Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less by Michael Hyatt

Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less Reviews

• 
  Nicholas Kotar

  I'm a Michael Hyatt fan. Even so, I'm sometimes (frequently) disappointed by the amount of fluff that he and his company sometimes pass off as substance. THIS book, however, is all good. I took the course about a year ago, and the book is even better. It's revolutionized my way of planning my entire life, and I'm a better man for it (dare I say it?) The audiobook is good, but you need the text version to really get the most out of it. Couple this with Deep Work and Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, and you can seriously change your relationship with time, work, and your own legacy. Recommended.
• 
  Dr. Tobias Christian Fischer

  Time is fixed. Our energy level is fixed.
  Period. Simple. Easy. Fun to read.
• 
  Jordan Shirkman

  This is one of the few business/productivity books that isn’t bloated and cuts straight to the chase with a simple, thoughtful system. I admire Michael Hyatt’s discipline and commitment to doing what he loves and is proficient at.
  
  Free to Focus balances productivity insights and theory with plenty of practical application. Hyatt also provides helpful worksheets that will help you implement his ideas. Unlike most other business books, he doesn’t go overboard on specifics that won’t work in your context and fortunately doesn’t anecdote you to death.
  
  If you’re a knowledge worker, this book can certainly help you think about your work in a different way, focus on the work that matters most, and improve your output not by doing more, but by doing less.
• 
  Kellie Reynolds

  I thought I was done with productivity books. However, I am a fan of Michael Hyatt so I decided to purchase his latest book, Free to Focus. The book lives up to its subtitle: A total productivity system to achieve more by doing less. Free to Focus, if you read it and take time to complete all of the activities, is truly transformational.
  
  The book starts by identifying the problem: we live a distracted life. We are bombarded by information, so nothing gets our full attention. A quote from Oliver Burkeman sets the tone for the book: “What will your life be, in the end, but the sum total of everything you spent it focusing on?”
  
  Hyatt breaks the book and productivity system into three steps, each with three sub-parts.
  
  Step one- Stop. In this case, stop does not refer to dropping an activity (that comes later), but rather to taking a pause to reflect. Hyatt takes you through exercises that allow you to decide what you want out of life (formulate), determine what activities you should focus on (evaluate), and use rest to help you improve results (rejuvenate). The exercise associated with “evaluate” force you identify areas of work that you need to eliminate because you are not the best person to do them. I loved the “rejuvenate” information because it emphasizes the importance of caring for ourselves physically, mentally, and relationally.
  
  Step two- Cut. Yes, this is where you go through the process of activity-decluttering. The “eliminate” exercises emphasize the importance of getting rid of activities that eat up time and energy. Time is finite! The “eliminate” information includes strategies for saying no to new requests and for dealing with unwanted existing commitments. I like the fact that Hyatt emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and honoring commitments. If you said “yes,” you can’t dump and run. The “automate” activities are fantastic! Hyatt includes examples of how to use routines, templates, and automation to make your life more efficient. And the last part of step two is….delegate. We know we should delegate, but “it takes too much time to explain, so I will do it myself.” There are other excuses. The delegation information is this book is the best I have seen. It clearly explains the rationale, provides a clear process, and describes five levels of delegation based on the experience of the other person and the stakes of the task.
  
  Step three- Act. It’s time to put it to work and get the important things done! The first exercise is to “consolidate” by planning your ideal week. Hyatt emphasizes the impossibility of multitasking. It is inefficient and does not work. The ideal week exercise involves batching activities, to the extent possible, to avoid toggling and wasting energy. This is a difficult exercise, but it does not have to be perfect the first time. I am looking forward to drafting and revising my ideal week. The second exercise involves prioritizing tasks on a weekly and daily basis. It is easy to write a to-do list and go through the day completing whatever tasks seem most attractive. However, that practice often leads to end of the day regret- “I was busy all day, but did not touch my most important work.” It may sound daunting to take time to reflect each day, but the focus and clarity are worth the effort. The last exercise is “activate,” which involves eliminating distractions so you can focus on the priorities identified in the earlier steps.
  
  The book comes with resources to use throughout the steps and exercises. I suggest you read through the entire book so you understand the process and then go back through a second time and complete the exercises. Some of the exercises will become daily or weekly practices.
  
  This book can help anyone focus on priorities and be more productive- teachers, community volunteers, parents who home school, executives, business owners, students, etc.
  
  
• 
  James

  This book, which I listened to on Audible, might be useful to someone just starting out in their career or who have no idea how to organize their time or manage their work.
  
  For anyone who has been in a professional environment for any length of time, most of this is merely hearing what worked for someone else. There are some good reminders and two or three useful tips offered, but I would not recommend reading (listening to) this book to find them.
  
