time management goes to waste.

The key message is: Your attention is valuable currency, so spend it carefully.

Over the course of a day, people generally fluctuate between three levels of attention. There’s proactive attention, where you’re sharp, focused, and in the zone. Then there’s active attention – you’re working in a good rhythm, but your attention is flagging and you’re susceptible to distractions. Finally, there’s inactive attention: you might be sitting at your desk but, let’s be honest, you’d much rather be napping.

Periods of proactive attention are optimal for achieving peak productivity, but no one can sustain proactive attention around the clock. A productivity ninja can, however, make sure his precious proactive attention is never wasted. That means he never attends pointless meetings when his attention is sharpest. On the flip side, he never schedules critical client negotiations when his attention is inactive.

How does he manage this? First, he gets to know his own attention cycle. For a few days, he maps his attention levels, noting when he’s at his best and when he slumps. Perhaps he finds that he experiences proactive attention first thing in the morning and inactive attention straight after lunch. Then, he tweaks his schedule to fit his rhythm. Critical thinking and key decisions are made in the morning. He saves mindless tasks, like deleting emails, for after lunch.

Of course, our productivity ninja knows it’s not as easy as simply managing his own attention windows; he has to be vigilant against outside interruptions, too. So he operates in stealth mode. He says no to unnecessary tasks and declines invites to meetings where he’s not a stakeholder. When he’s in the zone, his email notifications are off and his phone is in silent mode. Sometimes he even wears headphones to signal to his colleagues that he’s not to be disturbed.

You don’t need to find extra hours in the day. Protect your attention, and your productivity will flow.

[Iain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the best productivity book I have ever read, but it was worth reading. Most of the content derives from Dave Allen's "Getting Things Done" system. Read that if you just want the basics. That said, there is some useful value added.

The section on attention levels gave me a slap-hand-to-forehead moment when I realised that the reason I struggled to do weekly reviews was because they take a lot of active attention and I was scheduling them for a time in the week when I was at my lowest ebb of energy - last thing on a Friday. That chapter is definitely worth reading.

There is information on how to use specific software applications: Gmail and Outlook for email (with Outlook heavily favoured) and many productivity apps covered. I suspect the section on productivity apps will date rather quickly, though, so if you are reading when this review is over a year old, take that section with a grain of salt.

The section on running effective meetings was also useful, with the emphasis on preparing for the meeting and following up afterwards. I don't feel that regular (e.g. department weekly) meetings or daily stand-ups like you have in scrum were adequately covered. Nevertheless, there were some useful tips.

I read this as an audiobook. While the book was read in a very accessible and light-hearted way, I think that the exercises and some of the information don't translate well to this format. There is supplementary information on the website, but it would have been good to have the exercises collected together so they could be done after reading a chapter.

I did like this book. It's a good introduction to productivity which paces the information well for beginners. Thise at intermediate level will get something out of it. Experts and those in a hurry will probably prefer more information dense sources like Brian Tracy and David Allen.

[Claudia Lady Circumference · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time management is dead, long live attention management.

In the olden days, you got a stack of mail on your desk in the morning, which you dealt with and then went on to do your usual work. These days are well and truly over: internet, intranets, email and social media are with us 24/7 and we feel pressured to react and respond to everything at once.
Unfortunately, we all have only a finite amount of attention to give, which is easily frittered away in panicky attempts to do too much too inefficiently.

Enter Graham Allcott, founder of Think-Productive. He has distilled the wisdom of hundreds of business seminars into this handy little book to help us get organised, de-clutter our minds and desks and become altogether calmer, happier and more productive.

A good amount of this book is dedicated to organising your to-do-lists, streamline action plans and clearing your inbox. Once in place, this acts like a second brain, freeing up time for thinking, reviewing and tackling projects clearheaded.
Followed by strategies to overcome sloth and actually do some work and handy tips to avoid tedious meetings, this book makes for a well-rounded manual to sharpen up your work methods.

To be honest, I’m not the target audience of this book and some of the higher end stuff went straight over my head. However, I too am a procrastinator and advice like ‘turn the internet off, the world isn’t going to end’ and the rehabilitation of mono-tasking make refreshing common sense.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll start this in saying that I found the majority of this book great - but like a lot of self improvement books, not everything written is going to be relevant to everyone who reads it. For example, there was a whole chapter on meetings in this book that wasn't really of use to me at all.

That said, I took a lot of useful information from this title. Some of it might be said to be common sense such as doing your hardest task first thing to get it done and working with your attention flow rather than against it, but I did find these useful to read about and have since implemented some actions into my life. I did find the tip on organising my inbox very useful, and for the past few months I have been much more organised working with my inboxes laid out in the way suggested - plus a few additions of my own.

All the lists to work from just seems too much for me. I'm not one to have five lists and work between a master list, project list, waiting for list, weekly list, daily list and good ideas list. However, as I said before we are all different and this approach may work for people. I feel that elements of these lists will work for me so I am incorporating some of them into my life and seeing how that goes.

My final take on How to be a Productivity Ninja is thus - it's all useful information, but it might not all be useful for you. Read it, and see what is helpful - to be honest, most of it was for me.