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Audiobook10 hours
Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business
Written by Charles Duhigg
Narrated by Mike Chamberlain
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of The Power of Habit comes a fascinating book that explores the science of productivity, and why managing how you think is more important than what you think-with an appendix of real-world lessons to apply to your life.
At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key productivity concepts-from motivation and goal setting to focus and decision making-that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics-as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters-this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don't merely act differently.
They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly different ways.
A young woman drops out of a PhD program and starts playing poker. By training herself to envision contradictory futures, she learns to anticipate her opponents' missteps-and becomes one of the most successful players in the world.
A group of data scientists at Google embark on a four-year study of how the best teams function, and find that how a group interacts is more important than who is in the group-a principle, it turns out, that also helps explain why Saturday Night Live became a hit.
A Marine Corps general, faced with low morale among recruits, reimagines boot camp-and discovers that instilling a "bias toward action" can turn even the most directionless teenagers into self-motivating achievers.
The filmmakers behind Disney's Frozen are nearly out of time and on the brink of catastrophe-until they shake up their team in just the right way, spurring a creative breakthrough that leads to one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.
What do these people have in common?
They know that productivity relies on making certain choices. The way we frame our daily decisions; the big ambitions we embrace and the easy goals we ignore; the cultures we establish as leaders to drive innovation; the way we interact with data: These are the things that separate the merely busy from the genuinely productive.
In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg explained why we do what we do. In Smarter Faster Better, he applies the same relentless curiosity, deep reporting, and rich storytelling to explain how we can improve at the things we do. It's a groundbreaking exploration of the science of productivity, one that can help anyone learn to succeed with less stress and struggle, and to get more done without sacrificing what we care about most-to become smarter, faster, and better at everything we do.
At the core of Smarter Faster Better are eight key productivity concepts-from motivation and goal setting to focus and decision making-that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics-as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters-this painstakingly researched book explains that the most productive people, companies, and organizations don't merely act differently.
They view the world, and their choices, in profoundly different ways.
A young woman drops out of a PhD program and starts playing poker. By training herself to envision contradictory futures, she learns to anticipate her opponents' missteps-and becomes one of the most successful players in the world.
A group of data scientists at Google embark on a four-year study of how the best teams function, and find that how a group interacts is more important than who is in the group-a principle, it turns out, that also helps explain why Saturday Night Live became a hit.
A Marine Corps general, faced with low morale among recruits, reimagines boot camp-and discovers that instilling a "bias toward action" can turn even the most directionless teenagers into self-motivating achievers.
The filmmakers behind Disney's Frozen are nearly out of time and on the brink of catastrophe-until they shake up their team in just the right way, spurring a creative breakthrough that leads to one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.
What do these people have in common?
They know that productivity relies on making certain choices. The way we frame our daily decisions; the big ambitions we embrace and the easy goals we ignore; the cultures we establish as leaders to drive innovation; the way we interact with data: These are the things that separate the merely busy from the genuinely productive.
In The Power of Habit, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg explained why we do what we do. In Smarter Faster Better, he applies the same relentless curiosity, deep reporting, and rich storytelling to explain how we can improve at the things we do. It's a groundbreaking exploration of the science of productivity, one that can help anyone learn to succeed with less stress and struggle, and to get more done without sacrificing what we care about most-to become smarter, faster, and better at everything we do.
Editor's Note
A roadmap…
Using anecdotes to teach insightful lessons, Duhigg’s roadmap for increasing productivity will help you in the office, on the field, and at home.