  I likely would've given this another star if it weren't for the constant pitches for the author's organizer product.
  
  I'd recommend reading and implementing Covey's SEVEN HABITS for an effective self-management system.
• 
  Sebastian Hetman

  I read this book on a recommendation, but it wasn't really for me so I'll leave the rating out.
  
  Free to Focus may be great for overstressed and overworked corporate managers who need to hear obvious truths from an authority figure before giving them any serious consideration. I found Hyatt's platitudes on how to delegate and prioritize nothing but a repeat of what every other book on management tells you. Which may be exactly what some people need to hear again and again. Who knows, maybe this time they will put it into practice.
  
  The one thing that stood out, however, was the Focus Compass (Copyright, TM, All Rights Reserved, etc.), which gives you a neat tool to look at all the things you're busy doing and find those that distract you from doing meaningful work.
  
  I might recommend this book to those who feel overwhelmed by their daily torrent of tasks and are looking to find some balance.
• 
  Dustin Turner

  If you've never read or listened to Michael Hyatt before, you need to. He's excellent when it comes to goal setting and productivity. This book is no doubt helpful for productivity. If you follow Hyatt, a lot of the ideas in this book are not necessarily new. He has refined some of his ideas. Still, it was helpful to read it. I've found I need to keep reminding myself of what I need to do to become more productive.
• 
  Христо Блажев

  Супер фокус за по-малко, но по-ефективна работа:
  http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...
  
  И ако не можете да бъдете като изобретателя Хюго Гернсбак и неговия Изолатор, огромна каска, която го вадела от света ефективно – или поне докато имало въздух в нея, то може би е полезно да прочетете “Супер фокус”, вместо пак часове наред несъзнателно да скролвате из фийда си или да се зомбирате пред телевизора. Няма да се спирам подробно на методите на Хаят, защото те са взаимосвързани – започват с едно ударно спиране, рязка спирачка на бясната надпревара, в която повечето участваме охотно или насила, след което извежда как да се формулират приоритети и как след това всичко, което не е такова, да бъде или елиминирано, или автоматизирано, или делегирано. И сетне идва наистина забавната част...
  
  Locus Books
  
  http://knigolandia.info/book-review/s...
• 
  Greg

  Worth reading, but primarily for someone early in their career, or even who is still a student and who want's to accomplish more meaningful goals. For anyone who has read worthwhile material in this space (such as Covey's First Things First), Hyatt's ideas and recommendations will not be new. Nonetheless, there he recommends some useful tools and techniques, and for that purpose, it's worth a skim to find what is new and useful to you.
  
  Hyatt is a fan of Allen's Getting Things Done, where I am not. I found it too complicated and time consuming - when I tried the method, I spent more time planning and organizing my time than actually getting things done. However, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be useful for other with different needs. Hyatt puts forth other ideas that seem useful to me, many of which I have been doing for years. Free to Focus did give me a few ideas for tweaking my own priority management practices that I have found helpful. Other will undoubtedly get benefit from it as well.
• 
  H.b. Charles

  Filled with practical advice. Picked up good principles and pointers to guard, accomplish goals, and overcome distractions.
• 
  Daron Yondem

  This is a very good reminder of the fundamentals of productivity and focus to help craft an increased, razor-sharp impact in day-to-day work. There is nothing groundbreaking in the book, but definitely one of the best short reads that summarizes all you need to get back in shape.
• 
  Kristaps

  I'd say this is book + workbook for your focus improvement. Did it bring some new science to the table? Not a lot. However it was quite well structured, with few anecdotes here and there to liven it up. The author provides quite a lot of practical materials to work with and the book describes the general principles and thought process behind them. Remember - Time is fixed. Our energy level is fixed. So work with that. Priorities, learning to say no, understanding routines, setting goals, minimizing the unnecessary. Those are few of the lessons. I did enjoy the practical tasks (with all the forms) that went together with this and after filling most of them, I do have some key improvements or new ideas that I implemented. The book cuts straight to the chase, and that is a big plus for a book about productivity.
  
  Few notes:
  - Project vision caster for making your ideas clear.
  - Delegate and do that by saying what level of delegation do you prefer in each project
  - Optimize workflows, mark project/task owners
  - Morning and evening rituals
  - Workday end ritual
  - Not-to-do lists to understand what you want to change
  - Freedom compass (what are your tasks / responsibilities and which zones do they inhabit) - Desire zone, Distraction zone, Disinterest zone, Drudgery zone, Development zone
  - Productivity vision - define why you want to be productive
  - Do daily and weekly planning
  
• 
  Scquest

  Point: Productivity is not the ability to accomplish more, but to be able to accomplish what is best.
  
