Focus: Use the power of targeted thinking to get more done

by Jürgen Wolff

Feeling distracted? Scattered? Time is slipping away from you? You're not alone. But it doesn't have to be that way. Using revolutionary time management techniques you will find out how to super charge your mind power and focus on what matters most - your goals and your achievements. Focus shows you how to direct energy without distraction to the key tasks that lead you to success. Based on the latest research, these techniques make it easy for you to overcome information overload, stress and procrastination and concentrate on what's really important. Using these recent discoveries in time management, like how to achieve a state of flow that can lead to maximum achievement in minimum time, Focus will show you how you can move swiftly towards your most important goals. The result: you reach your goals quickly and with less effort.

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Business

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 22, 2008

About the author

Jurgen Wolff is a writer and creativity and writing coach who divides his time between London and Southern California. He has taught at the University of Southern California, the Academy for Chief Executives, the University of Barcelona, the Pilots Project, and workshops around the world.
He has written nine books including “Your Creative Writing Masterclass” (Nicholas Brealey Publishing), “Creativity Now!” (Pearson), “Marketing for Entrepreneurs” (Pearson), “Focus: the power of targeted thinking” (Pearson), “Your Writing Coach” (Nicholas Brealey), “Do Something Different” (Virgin – foreword by Sir Richard Branson).
He has written more than 100 episodes of television, the feature film “The Real Howard Spitz” starring Kelsey Grammer, the miniseries “Midnight Man” starring Rob Lowe, two TV movies starring the Olsen Twins, been a script doctor on feature films starring Eddie Murphy, Walter Matthau, Michael Caine and others. He created the animated series, “Norman Normal” (56 episodes) and co-created the series “Lukas” (39 episodes). He teaches screenwriting at the Raindance Film Festivals and in workshops around the world.
He is a NeuroLinguistic Programming practitioner, a certified hypnotherapist, and has studied improvisation with The Groundlings in Los Angeles and Keith Johnstone in London.
He is currently writing “Reptile Nations,” a novel for Young Adults.
His other sites include:
www.yourwritingcoach.com (which includes bonuses to the book);
www.creativitynowonline.com (which includes bonus materials for the “Creativity Now” book);
www.focusquick.com (with bonus material for the “Focus” book);
www.timetowrite.com;
His writing blog is at www.timetowrite.blogs.com, where he posts most days with writing news and tips.
- See more at: http://jurgenwolff.com/about/#sthash....

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book in 2011 on a train station in London. I liked the title, but never had time to read it entirely. So I did now in 2020.
The book was published in 2008, and I believe there were no later versions. And it is a pity.
The book is easy to read. I put 6 days to read it along other activities.
The book has 231 pages with illustrations, quotes. And very good tools that you can apply it nowadays.
The link to get more of the information focusquick does not work anymore.
The author explains even some of the NLP tools in very simple way.
I liked exercises at the end of some chapters.
What a pity author did not move forward with the updates of the book.
I give 4 stars out of 5 just because there is no later version to be applied in today's digital world.

[Pratap · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read several task management, time management and performance improvements. May be because of this I feel this book is very obvious, not many thing new! There are a few new things explained in this book, but it didn't clicked. There are some pearls in the book which I think are worth practicing. Its an easy ready so you can read it if you have time, and can use those pearls.

[Luciano · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite quote: "The fastest way to deal with an email is to delete it."

