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Time Management Magic: How to Get More Done Every Day: Move from Surviving to Thriving
A Disney executive VP shares his indispensable time management secrets in this guide to accomplishing more every day. During Lee Cockerell’s career as the senior operating executive of Walt Disney World Resorts, he led a team of forty thousand employees. He was responsible for the operations of twenty resort hotels, four theme parks, two water parks, and the ESPN Sports Complex. Having so many responsibilities taught Lee a lot about time management, and he began to share his expertise on the subject to help others make the best use of their time. The time management secrets Lee developed have become one of his most requested corporate training lectures and are now available to you in this tell-all book. However, this book is not just about managing your time. It is about life management as well. The executive time management secrets contained in this book will help you keep all parts of your life under control and jump-start your personal and professional growth. Lee’s first piece of advice is “Don’t underestimate what you can achieve.”
145 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 15, 2015
143 people are currently reading
785 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
April 23, 2019
This gets straight to the point and gave me important, straightforward instructions to stop procrastinating and get things accomplished. It is a quick read, effective, and motivating.
May 12, 2016
There was some good advice here, accompanied by plenty of in-practice examples by the author. Too many times though it felt like an elaborate marketing piece for a particular product that he uses as well as a couple of different websites (including his own). Other than that, an easy read to jump start you on your quest to better manage your time.
August 14, 2020
This is the book!!
It's short, to the point. Sixty pages of information to make your schedule right. To make your day right. Start off and finish each day on a good note.
During the reading of this book, I actually came up with my own idea on how to create a fun daily schedule. So much so, that I'm working on a method to make it happen and hopefully write a book on it if it turns out that it works for me. So stay tuned for that.
But continuing, this book is great for starting a daily schedule. To make your goals come true, maybe even your lovely dreams.
The author, Lee Cockerell, seems to have an attachment to the DayTimer book that is sold online. They are expensive however. Really expensive. I think you are better off using a pocket notebook. The good thing is that you can visit the website and look to see what you need to focus on and place it in your own notebook. Saves you a money bag.
I'm not sure if he was sponsoring that DayTimer time keeper, but he mentioned it quite a lot. But at the same time he also mentioned that it was not needed and that you can use your own method. So, that's what I've been doing. Started today actually, and it's been working great. I put in the hardest workout I have in three years. This is incorporating my own ideas. The ones I'm working on to make a book happen. Let's see how it goes.
Check this book out. It's 60 pages of life changing information. Also, continue down and read the annotations. All my reviews have this, so go on and add me as a friend to see more from my future reads.
Annotations from Kindle Edition:
Time Management Magic
Lee Cockerell
p.03) Time management magic is all about learning a system and a way of thinking which will enhance your ability to lead a highly productive, blanched and effective life.
p.03) Why quit when success could be waiting for you just around the next corner? It’s not going to get better if you quit. Life is all about your attitude.
p.06) The bottom line is, we can all do a better job of implementing time and life management in our daily lives.
p.06) When you finish reading this book, you will:
Believe, without a doubt, that there are many things you can do to manage your life more effectively and efficiently.
Be ready to implement an easy system for planning your goals and achieving them.
p.06) One of the most important things you can do is to sit down and think deeply about how you spend your time, where you don’t spend your time and where you should be spending your time-not just at work, but also in every part of your life.
p.07) I believe that the average person can do 50 percent more than they are doing now, including all the right things, if they have an effective system.
p.07) The problem is, people believe the “I don’t have enough time” excuse. They really believe that’s just the way it is. But nothing is just the way it is. Things are the way you let them be.
p.07) As I always tell leaders, “your role is to do what has to be done, when it has to be done, in the way it should be done, whether you like it or not and whether they like it or not.” And leadership is not about titles, or job descriptions, or salary grade. There’s a big difference between leadership and management. Management is about how to do. Leadership is about how to be.
p.08) It’s not McDonald’s fault that so many people are overweight. It’s the individual’s fault. It stems from a lack of self-discipline. With self-discipline almost anything can be achieved in every aspect of life.
p.09) Never underestimate what a difference you can make. And don’t say you don’t have the time.
p.10) Most people have absolutely no system in place for how to plan their day, week, month, or year. They come to their workplace and follow systems to accomplish their work, like using checklists and following operating guidelines, policies and procedures. When it comes to managing their personal lives though, they have no system.
p.11) The sad thing is that most people put such responsibilities off until they’re forced to deal with them. They start working out after they have bypass surgery… they stop smoking after they have hole in their neck… et cetera.
p.11) You either pay now or pay later with just about every decision you make about where and how you spend your time.
What are you going to do about it today?
p.12) Author recommends the DayTimer notebook, which can be purchased at the website with the same name.
