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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 16 customer reviews )
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Have a positive attitude, write down your goals, and act on them. There... you no longer need to read this book. Oct 14, 2008
By ƒůŽźŸ ωŬ≥ζŷ ♥☮♭♩♪♫♬♮☯☺
Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:
* Avoid this product! This product gives me ice cold pricklies.
I like most kinds of self-improvement books (e.g. How to be a better human/soul/partner/lover/worker/cook/gardener/artist/photographer/musician/etc), but I was thoroughly disappointed by this worthless book. Had this small book been published in the 1970s, it would have been a bit more original in the handful of concepts that it presents. But since the 1970s, there have been a huge number of motivational and inspirational self-help books dealing with time management and self-motivation such that this meager publication is either, at best, a tiresome rehashing of a few old unoriginal concepts or, at worst, a very lame attempt at trying to advertise and promote an overpriced and way-overhyped "revolutionary action planner" that the author is selling through the Staples stores.
Let's face it, the Day-Timer and FranklinCovey planners have been covering this same ground for many years now and doing it far better than this 'Action Day Planner' that the author is selling on his Web site as a Windows-only software program and as a paper notebook planner. His 'Action Day Planner' basically is blank paper divided into four sections for you to fill out: a daily diary section, a task list, a projects and goals list, and notes for projects that were delegated to other people. Not very original at all... do it now, do it later, or delegate. Even more unoriginal is the fact that the few concepts presented in this book were already presented in the author's previous work (also still being sold on Amazon), the 2004 edition of the The Execution Diary 2004, which is almost twice the cost (and who would buy a 2004 day planner diary anyway with 2009 being right around the corner?). So the author took some of the exact same text and flow chart diagram from the Execution Diary 2004, separated it out from its day planner format, and created a separate book in order to sell the Action Day Planner separate from the text that used to be combined together with the diary-planner. In the Execution Diary 2004's flow chart diagram, the user is asked to consider: "Takes less than 1 minute?, Yes: Do it now, or No: Execute later." In the rehashed Action Day book, it is reworded as: "Can I do it now?, Yes: Do it now, or No: Execute later." I just wanted to say to myself, "DUH!!!" when looking at this very simple decision tree.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 This book needs more of the author's ideas on how to get things done and less of other people's quotes on how to get things done Oct 03, 2008
By scesq
"scesq"
When I picked up this book I was hoping to read the author's ideas about how I could accomplish more things in my life. While the author does spend a little time addressing this subject, the vast majority of the book is filled with quotes and a few short stories on how others accomplished things. I found the book helpful but it could have been so much better had the author explained his ideas in more detail.
By my count 31 pages of the book addressed the authors ideas on what was necessary for people to "get things done." The author includes 75 pages of quotes and brief stories on what others feel is necessary to get things done.
If you purchase this book you will learn to "get things done" by thinking positively, setting goals and following the actions the author suggests. These actions are helped if you purchase a "New Breakthrough Action Planner" that the author created and that is available on his website and at major office supply store.
There are some good, basic ideas on how to accomplish things in this book. The problem is you have a small amount of explanation by the author followed by endless quotes. The quotes are interesting and had the author used to quotes to support the points he was making at the moment, rather than just including them at the end of the chapter, the book would have been much more helpful. In fact, as I mentioned, the pages full of quotes far outnumber the pages on how to accomplish things.
The following is an outline of the book:
Attitude
The author takes 11 pages to discuss the importance of positive attitude and includes some exercises the reader can do to help create a positive attitude. The author then includes 25 pages of quotes and brief stories about the benefits of positive thinking and believing in oneself. Two pages then sum up the chapter.
Goals
The author takes eight pages to talk about setting goals and how this should be done.
The author then includes 20 pages of quotes and brief stories about the importance of setting goals. One page sums up the chapter.
Actions
The author then takes eight pages to list specific actions the reader can take on a daily basis to take the actions necessary to accomplish his or her goals. The author also talks about an action planner he created that can be purchased to help in this process. The author then includes 30 pages of quotes and brief stories about taking action. One page sums up the book.
The author does have some nice ideas. His idea of distinguishing what can be done and focusing on those tasks while deciding what things need to be addressed later or delegated to others makes sense. The problem is there is too little of the author and too many quotes and brief stories by other people.