  Path: Hyatt shows how to Stop, Cut, and Act. The process of stopping and reorientation myself will allow me to eliminate what is not my priority and will free time to act on what I ought to be focusing on.
  
  Sources: Productivity gurus, technology studies, and current workplace information.
  
  Agreement: I appreciated his focus on the most important things. I think the concept of the Big Three was worth the entire book for me.
  
  Personal App: Am I trying to accomplish more or am I attempting to complete what is best?
  
  Favorite Quote: “True productivity starts with being clear on what we truly want.”
  
  
  Stars: 4 out of 5
  
  It would be worth another read and I would recommend it to someone who:
  Is struggling with overwork
  Has no idea what they are doing with all their time
  Self employed or freelancer
  
  Other books along this theme would be:
  Challies, T. Do More Better
  McKeown. Essentialism
  Allen. Getting Things Done
  Glee and 99U. Manage your Day-toDay
  Perman, M. What’s Best Next
  
• 
  Stan Skrabut

  Do you feel that no matter how hard you work, you are not making any progress? There are certain periods in my life where I felt that way. It is one of the reasons that I am so interested in productivity books and podcasts. I want to learn how to hack the system. However, I may be looking at it all wrong. According to Michael Hyatt in his new book,
  Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less, I should be working on productivity in order to get more of my life back not just to fill it with more to do.
  Read more
• 
  Todd

  A great “nuts and bolts” book on productivity and focus. A lot of practical tips and ideas on how to be effective and accomplish what is important to you. The author does a great job of explaining not only the “how” but the “why” as well.
• 
  Nderitu Pius

  An amazing book. The part that really got me in this book is that take time out to plan for your week in blocks which consist of themes. Do not plan your life around your work, plan your work around your life 🧬. Superb!!
• 
  Michael Storts

  This book was a great refresher for me. I have been a long time follower and user of Michael Hyatt's productivity and life systems. I would recommend this book to anyone!
• 
  Vlad

  A system for figuring out what you're working on and not working on. Fairly standard example of the genre.
• 
  Hope Helms

  Reminded me of Steven Covey’s book on time management except written better. 🙂
• 
  Pavel Annenkov

  О ЧЕМ КНИГА:
  Очередная попытка научить нас быть эффективными в расстановке приоритетов в работе, для того чтобы не жертвовать своей жизнью и здоровьем. Ожидал от Хаята большего. Ничего нового он особо не написал. Все подходы и мысли старые и уже описаннные до него в других книгах. Хотя не лишне себе еще раз напомнить о важности регулярных занятий спортом, о том, что нужно высыпаться и избегать негативных людей вокруг. Ценность книги в систематизации всего, что мы знаем на эту тему и в описании новых подходов и исследований на тему продуктивности.
  
  КАКАЯ БЫЛА ЦЕЛЬ ЧТЕНИЯ:
  - Найти для себя новые методы оптимизации ежедневной работы и расстановки приоритетов.
  
  ГЛАВНЫЕ ВЫВОДЫ:
  - Когда сваливается большая задача, то лучше сначала спокойно и без суеты провести ретрит или стратсессию для ее обсуждения, потратив день или два, чем сразу бросаться ее решать. Ясность и четкость планов компенсирует во много раз время, потраченное на обдумывание и поиск решений.
  
  - Регулярные физические упражнения влияют не только на мое здоровье, но и на уровень моей уверенности в себе.
  
  - Негативные люди вокруг, которые забирают у меня энергию, перекрывают весь позитивный эффект, который я получаю от правильной диеты и физических упражнений.
  
  - Позитивные люди вокруг повышают мою продуктивность минимум на 15%.
  
  - Встречи с самим собой и важные запланированные дела в формате deep work - это тоже встречи, которые я не могу отменить и поэтому можно спокойно говорить людям, что я занят на встречах в это время.
  
  - Записать видео приветствие для того чтобы посылать каждому новому сотруднику компании, где я рассказываю про наш бизнес, наши цели и ценности и что я ожидаю от его работы.
  
  ЧТО Я БУДУ ПРИМЕНЯТЬ:
  - Никогда не буду пропускать обед. Энергия от правильной еды, смена обстановки и перезагрузка компенсируют время потраченное на дорогу в кафе и обед.
  
  - Сделаю папку в почте с набором писем со стандартными ответами на запросы и предложения.
  
  - Буду использовать MegaBatching для deep work.
  