N) However, you can always make your own version with a pocket notebook, costing 1/10 the price.
p.13) I am convinced that people who once used a paper pocket day planner and then switched to a smartphone only are now less organized, less effective and less efficient than they used to be.
p.13) If you aspire to excellent time management, you can’t let yourself become distracted by the endless waves of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Texts, and e-mails.
p.14) You don’t need to schedule your habits if they are truly good habits, and you do them without reminder.
N) This saves space in your notebook for goal setting.
p.19) Speaking of doing things now, one thing you do right away, is contemplate how you currently spend your time, how you should be spending your time and where you should stop spending your time. You will find it a good use of time to take a walk or sit in silence and think about these questions:
Are you getting real value out of everything you spend your time on?
Is the way you now spend your time going to help you achieve your goals and realize your dreams?
Of all the responsibilities you have taken on, which ones should you get to work on right away?
What should you start doing now that will pay off later in 1, 5, 10 or even 20 years from now?
What did you do yesterday that you need to go back and do better?
p.19) Routine is important. That is why operating guidelines, checklists, daily systems, policies and procedures are frequently referenced and consistently stressed in any successful organization.
p.20) Many hopes don’t materialize and many prayers are not answered. It takes good planning and effective action.
p.24) How do you feel when you don’t get anything done? Why not feel the opposite way by getting something that will make you better as a person.
p.24) People erect artificial barriers between work and home, but the truth is if you are having problems at work, you will also have problems at home, and if you are having problems at home, you will also have problems at work. My advice is to think about your life in its entirety every day.
p.24) One of the first, and maybe most important, aspects of a good time management system is to take time for planning every single day.
p.26) There are three levels of priority:
Urgent
Vital
Important
p.26) Think of planning as fire prevention. Wouldn’t you prefer to prevent first instead of fighting them? It’s like taking the time to exercise: you invest time to feel better and prevent disease, and as a result you save the time and cost of treating serious illnesses.
p.28) Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. -M.Scott Peck
p.28) The author has used the DayTimer for 35 years.
p.32) Will all have discretionary time. This is basically when you can do whatever you want, up to a point.
p.32) Lunch Break is just a name, not a requirement to eat for thirty or sixty minutes.
p.33) When you retire, you will have loads of discretionary time.
p.34) If you have two different types of tasks you can use the top to bottom and bottom to top method. Listing business items from top to bottom. Then list personal tasks from bottom to top. This keeps all your business items together and all your personal items together.
N) It doesn’t have to be business items. You can use something else like daily tasks and then daily goals as your second list.
p.35) While we’re on the topic, I have learned that the worst excuse for not exercising is that you are too tired. Most of the time, when you feel tired, exercise will actually re-energize you.
p.39) People often get stuck in a rut of doing the same activities over and over again without ever taking the time to ask themselves why they are doing that task and what benefit they are receiving from it.
p.50) Do the things you dislike first every day, so you don’t spend the rest of the day thinking about them.
p.50) Some great examples of self-imposed time wasters are:
Sleeping in and not taking the time for planning before you start your day.
Lack of self-discipline.
Taking on too much too soon, especially when just starting out.
Not delegating work to those that can do it for you, even if you have to pay them to free up time for you to work on something else.
Not being realistic about how long something will take. Start early enough so that, even if you misjudge the duration, you will still have time to do quality work.
Technology
p.53) Many individuals don’t attempt to have a great life. Why? Because they have a pretty good life, and they settle for that.
p.53) The act of writing turns an intangible thought into something concrete, and we need that if we are to turn what we imagine into reality.
p.56) There are two kinds of meetings, and they should be held separately. The purpose of one is to give out information, and the purpose of the other is to solve problems.
p.57) I can also tell you that if you hold yourself accountable to becoming the most efficient and effective time/life manager you can be, nearly anything is possible.
p.58) The author does not promote the DayTimer, but he mentions it quite a lot.
p.58) I can’t emphasize this enough: you simply must use a planner if you really want to manage your time successfully.
p.58) I use the red ink to check things off as I accomplish them.
p.58) Make sure to take five to thirty minutes to plan every day. This is a key strategy.
p.58) No Regrets: Nothing is sadder than someone growing old, tormented by regret. I’ve heard it many times, “I wish I had spent more time with my son. I wish I had talked to my daughter about the birds and the bees when I first thought of it. I wish I had not smoked. I wish I had watched my diet and weight and exercised more. I wish I had gone back to school. I wish I had told her I loved her more often. I wish, I wish, I wish, I hope, I hope, I hope, I pray, I pray…” How many regrets do you want to have?
How many regrets will you have if you don’t plan and use your time effectively?
END
It's short, to the point. Sixty pages of information to make your schedule right. To make your day right. Start off and finish each day on a good note.
During the reading of this book, I actually came up with my own idea on how to create a fun daily schedule. So much so, that I'm working on a method to make it happen and hopefully write a book on it if it turns out that it works for me. So stay tuned for that.
