The Power of an Hour
Book

The Power of an Hour

Business and Life Mastery in One Hour a Week

Dave Lakhani
Wiley, 2006
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Editorial Rating

8

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  • Applicable

Recommendation

Dave Lakhani's latest effort may just be the feel-good business book of the year. Not enough time in the day? Too many distractions competing for your attention? Not sure what to attack first? Take heart: All you need is one solid distraction-free hour and Lakhani's instruction manual (which won't take much more than an hour to digest), and you're on your way to achieving a Zen-like state of what he calls "Fearsome Focus" that will blast your troubles away. Few of his instructions are revolutionary, but Lakhani's energy and enthusiasm propel his common-sense message to new heights of can-do optimism. The bulk of the book is composed of 18 chapters that focus on specific hour-long business or personal tasks, but these chapters simply extrapolate the essential idea of learning the skill of focus described in the first 35 pages. Once you've mastered focusing, you can choose from the chapters' tasks or make up your own. getAbstract prescribes this book as a cheerful pep talk for anyone who is pressed for time or struggling with an overwhelming to-do list.

Summary

Implementing Real Change in One Hour

If you are pressed for time, welcome to the club. Everyone is. What differentiates productive people from procrastinators is not the amount of time they have, but the amount of highly focused energy they can devote to a given task in a limited time span. If you are like most busy people, you cannot completely reshape your entire schedule on a whim, but you can block off one hour to concentrate on a specific project.

In this first “Critical Power Hour,” answer these seven questions to zero in on the change you want to make and to lay the groundwork for all the hours to come:

  1. What do you need to change? Be clear, specific, and detailed.
  2. Thinking critically, what is the structure of the change?
  3. Thinking creatively, what other solutions are possible?
  4. What are your next steps? Document them and set deadlines for each one.
  5. What initial action can you schedule to begin the process?
  6. How will you evaluate your progress? Compare your results to your planned steps.
  7. How will you reward yourself for completing ...

About the Author

Dave Lakhani is the president and founder of a consultancy that specializes in business acceleration. He is also a "serial entrepreneur," trainer, and speaker on sales and marketing topics, and the author of Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want.

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