  ЕЩЕ НА ЭТУ ТЕМУ:
  Петр Людвиг "Победи прокрастинацию"
• 
  lala

  This book did not provide more information than listening to the Free to Focus podcast. I recommend the podcast over this book for the deepest comprehension. I really appreciated the I Love Lucy metaphor at the beginning: chocolates are coming down the conveyor belt, and Lucy figures out how to stuff them into her mouth and pockets, so her boss thinks that speed was mastered and he speeds up the conveyor belt. This feels so relevant to my mutual aid organizing work. Otherwise, it was nice to learn about the benefits of nature on focus, the inability to be produce beyond a certain amount of work, the 80/20 rule (20% of tasks produce 80% of outcomes, so leveraging tasks). Overall I deeply appreciate the Michael Hyatt and Full Focus Co system a lot despite its creation by capitalists! They surprisingly really push back against workaholism, reactiveness, codependency, and self neglect, and really push for intelligence, reflectivenss, maturity, and work life balance. I have upgraded my maturity and intelligence with studying how they explain setting and achieving goals and habits that are time keyed, and with prioritizing tasks, and I really value the immense maturity that comes with understanding my actual time and capacity, making plans I can actually complete to reach my actual goals, and being a very reliable communicator.
• 
  Lauren

  I'm hoping I'll look back on this book as a turning point in my life when I finally started realizing my goals. HIGHLY RECOMMEND. I've started implementing many of the practices and tools he discusses here (including using Todoist and the Full Focus Planner), and I'm already seeing results. I like how he focuses on productivity (getting the RIGHT things done) vs. efficiency (getting ALL THE THINGS done). For too long I've been trying to do ALL THE THINGS and wondering why I can never get any traction on the projects that matter most. He also brings it down to ground level, marrying the science-y stuff of Cal Newport with concrete and PRACTICAL steps. I feel like he opens up his playbook for overly busy, overtired, priority-averse multitaskers like me. (I may update this review in a few months to report back on how it's all working out. Let's see, will I ever get that book written?)
  
  Also, Michael is a great communicator, so I recommend the audiobook version.
• 
  Vishakha Motwani

  I have known some of the concepts before I started the book/podcast focus on this but unfortunately I was not using the techniques to their max potential. The concept of ideal week and time blocking and deep work were not alien to me but for all these to work together to give you the best of all world's is what makes this book different! And yes, you'll see all the excuses to not read this because you know all about it but give it a shot. Also I diligently did every task after every chapter and as Michael Hyatt mentions that you think you don't have much to improve but it can be eye opening once you actually sit and do it and that was what I felt too. My major eye opener was the freedom compass when I realized I hardly spend time in my desire zone.
• 
  Jordan

  Productivity is not about getting more things done; it’s about getting the right things done. This line is the essence of Hyatt's book. From this point he then maps out a system to help you get the right things done.
  
  It's helpful for me to read a productivity book at the beginning of the year. In some ways all the good productivity books are the same. Maybe repackaged and different illustrations, but the helpful stuff is all the same. Hyatt's book is no different. Same tried and true stuff repackaged and reworded. Of course that's not to discount it. I for one need the reminders and the reframing. I plan to use much of his scheme over this next year. I particularly plan to use his weekly preview prompts and process.
• 
  Matt Witten

  I really appreciate the simplicity and tools Hyatt provides in this book. I think a lot of productivity or efficiency books are lengthened through unnecessary commentary on bigger life views, pounding home small incidents, and over repetition (which is funny considering their topic). This book is not that at all. It’s quick but important, simple bit thorough, and gives easily actionable tips and tools that help. My only knock is that I think it’s somewhat idealistic and biased by his type of work, but that’s to be expected. A great book that can truly help.
• 
  Holly

  Off the bat, a big takeaway is understanding what productivity means. Productivity is not about doing more, but about doing less. Another way to put it, true productivity is about doing more of the right things—important things in which you are both passionate and proficient—and less of everything else. Michael gives a very detailed yet easy to understand structure and immediate action steps in how to create more margin and freedom to focus on those important things. Our world is making it harder and harder to maintain our attention spans as "almost everyone out there is trying to capitalize on [our] focus." I recommend this book to anyone who loves achieving goals and is interested in improving how they spend their time.
• 
  Carrie Daws

  I've been following Michael Hyatt off and on for several years now, so nothing in this book was particularly mind-blowing. It was, however, encouraging, easy-to-follow, and motivating. The steps he outlines are simplistic enough to put into practice, although many of them will take work to think through and practice to implement. I've tried several of his solutions in the past, which means rather than starting from scratch, I'm tweaking what I'm already doing. I've never been disappointed with his systems, so I'm anxious to begin putting those changes into effect.