But continuing, this book is great for starting a daily schedule. To make your goals come true, maybe even your lovely dreams.
The author, Lee Cockerell, seems to have an attachment to the DayTimer book that is sold online. They are expensive however. Really expensive. I think you are better off using a pocket notebook. The good thing is that you can visit the website and look to see what you need to focus on and place it in your own notebook. Saves you a money bag.
I'm not sure if he was sponsoring that DayTimer time keeper, but he mentioned it quite a lot. But at the same time he also mentioned that it was not needed and that you can use your own method. So, that's what I've been doing. Started today actually, and it's been working great. I put in the hardest workout I have in three years. This is incorporating my own ideas. The ones I'm working on to make a book happen. Let's see how it goes.
Check this book out. It's 60 pages of life changing information. Also, continue down and read the annotations. All my reviews have this, so go on and add me as a friend to see more from my future reads.
Annotations from Kindle Edition:
Time Management Magic
Lee Cockerell
p.03) Time management magic is all about learning a system and a way of thinking which will enhance your ability to lead a highly productive, blanched and effective life.
p.03) Why quit when success could be waiting for you just around the next corner? It’s not going to get better if you quit. Life is all about your attitude.
p.06) The bottom line is, we can all do a better job of implementing time and life management in our daily lives.
p.06) When you finish reading this book, you will:
Believe, without a doubt, that there are many things you can do to manage your life more effectively and efficiently.
Be ready to implement an easy system for planning your goals and achieving them.
p.06) One of the most important things you can do is to sit down and think deeply about how you spend your time, where you don’t spend your time and where you should be spending your time-not just at work, but also in every part of your life.
p.07) I believe that the average person can do 50 percent more than they are doing now, including all the right things, if they have an effective system.
p.07) The problem is, people believe the “I don’t have enough time” excuse. They really believe that’s just the way it is. But nothing is just the way it is. Things are the way you let them be.
p.07) As I always tell leaders, “your role is to do what has to be done, when it has to be done, in the way it should be done, whether you like it or not and whether they like it or not.” And leadership is not about titles, or job descriptions, or salary grade. There’s a big difference between leadership and management. Management is about how to do. Leadership is about how to be.
p.08) It’s not McDonald’s fault that so many people are overweight. It’s the individual’s fault. It stems from a lack of self-discipline. With self-discipline almost anything can be achieved in every aspect of life.
p.09) Never underestimate what a difference you can make. And don’t say you don’t have the time.
p.10) Most people have absolutely no system in place for how to plan their day, week, month, or year. They come to their workplace and follow systems to accomplish their work, like using checklists and following operating guidelines, policies and procedures. When it comes to managing their personal lives though, they have no system.
p.11) The sad thing is that most people put such responsibilities off until they’re forced to deal with them. They start working out after they have bypass surgery… they stop smoking after they have hole in their neck… et cetera.
p.11) You either pay now or pay later with just about every decision you make about where and how you spend your time.
What are you going to do about it today?
p.12) Author recommends the DayTimer notebook, which can be purchased at the website with the same name.
N) However, you can always make your own version with a pocket notebook, costing 1/10 the price.
p.13) I am convinced that people who once used a paper pocket day planner and then switched to a smartphone only are now less organized, less effective and less efficient than they used to be.
p.13) If you aspire to excellent time management, you can’t let yourself become distracted by the endless waves of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Texts, and e-mails.
p.14) You don’t need to schedule your habits if they are truly good habits, and you do them without reminder.
N) This saves space in your notebook for goal setting.
p.19) Speaking of doing things now, one thing you do right away, is contemplate how you currently spend your time, how you should be spending your time and where you should stop spending your time. You will find it a good use of time to take a walk or sit in silence and think about these questions:
Are you getting real value out of everything you spend your time on?
Is the way you now spend your time going to help you achieve your goals and realize your dreams?
Of all the responsibilities you have taken on, which ones should you get to work on right away?
What should you start doing now that will pay off later in 1, 5, 10 or even 20 years from now?
What did you do yesterday that you need to go back and do better?
p.19) Routine is important. That is why operating guidelines, checklists, daily systems, policies and procedures are frequently referenced and consistently stressed in any successful organization.
p.20) Many hopes don’t materialize and many prayers are not answered. It takes good planning and effective action.
p.24) How do you feel when you don’t get anything done? Why not feel the opposite way by getting something that will make you better as a person.
p.24) People erect artificial barriers between work and home, but the truth is if you are having problems at work, you will also have problems at home, and if you are having problems at home, you will also have problems at work. My advice is to think about your life in its entirety every day.
p.24) One of the first, and maybe most important, aspects of a good time management system is to take time for planning every single day.