More importantly, if the author felt these quotes or brief stories were so important why did he just stick them at the end of each section instead of explaining why they were significant? Collecting 75 pages of quotes and brief stories will not personally help me "get things done." Explaining why these brief stories and quotes are relevant to me and my goal of getting things done may help.
Finally, I was disappointed that the author talks about his "New Breakthrough Action Planner" in the final section of the book and actually shows drawing of it and tells of its' importance in helping a person get things done. The book mentions how it is available at a national office supply store as well as on the author's website. It's like having a commercial in the book. If this action planner is so important in helping a person accomplish one's goals then sell the planner and the book together. Why read a book only to find out that you then should buy something else to help accomplish the goals of the book?
You can learn something about getting things done by reading this book. I don't think there is anything so revolutionary in the books ideas especially since so much of it is filled with other people's quotes and brief stories, but I think people might pick up an idea or two. The action planner may be helpful but since it did not come with the book I will never know.
While there are some good ideas here, I gave the book three stars because there are too many quotes at the end of each section without any explanation and the end of the book talks about the importance of the author's "Action Planner" which you would have to buy. If the book is incomplete without the planner then sell them together.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Bizarre and almost entirely devoid of worth Oct 03, 2008
By Jerry Saperstein
This isn't really a book in most traditional senses of the word. It is an advertisement you pay for. The ultimate goal is to sell you the Action Day Planner or software.
The author pretends to be providing self-help advice on forming the correct attitude to enable achievement, setting goals and taking action, all pretty standard fare in many self-help books.
There is no attempt at originality in "Action Day". Nearly the entirety of its 112 pages are proverbs, aphorisms, folk tales and stories, most of which will be familiar to anyone at all familiar with the self-help genre or those writers who have even a modest collection of books of quotes.
The worst of it is that the author doesn't even relate his material correctly. For example, he has the tale of a man happening upon three masons, an used story. Properly told, the man asks each of the three what he is doing. One says he is laying bricks. The other say he is building a wall. The punchline of this story about self-visualization is supposed to come from the third who says "I am building a cathedral". Cathedrals, of course, to the Western mind, bring immediate visions of huge, elaborate, often artistic and always impressive edifices. Gardarsson has the man building a "church", which provokes a vastly different vision.
Another of his errors is a frequently told tale of the value of persistence, using Abraham Lincoln's life as an example. Gardarsson says Lincoln "wanted to go to law school but couldn't get in". Utterly false. Back then, one essentially worked for a lawyer, was trained by the lawyer and was at some point declared a lawyer. No law schools, no bar exams.
These errors make me suspicious of many of Gardarsson's attributions. some of which I recognize as erroneous, but I am not going to take the time to research them. Several I know to be apochrypal.
Overall, this is a book of quotes, a few attempts at advice and substantial advertising for his Action Way product. The book is not worth its price and not worth the time spent "reading" it.
Jerry
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Motivational quotes and guidance are nice but not novel Oct 01, 2008
By Jed Shlackman
This book is a guide to success and achievement, offering a simple 3-step process of attitude, goals, and action. The book is primarily composed of quotes from historical figures and other sources that are offered to reinforce the basic concepts presented by the author. There are many excellent quotes here, but I would have liked to have seen more original content and deeper discussion of the ways to practically apply the processes needed to foster success. The material is useful but I felt the author could have provided clearer guidance on his own rather than relying so much on the quotes of others. I feel this book has some useful contributions but there are better works available that address the same topic.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Pretty much a waste of time Sep 26, 2008
By Kurt G. Schumacher
"Grey"
I'm always looking for ways to improve my organization and effectiveness. I didn't find that in this book.
The book is about 130 pages long, and 100 of those pages are nothing but quotations, fables, and inspirational stories. The other 30 pages are general advice about setting goals. There's nothing new here, nothing that hasn't been said better in any number of other books.
The main purpose of the book appears to be the five pages in the middle that are an advertisement for the author's "New Breakthrough Action Planner". There's nothing new there either. It's just another format of a daily diary and task list.
There are much better books on organization and planning, and much better collections of inspirational quotations and affirmations. Don't waste your time with this one.
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