Hey, I have to be upfront - generally speaking, I’m not a real Oprah or Suzy Orman fan, but I saw this link to a free PDF copy of her book and decided to check it out.

I’ll have to say that there some good advice here to consider given the times…especially if given free! If you are wondering what do do about your finances in 2009, I suggest you grab it, since it’ll only be free until January 15.

What I liked best was her explanation of FICO and why it is now relevant again…

Enjoy!

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdownload

Ran across this excellent list by John Kaufman. I’ve read probably 40% of these books and tend to agree with his selections. I tend to read 3-5 business books a year. Typically I identify at least 3-4 key concepts from each that shape the way I think.

I recommend doing the 10-days to Faster Reading as the first selection. I was already a fast reader when I read this (surprise to me - I thought I was slow), but actually improved my reading speed by 25% on average and my scanning speed by 100%. I’ve learned that for most business books, you can scan 50% of it and slow down and read 50%.

If you get through these 77 books - I will hereby annoint you with the the letters P.M.B.A. behind your name (though your mileage may vary)! Pick a couple, you might learn something!

http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/

I have had this book for some time (several months) - but despite the title, never got around to reading it until this last plane flight on Monday.  A case of “I’ve got too much to do to get organized”!  

One of the reasons I even picked up the book was because it was recommended in a flight magazine and was developing a bit of a cult following among business executives and other really busy people…like mothers (I’m not being sarcastic.  I may complain, but my wife Misty is way busier than I’ll ever be!)  So I figured that it was something more than just some “tips and tricks” and more like a lifestyle change.

Well after reading this book - I can really see that that is the truth.  One of the observations David makes, is that most organization methods fail - to-do lists, project maps, etc. - is because they don’t focus on the next action.  Another premise, is that whatever system you use has to necessitate getting things out of your head and into the system so you can free your mind to “not think about all the things that I have to do today, tomorrow, and by five years and that is not counting all the things I’m really forgetting, dangit I forgot to pick up milk”.   The analogy is that you only have so much RAM - and can only focus on 1-3 things at a time with any degree of efficiency.

I consider myself to be a very productive person all-in-all - but I am NOT in any sense of the word particularly organized.  My thoughts are organized, my strategies are organized, my project outputs are organized - but I personally am not.  I have asked my wife to give it a read and help me adopt some of these ideas.  I’ll keep you posted.

Otherwise, if you are anything like me, I thought the book may be of interest!  Here’s a link to check it out:

http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things- … roductivity/dp/0142000280