p.26) There are three levels of priority:
Urgent
Vital
Important
p.26) Think of planning as fire prevention. Wouldn’t you prefer to prevent first instead of fighting them? It’s like taking the time to exercise: you invest time to feel better and prevent disease, and as a result you save the time and cost of treating serious illnesses.
p.28) Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. -M.Scott Peck
p.28) The author has used the DayTimer for 35 years.
p.32) Will all have discretionary time. This is basically when you can do whatever you want, up to a point.
p.32) Lunch Break is just a name, not a requirement to eat for thirty or sixty minutes.
p.33) When you retire, you will have loads of discretionary time.
p.34) If you have two different types of tasks you can use the top to bottom and bottom to top method. Listing business items from top to bottom. Then list personal tasks from bottom to top. This keeps all your business items together and all your personal items together.
N) It doesn’t have to be business items. You can use something else like daily tasks and then daily goals as your second list.
p.35) While we’re on the topic, I have learned that the worst excuse for not exercising is that you are too tired. Most of the time, when you feel tired, exercise will actually re-energize you.
p.39) People often get stuck in a rut of doing the same activities over and over again without ever taking the time to ask themselves why they are doing that task and what benefit they are receiving from it.
p.50) Do the things you dislike first every day, so you don’t spend the rest of the day thinking about them.
p.50) Some great examples of self-imposed time wasters are:
Sleeping in and not taking the time for planning before you start your day.
Lack of self-discipline.
Taking on too much too soon, especially when just starting out.
Not delegating work to those that can do it for you, even if you have to pay them to free up time for you to work on something else.
Not being realistic about how long something will take. Start early enough so that, even if you misjudge the duration, you will still have time to do quality work.
Technology
p.53) Many individuals don’t attempt to have a great life. Why? Because they have a pretty good life, and they settle for that.
p.53) The act of writing turns an intangible thought into something concrete, and we need that if we are to turn what we imagine into reality.
p.56) There are two kinds of meetings, and they should be held separately. The purpose of one is to give out information, and the purpose of the other is to solve problems.
p.57) I can also tell you that if you hold yourself accountable to becoming the most efficient and effective time/life manager you can be, nearly anything is possible.
p.58) The author does not promote the DayTimer, but he mentions it quite a lot.
p.58) I can’t emphasize this enough: you simply must use a planner if you really want to manage your time successfully.
p.58) I use the red ink to check things off as I accomplish them.
p.58) Make sure to take five to thirty minutes to plan every day. This is a key strategy.
p.58) No Regrets: Nothing is sadder than someone growing old, tormented by regret. I’ve heard it many times, “I wish I had spent more time with my son. I wish I had talked to my daughter about the birds and the bees when I first thought of it. I wish I had not smoked. I wish I had watched my diet and weight and exercised more. I wish I had gone back to school. I wish I had told her I loved her more often. I wish, I wish, I wish, I hope, I hope, I hope, I pray, I pray…” How many regrets do you want to have?
How many regrets will you have if you don’t plan and use your time effectively?
END
January 1, 2020
The audio version, read by Jody Maberry, is fantastic, and I felt like I was listening to a friend. Considering that Lee Cockerell managed 40,000 + cast members at Walt Disney World, the happiest place on earth, I feel that he is exceptionally well qualified to share knowledge on managing time. Cockerell has had an amazing career, from which he draws his experiences from in this book, yet at the same time he is humble. I would recommend this book for anyone who is looking for solid action steps for time management.
August 13, 2017
Repetitive at the beginning, but filled with really practical helps and excellent examples to help you get started with time management.
June 29, 2025
A great starter book for those first embarking on the journey of building time management skills. For those who have already been doing that work, it’s got some decent points and refreshers. If you are looking for something to help you get organized with specific systems, this is probably not the book for you.
May 9, 2020
This really wasn’t so much a book as it was an annoying infomercial. I lost track of how many times within this short ‘book’ where the author places links to external sites where you can buy more of his books, buy tools he recommends, or refers you to external sites that can ‘help’ you with your time management skills (for a fee, of course).
Now, to be fair, Time Management is not an easy concept to master. Few can learn it, but most cannot. As a professional trainer, I’ve taught seminars on time management for over 25 years, and I’ve sadly learned that it’s more of a behavior trait that one must have in their genes. This is where this book fails. The author is simply peddling easy answers and throwing his advice against a wall in the hopes that some things will stick. Imagine if you went for professional counseling for chronic depression and the therapist just yelled at you to “cheer up!” That’s what reading this book felt like. Yes, we ALL know that to improve our time management skills we need to do things like have a “to do” list, but if it was THAT simple, why is it that most still can’t, nor won’t do it?