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Reviews for Smarter Faster Better
Rating: 4.174999967608696 out of 5 stars
4/5
460 ratings44 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really enjoyed reading this book - it is that rare combination of good writing and useful, actionable insights! Thank you Mr. Duhigg!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good updated information about how productivity can be increased in teams, decision-making, learning.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lots of interesting insights at the intersection of business and psychology. I got a lot from the chapters on group process and goal setting. Reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell in use of moderately entertaining anecdotes to make a point. Very little about productivity, in terms of getting more done -- more a focus on being successful overall.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good, but not great. I like the Appendix at the end of the book that tries to boil down the central points from each of the chapters. It runs several pages, but a 1-pager would be better.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Charlies Duhigg has surprised me and exceeded my expectations once again. Similar to his last book, the critically-acclaimed Power of Habit, I was expecting Smarter Faster Better to be kind of dumbed down for the business/corporate crowd, but this book is much to smart for that.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5"Productivity is about recognizing choices that other people often overlook. It's about making certain decisions in certain ways:The way we choose to see our livesThe stories we tell ourselvesThe goals we push ourselves to spell out in detailThe culture we establish among teammatesThe way we frame our choices and manage the information in our lives."This is the second book I've read by Duhig. Although I liked the habit book better, I took a lot of notes while reading this one. His introduction starts off about Atul Gawande and duhig wondering how one person can be so productive. This is what made him research the topic, but alas, he never got a chance to interview Gawande which I'd love to read.I like that he incorporates research with anecdotes. My favorite chapters were about building effective teams, managing others and staying motivated. It's nice that the appendix boils everything down.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good book on Productivity, covers lots of different but related topics.Demonstrates: - Productivity is a skill that can be improved. - Creativity & Innovation are skills that can be improved.- Innovation is combining old things in new ways. - Creating mental models helps with focus in stressful situations- Create Achievable goals - success on the small stuff is encouraging.- Create Stretch goals - having a hard goal encourages innovation.Related to: Start With WhyBecause: People work harder when they can find a Why behind their actions.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a full of deep insights about being productive, individually and in partnership with others. In a world of various hacks, I found it meaningful to read something rooted in empirical cases and the underlying psychology. A lot of the concepts tie to how our human minds work. Visualizing, teaching to others, and manipulating data manually are all ways of reinforcing the cognitive loop. (Side note: this was the first non-fiction book I read on Kindle. I found it harder to integrate the concepts into a coherent whole, but I do now have a handy collection of the excerpts that stood out to me.)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great book, inspired stories, you will learn a lot of things from this book , I recommend it to everyone.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5As an indie, impact (+change) producer/filmmaker, this was an epic read. I’m currently working on my first reality tv production. This book helped me identify effective strategies for goal-setting and team collaboration. I highly recommend this fast read. @tsailii, #silenttproductions
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is unlike any book or presentation I've ever heard on the topic of productivity. The author digs deep for meaningful and relatable stories about how mental models effect work across many industries. (If you liked Duhiggs's book 'The Power of Habit' you'll love this one as well.)
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Overall the book is OK, though the stories are so long that at times you just dread to move on... Mainly the whole book is full of long inspiring stories, for the ones that like it- it will be great.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outstanding book which illustrates great case studies!
Very motivational and practical. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Interesting. Smart. For me it created a vision : how to create my future, a plan and how to stick with it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Incredibly simple examples and step by step percolation into deeper subject makes really listening joyful !
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the second book I’ve read from this author, so the anecdotal approach was not new. The people who left a review that all the advice could be summed up in one page missed one of the key lessons in the book: inconvenient learning means deeper internalizing and better recollection. Overall easy read with some good points to reflect on about your approach to life.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good book. I do find several insight that I believe could make me Smarter, Faster, Better. I didn't know that having control will spur motivation. Mental model also a very good insight. Thank you.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It was good. Focused more on team work. I wished it had more on freelancer and managing tasks for one-man jobs.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5super informative a great outline for productivity and mental structures problem solving I'm definitely going to be purchasing the paper copy of this book now
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Found it very helpful and didn't want it to end.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5great advice and insights. a lot of things to put into practice.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First Gladwell, now Duhigg. An interdisciplinary roller coaster totally worth the read/listen. I especially appreciated the Appendix chapter where Duhigg summarizes all of the key ideas from the book to describe how he applied insights from productivity science to his own writing process.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5very deterministic audiobook with nice stories and clear insights that the editor applied firsthand in the process of writing the book, i want to start applying them myself and makeup for lost time!!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I am really loved it because stories are just great way to understand concepts. I loved the power of habit as well and smarter better faster didn't let me down either. I was working for GE for 12 years and smart goals and stretch goals and bullettrain concepts were really what the company was all about! I just think that's Charles is a great storyteller and a wonderful filtering agent of information. Since all of the stories will be very well memorable and just makes your use of information in your life very easy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loved it! A few but very practical ideas. Memorable stories. I loved the book since the first chapter.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Stopped reading around chapter 3 because it was taking too long to get to the point. Skipped to the second last chapter for the appendix which was more of a summary of the book and it was ok. Nothing new
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing book! Let’s try to apply these principles in our lives together!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excelente análisis sobre la estructura práctica de como organizar nuestras ideas para alcanzar metas y a la larga proyectos, una gran ayuda para aquellos que logran visualizar las cosas antes de que sucedan.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Power of Habit felt like a more powerful and memorable experience than Smarter, Faster, Better. This book is still a great read though and likely feels less put together simply because it has a much wider range of topics to cover.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book was refreshing and motivating. I would recommend it.