Smarter Faster Better only made me a little smarter faster and better

Title: Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business 
Author: Charles Duhigg 
Pub Date: March 8, 2016
Rating: 8/10

My Thoughts:

I normally don’t read nonfiction and I wish I read more of it. As part of the PopSugar reading challenge I decided to take on Smarter Faster Better. This has actually made me want to read more nonfiction in order to better myself, as cheesy as that sounds. 

Duhigg takes the reader through eight ways to increase productivity including everything from SMART goals, which means to make sure they are reasonable, attainable and timed to how creativity is really just the combining of ideas.

Each chapter focuses on a single tip and is filled with two different anecdotes, give or take. For me that is the best way to learn- and studies have shown that this is not uncommon. Duhigg slips the learning aspect into the middle of the chapter, setting up the stories, telling the theory behind how to solve it and then ending the stories. (usually one failed and one succeeded).

I found myself really wanting these companies to succeed, even though I knew they wouldn’t all. He connects the reader to all of the people he talks about, putting some of their personalities as well as his into the story. I think this was why I liked it so much, it didn’t sound like a textbook, it sounded like a favorite teacher lecturing to me on my own time.

The main thing I didn’t like was that as the novel got farther and farther the ideas became more far fetched. It seemed harder to implement and some were only able to be done within a company and I wanted to see more for “life” instead of “business,” selfish as that may sound.

A giant thanks to Random House for allowing me an eARC of Smarter Faster Better.

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