There are a few times when the author really does have solid, professional recommendations and advice, but rather than devoting page space to helping his readers accomplish what he’s suggesting, he simply throws his bullet points out, and then quickly moves on. Not very helpful. I felt like I bought a dieting book that “guaranteed I would lose weight if I followed the books instructions”, yet after I bought the book, I realized the book had only one sentence in the entire book that said “Eat a better diet and exercise”.
At one point, he briefly says something like “Start your day early. I start mine at 6:15 a.m.” Again, this is GOOD advice, but I can tell you from 25 years of professional experience that 99.9999% of the workforce population will not start their day at 6:15 a.m. unless someone is holding a gun (along with a bucket of cold water) over their head. What the author should do is take a point such as this, and craft an entire chapter around this concept with ideas, statistics, anecdotes, stories, and case studies. Had he taken this route, he just might make a convert out of the 99.9999% of his readers who struggle with repeatedly hitting the snooze button on their alarm clock.
Another great example that he doesn’t expand on: He states to “Surround yourself with great people”. Now, this really IS great time management advise (assuming those great people have great time management skills), but the author doesn’t expand on the concept. He only devotes one paragraph to this thought (again, along with a link to a website where you have to pay for additional training materials), whereas he should have spent an entire chapter on this concept. As short as this book is, I seriously doubt someone can remember a helpful point such as this once they’ve completed the book since the point was delivered in such a haphazard fashion.
Then we come to the author’s love of “The Daytimer”. If you’re unfamiliar with a Daytimer, it’s probably because most people stopped using Daytimers right around the time they bought Windows 95. The author arrogantly proclaims that the Daytimer is better than any of the modern, electronic means people use nowadays because electronics ‘causes one to be distracted’. Now, I have nothing against a person who still uses a Daytimer (nor do I have a problem with a person who still watches movies on a Betamax), but it seems pretty pointless to offer this as a suggestion as we’re starting the second decade of the twenty-first century. He even provides pictures of entries in his Daytimer. Oy.
The author also tends to ramble on and brag quite a bit about what he did as an executive at Disney. Again, more detailed (chapter long) examples would have helped. When I finished this book (after only two sittings) I was tempted to want to ask the author:
“If you’re so gifted at Time Management, how come you haven’t figured out a way to not have people pay $100 a ticket to enter DisneyWorld and have to wait 120 minutes to ride The Haunted Mansion?”
Sorry, but “Just Do It” might be a good slogan if you’re selling lumpy athletic shoes, but not if you’re trying to radically change someone’s behavior and drastically alter how they run their day-to-day life.
Now, to be fair, Time Management is not an easy concept to master. Few can learn it, but most cannot. As a professional trainer, I’ve taught seminars on time management for over 25 years, and I’ve sadly learned that it’s more of a behavior trait that one must have in their genes. This is where this book fails. The author is simply peddling easy answers and throwing his advice against a wall in the hopes that some things will stick. Imagine if you went for professional counseling for chronic depression and the therapist just yelled at you to “cheer up!” That’s what reading this book felt like. Yes, we ALL know that to improve our time management skills we need to do things like have a “to do” list, but if it was THAT simple, why is it that most still can’t, nor won’t do it?
There are a few times when the author really does have solid, professional recommendations and advice, but rather than devoting page space to helping his readers accomplish what he’s suggesting, he simply throws his bullet points out, and then quickly moves on. Not very helpful. I felt like I bought a dieting book that “guaranteed I would lose weight if I followed the books instructions”, yet after I bought the book, I realized the book had only one sentence in the entire book that said “Eat a better diet and exercise”.
At one point, he briefly says something like “Start your day early. I start mine at 6:15 a.m.” Again, this is GOOD advice, but I can tell you from 25 years of professional experience that 99.9999% of the workforce population will not start their day at 6:15 a.m. unless someone is holding a gun (along with a bucket of cold water) over their head. What the author should do is take a point such as this, and craft an entire chapter around this concept with ideas, statistics, anecdotes, stories, and case studies. Had he taken this route, he just might make a convert out of the 99.9999% of his readers who struggle with repeatedly hitting the snooze button on their alarm clock.
Another great example that he doesn’t expand on: He states to “Surround yourself with great people”. Now, this really IS great time management advise (assuming those great people have great time management skills), but the author doesn’t expand on the concept. He only devotes one paragraph to this thought (again, along with a link to a website where you have to pay for additional training materials), whereas he should have spent an entire chapter on this concept. As short as this book is, I seriously doubt someone can remember a helpful point such as this once they’ve completed the book since the point was delivered in such a haphazard fashion.
Then we come to the author’s love of “The Daytimer”. If you’re unfamiliar with a Daytimer, it’s probably because most people stopped using Daytimers right around the time they bought Windows 95. The author arrogantly proclaims that the Daytimer is better than any of the modern, electronic means people use nowadays because electronics ‘causes one to be distracted’. Now, I have nothing against a person who still uses a Daytimer (nor do I have a problem with a person who still watches movies on a Betamax), but it seems pretty pointless to offer this as a suggestion as we’re starting the second decade of the twenty-first century. He even provides pictures of entries in his Daytimer. Oy.
