Focus Audio Workshop

by Stephen R. Covey, Steve Jones

The Focus workshop presents an engaging and inspirational learning experience and will change your life in ways you never thought possible. With this audiobook, you will begin a process and journey to a new way of thinking about personal and professional focus and accomplishment. You'll learn how to identify--and focus--on the tasks and priorities that matter most so that you can deliver maximum results every day. You'll learn to turn the things you have to do into the things you want to do. Dr. Covey and master facilitator Steve Jones introduce you to the FranklinCovey workshop that has already helped 10 million people become more productive. With this audiobook, you'll also receive these valuable tools from FranklinCovey: - A handy job-aid on Keeping Your Focus, designed to carry with you to remind you how to stay focused and achieve results. - A Resource CD-ROM packed with great tools such as teaching wizards to help you identify your values and mission and how to set goals. - A free 30-day trial of FranklinCovey's Plan Plus™ for Microsoft ® Outlook® - A screensaver of 200+ inspirational quotes.

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

4 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Stephen Richards Covey was an American educator, author, businessman, and speaker. His most popular book is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. His other books include First Things First, Principle-Centered Leadership, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, The 8th Habit, and The Leader In Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time. In 1996, Time magazine named him one of the 25 most influential people. He was a professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University (USU) at the time of his death.

Reviews

[Raynur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Нормально. Тайм менеджмент. Есть хороши Инструменты. Можно быстро прослушать.

[Bob Wallner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not actually a book. This audio program is set up so that Dr. Covey provides you coaching and words of wisdom and then he'll hand off to Mr. Jones who was recorded live teaching the content.

I felt that this method worked well for an audiobook and you felt like you were right in the training course as one of the pupils. The only major downside was, you did not participate in nor hear the dialogue during the participation of events. You only heard the results of the dialogue. I believe that's where the Socratic questioning occurred that lead the class to their responses.

As for the content, it seemed very familiar. When I started thinking back and so much of it seemed like David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) Concepts. This course to me really felt like GTD meets 7 habits. Things like next actions, in this book called next steps, were very similar. Much like GTD, Focus stressed the idea of getting everything out of your head so you don't have to think about them again. The major difference is that GTD is very structured system; do A, then B, then C. Focus was a little more loose. GTD doesn't care how you capture information, simply that you do. Focus spent some time talking about it's planning system.

One thing I found curious about Focus is, after a 15 or 20 minutes stretch of talking about using technology like Outlook or Palm Pilot, Dr. Covey jumps in and says don't be bound by your technology. The first version of GTD I read, the author was all about no technology. Files and physical inboxes.

All in all, I enjoyed this course. If you have tried GTD process and found that it was too rigid for your taste give Focus a try.

[Kendel Christensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. It doesn't present anything new from the time management section of his 7 Habits book (far superior). One quote stood out, though:


“Every man gives his life for what he believes. Every woman gives her life for what she believes. Sometimes people believe in little or nothing, and so they give their lives to little or nothing. One life is all we have, and we live it as we believe in living it…and then it’s gone. But to surrender who you are and to live without belief is more terrible than dying – even more terrible than dying young.”
-Joan of Arc in Maxwell Anderson's Joan of Lorraine

[sadiq · Rating 3 out of 5]

a mix of 7 habits and his other books

[Sergei_kalinin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книга, несомненно, будет хороша для тех, кто впервые слышит словосочетание "тайм менеджмент" (управление временем), т.е. для полнейших чайников.

Если вы читали основную книгу Стивена Кови ("Семь навыков высокоэффективных людей"), то в "Фокусе" вы не найдёте абсолютно ничего нового - всё уже было сказано в "семи навыках".

Книга - транскрипт одноименного тренинга С.Кови и С.Джонса. Всё, о чём они говорят в течение почти 3 часов (аудиверсия книги), можно без особых потерь информации свести к трём ключевым вещам:

1) Планируйте своё время (рабочий день, неделю и т.п.) на основе приоритетов. Главный инструмент сортировки дел/активностей по приоритетам - всё та же матрица Эйзенхауэра.

2) Главный принцип планирования (фокусирования на приоритетах) - "борьба за второй квадрант" (которую Кови оч.хорошо уже описал в "7 навыках" :) ). Т.е. в первую очередь планируются "важные, но не срочные" дела, для которых в ежедневнике занимается лучшее время. А всё остальное вносится в план "по остаточному принципу".

3) Используйте эффективные инструменты планирования - электронный или бумажный органайзер. Эта часть книги мне понравилаь меньше всего, т.к. про электронные органайзеры там было упомянуто лишь вскользь; а описанная система работы с бумажным органайзером лично мне показалась очень неудобной :(

Также могу предположить, что на самом тренинге (транскриптом которого является книга) было больше наглядной информации - т.е. демонстрировалась работа с бумажными и электронными ежедневниками. А вот самостоятельно визуализировать всё, о чём рассказывается в книге (особенно в аудиоверсии :))), даже имея нехилый опыт работы с органайзерами, - крайне сложно! Это также большой "минус" книге...

Вердикт: А) Если вы первый раз слышите о тайм-менеджменте, и хотите получить довольно поверхностный ответ на вопрос о том, что это такое (да ещё и с житейскими примерами) - читать рекомендовано!

Б) Если вы начинающий тайм-менеджер, и уже что-то где-то читали, и заинтересованы в получении сравнительно глубоких познаний - читать НЕ рекомендовано! Лучше читайте "7 навыков" :) - знаний и пользы будет намного больше.

В) Если вы давно интересуетесь тайм-менеджментом, и уже читали "7 навыков", что-нибудь из Глеба Архангельского, Д.Моргенстерн и прочих "классиков" :) - книгу читать НЕ рекомендуется! Просто зря потратите своё время...

