Finished Reading: What Matters Most

I finished reading What Matters Most over the weekend. I think this was the first time I've read it, but I'm not sure. Smith does a fantastic job of going over the high-level planning process – discovering your core values, writing your personal mission statement, and setting long- and short-range goals. Great for vision and strategic planning.

If you'd like something that deals with the art of executing, I'd recommend First Things First by Stephen R. Covey and Roger and Rebecca Merrill. First Things First briefly covers goals and the importance of vision, and then guides you through the process of translating that vision into action. Combined, they're the best books on successful time and life management that I've read.

A word on David Allen's Getting Things Done: Yes, I've read it. I even got a few good pointers out of it, like the importance of capturing ideas immediately and identifying the next action you can take towards a project/goal. Overall, however, I consider the GTD system to be incomplete. It takes a shotgun approach to your time – how can you be sure to do as many things as you possibly can? The problem is that GTD makes no allowance for making sure that you're doing the right things, just that you're getting lots of things done. Doing more things faster isn't a substitute for making sure you're doing the right things. GTD is better than no system at all; just realize that you'll need to keep prioritization in mind when working with it. I prefer the fourth-generation process described by Covey et al, and What Matters Most dovetails quite nicely with it.