The author also tends to ramble on and brag quite a bit about what he did as an executive at Disney. Again, more detailed (chapter long) examples would have helped. When I finished this book (after only two sittings) I was tempted to want to ask the author:
“If you’re so gifted at Time Management, how come you haven’t figured out a way to not have people pay $100 a ticket to enter DisneyWorld and have to wait 120 minutes to ride The Haunted Mansion?”
Sorry, but “Just Do It” might be a good slogan if you’re selling lumpy athletic shoes, but not if you’re trying to radically change someone’s behavior and drastically alter how they run their day-to-day life.
April 27, 2023
Join Lee Cockerell, a retired Executive Vice President of the Walt Disney World Resort, as he shares his tips and tricks on getting more done every day so you can go from surviving to thriving.
In Time Management Magic, Cockerell brings you through days in the life of a top-producing executive and how he learned the importance of scheduling his days, weeks, months, and years and prioritizing what he needed to accomplish so that he defeated procrastination and that feeling of being overwhelmed.
While I can't say there is anything totally new or surprising within the book's pages, reiterating what needs to be done and how to do it regularly can be helpful in taking control of your time. This book also provides specific tools and where to find them to help you on your path to improving your time management skills.
What I missed with this book is Cockerell's narration. Jody Mayberry did a good job, but I feel Cockerell's delivery, which I heard in Creating Magic, would have been better, more precise. Mayberry didn't pause as much as I would have liked. There are several quotes in the book, but because the narrator kept speaking without a distinct pause, the listener didn't realize those weren't Cockerell's words until Mayberry spoke the person's name the quote is identified with.
I also have to admit, in audio form it was challenging--like in most audio books--to follow the lists from the book as they were recited. I would need to buy a paperback to reap the full benefits.
I am glad I read Time Management Magic, but if I hadn't read Creating Magic first, I'm not sure I would continue with Cockerell's Magic series.
In Time Management Magic, Cockerell brings you through days in the life of a top-producing executive and how he learned the importance of scheduling his days, weeks, months, and years and prioritizing what he needed to accomplish so that he defeated procrastination and that feeling of being overwhelmed.
While I can't say there is anything totally new or surprising within the book's pages, reiterating what needs to be done and how to do it regularly can be helpful in taking control of your time. This book also provides specific tools and where to find them to help you on your path to improving your time management skills.
What I missed with this book is Cockerell's narration. Jody Mayberry did a good job, but I feel Cockerell's delivery, which I heard in Creating Magic, would have been better, more precise. Mayberry didn't pause as much as I would have liked. There are several quotes in the book, but because the narrator kept speaking without a distinct pause, the listener didn't realize those weren't Cockerell's words until Mayberry spoke the person's name the quote is identified with.
I also have to admit, in audio form it was challenging--like in most audio books--to follow the lists from the book as they were recited. I would need to buy a paperback to reap the full benefits.
I am glad I read Time Management Magic, but if I hadn't read Creating Magic first, I'm not sure I would continue with Cockerell's Magic series.
January 29, 2025
Lee Cockerell delivers a practical and no-nonsense approach to mastering time management in Time Management Magic. Drawing from his experience as a former Disney executive, he lays out a system that is simple, effective, and, most importantly, actionable.
One of the book’s standout messages is the importance of prioritization: “What gets scheduled gets done.” Cockerell emphasizes that success isn’t about working harder but about working smarter—making conscious choices about how to spend each day. His advice on planning ahead is invaluable: “The secret to getting more done is doing less of the unimportant things.”
This book isn’t just about managing time; it’s about taking control of your life. If you struggle with organization or feel overwhelmed by daily responsibilities, Time Management Magic provides a straightforward system to help you regain focus and productivity. Highly recommended!
One of the book’s standout messages is the importance of prioritization: “What gets scheduled gets done.” Cockerell emphasizes that success isn’t about working harder but about working smarter—making conscious choices about how to spend each day. His advice on planning ahead is invaluable: “The secret to getting more done is doing less of the unimportant things.”
This book isn’t just about managing time; it’s about taking control of your life. If you struggle with organization or feel overwhelmed by daily responsibilities, Time Management Magic provides a straightforward system to help you regain focus and productivity. Highly recommended!
May 2, 2019
Concise walk through on managing your time. I have read multiple books/articles on time management and this book can be a stand-alone guide to time management. I would recommend having a journal next to you to get started straight away and also to answer questions mentioned throughout the book.