[Fady Barsoum · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good intro to time mgmt. Inspiring stories. A technical section. Good tips and a bonus CD with time mgmt tools.

[AngiJo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had high expectations for this book. However, the most interesting/useful idea in the book was the time management matrix concept. I appreciated the lecture/workshop style of the audio recording. I felt like I was sitting in the workshop. But I think there are better books out there on priority setting. The 80/20 Principle resonated more with me.

[Stephen Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was alright. Good reminder to prioritize, something I have seen in numerous books.

[Amit Chadha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Average book
few tips on organizing oneself better.... not as much that can have deep lasting impact improving one's focus

two key take away for me from this book is

1) The main thing is o keep the main thing, the main thing :- this is the key to any planning. while jostling between different quadrants of importance/urgency, do not let the main thing slip by. Can classify one's tasks into A1, a2, a3, b1, b2, c1, c2 etc..... and keep focus on first finishing the A's.... the main thing....

2) Daily weekly monthly planning :- spend few minutes daily in this to remain focussed

[Rainya Mosher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this book on the recommendation of a coworker while driving between major cities in Texas. It was my first introduction to the FranklinCovey approach to planning and it was excellent! I'm hoping to find printed / written content to go along with it, but will be perfectly happy going back through the book at home with pen and paper to work through the material as I am able to.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to start this review with a bit of a caveat, this book is most effective and generally geared toward those that not only have read his 7 Habits book but also own the planner sold by Franklin Covey. If you don't have the planner, that's ok, you'll still find value in this book but I think it reduces its value. I found it very useful in improving the way I organize my life.

[Juan Pablo Soto · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0
Algunos recordatorios importantes sobre la matriz de urgencia/importancia, pero en general nada nuevo. Es un buen enfoque práctico, de hecho rescato algunos temas bien específicos que creo me servirá considerar (ejemplo, sistematizar una rutina de planificación semanal y diaria y no planificar más del 65% de cada día)

[Gratefulscottie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great review of the Franklin Covey ideas and products. It was done in 2003 so when they talk on tech items it is not applicable. Yes they focus on how their paper day planner system will meet your needs but the concepts and how tos are transferable.

[Travis Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was okay. Better books out there on similar subject matter.
- Brian Tracy works

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante propuesta para organizarse.

[TarasProkopyuk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Хорошая и полезная книга, но всё же должен признать, что она не из лучших книг на данную тему. Мне больше понравилась книга Бодо Шефера "Искусство управлять своим временем" - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13... и Брайана Трейси "Точка фокуса" - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89...

Последние книги более чёткие, лёгкие и в то же время системные, а также несут в себе заряд «волшебного пинка».

Хотя должен признать, что эта книга тоже достойна прочтения. Рекомендую её читать для разминки перед вышеуказанными книгами или же после их прочтения для закрепления материала.

[Randy Daugherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short read, often referring to The 7 habits book.
There were some helpful suggestions as to outlining your day and weeks, but to much focus on selling Franklin Covey system to make this interesting.
Why they describe their system as working for every company , it wouldn't work in the industry I'm currently in based on our companies situation at present but would be interesting to see it put to the test.
Over all it offered up some useful tidbits but over all failed to be as good as other books and ideas of Covey.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to this book on a drive back from a tough day of meetings - it was exactly what I needed to focus myself. I've long looked for an appropriate solution to organize and integrate both my personal and professional life in one place. This seems to provide the building blocks and tools to move forward with that. It will be interesting to see how I progress through these next 21 days in this effort. I can say with certainly, that as is typical with Mr. Covey's writings, his analysis and insights ring very true.

[Konstantin Root · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great introduction to Stephen Covey time management system that is mostly based on Franklin principles.
In 3h this audio seminar touches all main subjects and allows person that is not familiar with it start using it in day to day life right away.

If you haven't read about it (or Franklin principles or GTD) - do it today and it will be one of best 3h that you could spend this year :)

[Virginia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked "Focus" up at the library and realized it was not a book but a program. It alternates between Covey's narrative and a live program.

The audio program is a good refresher for those who have been through the program, and maybe even for those who are just trying to pick up some tips for dealing with a never-ending to-do list. However, this audio program was a bit dated.

[AYAH · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this! I really really want to be more focused, and bought the audiobook thinking its a BOOK, silly me! Well, it's not a book! it turned out to be a recording of a workshop with Stephen Covey interrupting the recording between different sections. You can also download the workshop handouts from audible which is neat, but I would have skipped if I knew it's not a real book

[Huy Vam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Можно смело читать 60% книги и загружать методичку с официального сайта. Но оставшаяся часть рассказывает нам как пользоваться бумажным органайзеров Франклина-Кови и карманным компьютером или аутлуком (только не это, подобная информация уже не релевантна).
Интересен по сути квадрант важности, роли и приоритизация.

[Jocelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to this as an audio book during commuting. It was ok, but really didn't provide the direction I was hoping for. The most detailed part was really just about how to use your Franklin Covey planner. More of a sales tool than a book that really added value for me.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little boring to listen to but some ideas to help gain focus on what's important.

[Stasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some good points but it felt more like an infomercial for the Franklin Covey time management system. And they were using the paper version not an electronic version.

[Gil Michelini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent summary of Covey's 7 Habits teaching with some enhancements of what has been learned since the book was published.

[Кирилл Самохин]

Good!

[Stephen Floyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite Quotes: "Importance, not urgency, should drive your life." "Time Management is an oxymoron - time can't be managed, it marches on."

[Mark Manderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although outdated, still highly applicable. Gives some great tools to change your focus which leads to a higher productivity.

[Roman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Полезно для тех, кто впервые читает про тайм-менеджмент. Или послушать вместо радио.