[Ellie Katherine (Mun) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mình đang đọc dở cuốn này nhưng gần hoàn thành và có thể đưa ra review một cách tổng quan nhất. Bản thân mình đánh giá cuốn này ở mức TRÊN TRUNG BÌNH trong dòng sách personal growth. Những nguyên lý mà sách nêu ra có kèm dẫn chứng khoa học, lý luận chặt chẽ, chi tiết, phân bổ từng bước cụ thể giúp người đọc có cái nhìn toàn diện về từng vấn đề, tuy nhiên không phải là những kiến thức mới mẻ ( 80/20 principle, set SMART goals, etc..). Nhưng nói đi cũng phải nói lại, nó vẫn là cuốn sách giúp bạn lấy lại động lực và thăng bằng tạm thời, từ đó giúp cải thiện sự tập trung, nâng cao hiệu suất công việc một cách hiệu quả. Cá nhân mình đọc nó khi đang trải qua "cơn khủng hoảng tuổi 23", và mình thấy sách giống như "một đòn bẩy tạm thời" giúp mình vượt qua tình trạng tiêu cực và lạc lối hiện tại của bản thân. Còn để nhìn rộng ra, những lý thuyết và nguyên tắc mà sách đã nêu không có gì quá mới mẻ và vượt trội, nhưng vẫn đầy đủ cơ sở khoa học cùng những lý luận chặt chẽ, sắc sảo. Vẫn có thể là một nguồn tham khảo hữu ích giúp cải thiện cách chúng ta nghĩ và hành động để hướng tới mục tiêu cụ thể. Nhưng, nếu bạn đã đọc qua nhiều đầu sách về phát triển bản thân thì nên cân nhắc đọc BẢN TÓM TẮT của cuốn này, tránh mất thời gian, bởi lẽ những nội dung trong sách chung quy lại có thể được lược gỉan chỉ còn 1/5 mà vẫn đủ đầy ý nghĩa và sức thuyết phục. Chốt 3.5 stars nha.

[Shahad · Rating 5 out of 5]

أهم الأشياء اللي استفدتها:
١- من المجدي في كثير من الأحيان عدم وضع موعد نهائي لعمل ما حتى الانتصاف فيه ثم تحديد الديدلاين بناءا عليه أو أن يكون هناك مرونة فيه.
٢- إذا تثاقلت عن أحد الأعمال فأقنع نفسك أن تقوم بعمله ل١٠ دقائق فقط وبعدها ستكون قد انخرطت في العمل وستكمله بإرادتك.
٣- درب نفسك أن تقول لا للمهام التي تثقل كاهلك ولا تستفيد منها لكنك تنخرط بحماسة اللحظة وتوافق عليها، لذلك أَعْط نفسك فرصة للتفكير اذا عرض عليك احدهم مثل هذه الأعمال.
٤- العلاقات مهمة في إنجاح الأعمال ومن اللطيف عند محادثة احدهم مناداته باسمه ولكن لا تبالغ بذلك فيكون كنص درامي.
٥- حاول قدر المستطاع أن لا تعمل على أكثر من شيء في وقت أو واحد أو تضع مواعيد نهائية متقاربة لها.
٦- تعلم أن تستمتع أثناء رحلتك إلى النجاح ولا تنتظر حتى الوصول إلى آخر نقطة.

وقراءة ممتعة، كتاب جميل.

[Konstantin Samoylov · Rating 1 out of 5]

A decent book with good advice scattered across the book. And that was my biggest dissatisfaction with the book. People who read such literature usually have tried multiple things already. And their problem, in my opinion, is not a lack of good advice, but too many potentially good actions or ideas. One needs a system of how you apply those principles, not just a list of "what might be good". And I didn't find such system of principles or systemic approach in the book.

[Ahmed · Rating 5 out of 5]

On of the best book to design your life.

[محمد الملا · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكتاب تقني، أي يحوي على العديد من التقنيات المتعلقة بإدارة الكثير من الأمور والتي من المفترض بها أن تجعلنا نصل إلى مستوى أكبر من التركيز

الكثير من التقنيات والحلول الموجودة في الكتاب رائعة وعملية بالفعل، إلا إن الكتاب بتقنياته قد يكون بحاجة إلى طريقة عرض وترتب أكثر لمحتواه ليظهر بصورة أقوى وأفضل رغم إن التبويب أعجبني

أعجبني إن الكاتب ينحى بعيداً عن ما هو مشهور إلى ما هو مؤكد وما هو عملي ومفيد، وقد فند في كتابه بعض الأفكار الشائعة والغير صحيحة أو خالف المشهور منها

خلاصة الكتاب والذي يركز على قاعدة باريتوا 20/80 أن هناك في داخلك 20% مما يحتاج ان تركز عليه، وأن هناك 20% مما يتدفق عليك من حولك (علاقات، معلومات، مهام، إجتماعات) هي ما يجب أن تركز عليه

أعتقد إنه من المفيد أن تكون هناك خارطة ذهنية للكتاب ليعطي صورة شاملة ومفتاحية للكتاب وما فيه من تقنيات

[Yaqeen Sikander · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off very nice but with progression gets boring and I felt that information in the book could have been more condensed but nonetheless the book has some key points that are essential to get on the track of success.

[Iferdows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Practical steps to reach the goal

Stunning