Positives
-concise, straight to the point
-walks through how to manage time via journaling
-really good quotes that made me think i.e. "to comprehend a man's life, it is necessary to know he does but also what he purposely leaves undone" - John Hall Gladstone
Negatives
-advice and tools recommended i.e. type of journal; may be outdated. Better advice and products may be out there i.e. bullet journaling
-would have liked a few more examples or more thorough explanations on some topics
Positives
-concise, straight to the point
-walks through how to manage time via journaling
-really good quotes that made me think i.e. "to comprehend a man's life, it is necessary to know he does but also what he purposely leaves undone" - John Hall Gladstone
Negatives
-advice and tools recommended i.e. type of journal; may be outdated. Better advice and products may be out there i.e. bullet journaling
-would have liked a few more examples or more thorough explanations on some topics
December 14, 2019
A short book, well worth the time. I am totally disregarding his advice to use a day timer, at least for now. I have developed my own system based around google sheets and google calendar. However, he. changed the way that I do daily planning: the important thing is to keep your goals in mind and think about whether you are doing everything you should to achieve those goals. I keep one sheet of goals, and another sheet of tasks, with lookup data validation between then. Each week I add a new sheet for tasks, and I keep the old sheets for historical reference. Next, schedule everything is URGENT and must be done in google calendar. You will also have some free time to work on other things, and can take those from the (hopefully prioritized) tasks.
May 10, 2020
Are you looking to make better use of your day? This is the book for you! Time Management Magic is more than just a fun book title, this book takes you on you're personal success story! We all have our own responsibilities, duties, and passions. Each day we fill our time with these activities and may feel like our days go by without much fulfillment. This book helps you to look at your schedule and rearrange your activities to fit your priorities better. Living a better life can be achieved by simple changes in the way we manage all areas in our life. This book is filled with so many more ideas that you will need to use in your personal and professional life. Important and fun read for everyone!
May 11, 2018
Solid Advice, Read This Early In Your Life & Career!
Having gone through a time management course early on in my career, reading this book helped me realize what a wonderful foundation I have been operating from for so long. It doesn’t end here though. There are still many more tips I’ve learned along the way to help even more. Example, schedule similar tasks for the same time of the day. I have to say that for the last 10+ years, Outlook has helped me be even more effective than my old day timer🙁. But using a day timer is still better than not having a plan at all. I 100% agree that using technology to stay on schedule requires serious discipline to avoid all other apps and distractions that come along with it. My personal advice, do not have any notifications on your device other than your calendar appt reminders!! Have a reminder to check voicemail, email & text but don’t let your device notify you of each new one. Also, place all of your important work apps on the front page and your social media and game apps on the last page in a folder. If you should ever find that you’re not checking social media at all (ha ha ha) schedule a time to go check it. You will find yourself being SO much more productive by doing these things!!
Having gone through a time management course early on in my career, reading this book helped me realize what a wonderful foundation I have been operating from for so long. It doesn’t end here though. There are still many more tips I’ve learned along the way to help even more. Example, schedule similar tasks for the same time of the day. I have to say that for the last 10+ years, Outlook has helped me be even more effective than my old day timer🙁. But using a day timer is still better than not having a plan at all. I 100% agree that using technology to stay on schedule requires serious discipline to avoid all other apps and distractions that come along with it. My personal advice, do not have any notifications on your device other than your calendar appt reminders!! Have a reminder to check voicemail, email & text but don’t let your device notify you of each new one. Also, place all of your important work apps on the front page and your social media and game apps on the last page in a folder. If you should ever find that you’re not checking social media at all (ha ha ha) schedule a time to go check it. You will find yourself being SO much more productive by doing these things!!
May 28, 2020
Good simple strategies for success
Even though you may have a unique situation which makes it difficult to schedule everything or maintain space in between your schedule, these are realistic and efficient practices to start imploying until you get to a better situation to follow the methods completely.
I don't think it's perfect but I think it's a great foundation to start and modify some things to tailor to your life/situation.
The rating that I chose was on the basis of the ideas and practices that the title promotes, again it's a great foundation to start and keep to improve success.
Even though you may have a unique situation which makes it difficult to schedule everything or maintain space in between your schedule, these are realistic and efficient practices to start imploying until you get to a better situation to follow the methods completely.
I don't think it's perfect but I think it's a great foundation to start and modify some things to tailor to your life/situation.
The rating that I chose was on the basis of the ideas and practices that the title promotes, again it's a great foundation to start and keep to improve success.
June 21, 2025
Esse é um bom livro pra quem quer começar a se organizar melhor e otimizar tempo. Uma única ressalva é que o autor, muitas vezes, fala demais sobre sua vida pessoal e isso acaba fazendo com que eu pule algumas partes que julgo desnecessárias.
Eu paguei caro por ele isso e também achei que o preço não valeu a pena mesmo. Então pra quem quer lê-lo, vale mais a pena pegar uma promoção, pois, como falei, ele é ótimo pra iniciantes e ajuda bastante, mas por ser caro e pequeno (além de algumas vezes enrolar) o custo não vale tanto a pena.
