At one point or another when working on deadline driven projects, when a fun weekend comes to an end right before a new workweek, or when awoken to the sound of an alarm clock after getting limited rest the night before, we all need more time.  Time is one of those things unlike money that once it goes you can’t get it back.  This creates the need for more systems and techniques to rightly manage the limited time that we have to do more.  After researching numerous books on time management, I have compiled three of the top books with tips that can help you to be more productive.

Eat that Frog by Brain Tracy

Tracy delivers very simple stories to give easy tips on how we can increase our productivity.  One of my favorite tips from the book is to “Plan today the night before.”  Tracy suggests that we spend time each day writing down all the things that we need to do the next day.  This allows us to start each day with a purpose in mind.

Four-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss

Ferriss shares with us his story of how he was able to move from being an overworked employee working 14-hour days and making $40,000 per year to an entrepreneur working 4-hour weeks and making $40,000 per month.  My favorite tip out of this book is to limit yourself to only completing 20% of tasks that give you 80% of your results while giving each task a clear deadline for completion.  This tips allows us to get more done while also having more free time to for our favorite pastimes.

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People By Stephen Covey

Through Covey’s research he shares seven habits that the most successful people share.  This book is one of my personal favorites.  My favorite tip within this book is to get in the habit of telling yourself and other people NO to activities that are not important and don’t move you forward in your goals.  This tip is critical for maintaining the discipline of focusing on important value creating tasks.