Pra mim, vai me ajudar bastante ter a mídia física, pois sempre vou querer dar uma olhada nos meus marcadores pra otimizar minha rotina. 4/5.
Eu paguei caro por ele isso e também achei que o preço não valeu a pena mesmo. Então pra quem quer lê-lo, vale mais a pena pegar uma promoção, pois, como falei, ele é ótimo pra iniciantes e ajuda bastante, mas por ser caro e pequeno (além de algumas vezes enrolar) o custo não vale tanto a pena.
Pra mim, vai me ajudar bastante ter a mídia física, pois sempre vou querer dar uma olhada nos meus marcadores pra otimizar minha rotina. 4/5.
August 24, 2020
I have read a lot of time management books and this is by far the best one. He doesn't just give you things to do, or philosophies to follow. Lee provides you with a frame work after explaining the importance and benefits of the system he uses. Finally, the point that makes it stick is that he uses real life examples of how to apply what he shares with you. After learning about his framework, he shows you copies of what his planner looks like so you can see and not just try to visualize what he says.
April 9, 2018
Great read, so many gems. I have been a proponent of planners for as long as I can remember but this brought my planning up a notch. I love reading and listening to Lee Cockerell's stories and his life experiences. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, ideas, and leadership with the world through this little book. If you want to get organized and have more free time, stress-free, this is a must read!
January 23, 2019
I’ve read Lee’s book “Creating Magic” and I knew I had to get my hands on this book. I always have a planner, but after my initial writings in it, I always forget about it and it sits in a drawer. Thanks to this book, I’ve found more ways to utilize it and make sure I’m on top of everything I need to finish. I highly recommend this book if you have poor time management or poor organization skills like I do.
July 22, 2019
Quick, concise and full of things I kind of already knew but sometimes you just need someone to write out for you for it to click. I am a big fan of Lee's from his other books and his podcast. As someone who also found that there is no replacing paper, I look forward to using his tips in the planning system I already have in place to continue to improve. But, this is really good for a beginner as well as someone looking to continue to improve on their time management systems.
January 27, 2024
There are definitely helpful lessons and tips in this book. I especially liked the last chapter. I wish it had more examples and techniques in using smartphones and apps to manage time. He recommends using the paper Day Timer system a lot in the book and I loved my day timer back in the day but I left that behind long ago. It’s no longer a practical solution. Worth the read if you have the time ;)
December 30, 2024
Read this book quite some time ago but I still hold on to some of the techniques for time management mentioned in this book. Lee's a little old school (of course) but I didn't find it difficult to fine tune it to what works for me. His writing is straight to the point, keeps you interested, and it was nice to learn about the habits of someone so successful within the Disney brand.
February 18, 2018
Lee Cockerell has done it again. A fantastic book full of insights and actions steps that can make a positive difference in your life. Don’t Wait...Read This Book Now!
Mark Bowser
Author of “Sales Success”
Mark Bowser
Author of “Sales Success”
Read
March 14, 2020Excellent motivation to improve time management base on Lee's experience as corporate VP of Disneyworld. He promotes a Day-Timer Planner to aid with one's organization. Looking forward to reading his other books on leadership and customer service.
April 6, 2020
De leitura rápida e com boas dicas. Não traz muita novidade pra quem já costuma ler sobre o tema, mas vale para reforçar a necessidade (e as vantagens) do gerenciamento do tempo. Acredito que a avaliação poderá ser ainda melhor à medida que for colocando as ideias em prática.
January 14, 2023
A nice quick read and a good reminder of the importance of using a planner and mapping out your tasks and goals. A lot of this was familiar but things that I’ve been inconsistent with in the past. I like the urgent, vital, important system.
May 30, 2025
I was disappointed with this book. I've read this authors other books and found them both informative, full of helpful tips and bought to life with his life examples. This one felt like an advert for a planner and hardly any examples.
June 23, 2025
Outstanding book on Time Management by Former Executive VP of Disney. Lee gives some straightforward advice that will help readers maximize their time, and effectiveness in all areas of life.
Scott, Branch Services Coordinator, Muskingum County Library System
Scott, Branch Services Coordinator, Muskingum County Library System
January 12, 2018
Ei mitään mullistavaa rakettitiedettä, mutta erittäin hyvää muistutusta ja pari kätevää vinkkiä.
Helppolukunen opus :)
Helppolukunen opus :)
July 29, 2018
Great Advice
I enjoyed this book so much I didn’t want it to end. I had my daytimer purchased by the time I was halfway through!
I enjoyed this book so much I didn’t want it to end. I had my daytimer purchased by the time I was halfway through!
September 12, 2018
Captivating, quick read for improving your time management skills.
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