Books about Productive from Amazon.com

All students and professors need to write, and many struggle to finish their stalled dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, or grant proposals Writing is hard work and can be difficult to wedge into a frenetic academic schedule. In this practical, lighthearted and encouraging book, Paul J Silvia explains that writing productively doesnot require innate skills or special traits but specific tactics and actions. Drawing examples from his own field: psychology, he shows readers how to overcome motivational roadblocks and become prolific without sacrificing evenings, weekends and vactions. After describing strategies for writing productively, the author gives advise from the trenches on how to write, submit, revise, and resubmit articles: how to improve writing quality; and how to write and publish academic work..
Price: $8.65 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Peopleware asserts that most software development projects fail because of failures within the team running them. This strikingly clear, direct book is written for software development-team leaders and managers, but it's filled with enough commonsense wisdom to appeal to anyone working in technology. Authors Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister include plenty of illustrative, often amusing anecdotes; their writing is light, conversational, and filled with equal portions of humor and wisdom, and there is a refreshing absence of "new age" terms and multistep programs. The advice is presented straightforwardly and ranges from simple issues of prioritization to complex ways of engendering harmony and productivity in your team. Peopleware is a short read that delivers more than many books on the subject twice its size..
Price: $28.35 [Notify me when price goes down.]

There are thousands of books about thinking But there are very few books that provide clear how-to information that can actually help you think better.

Think Better is about Productive Thinking — why it’s important, how it works, and how to use it at work, at home, and at play. Productive Thinking is a game changer — a practical, easy-to-learn, repeatable process that helps people understand more clearly, think more creatively, and plan more effectively. It's based on the thinking strategies that people we celebrate for their creativity have been using for centuries. Tim Hurson brings Productive Thinking out of the closet and presents it in a way that makes it easy for anyone to grasp and use — so you can think better, work better, and do better in every aspect of your life.

Think Better demonstrates how you can start with an intractable technical problem, an unmet consumer need, or a gaping chasm in your business strategy and, by following a clearly defined, practical thinking process, arrive at a robust, innovative solution. Many companies use the Productive Thinking model to generate fresh solutions for tough business problems, and many individuals rely on it to solve pressing personal problems.

The principles you'll find in Think Better are straight-forward: separate your thinking into creative thinking and critical thinking; stay with the question; strive for the “third third” by generating lots and lots of ideas; and look for unexpected connections.

The model consists of six interlocking steps:

Step 1:What's Going On? Explore and truly understand the challenge.

Step 2: What's Success? Envision the ideal outcome and establish success criteria.

Step 3: What's the Question? Pinpoint the real problem or opportunity.

Step 4: Generate Answers List many possible solutions.

Step 5: Forge the Solution Decide which solution is best. Then make it better.

Step 6: Align Resources Create an action plan.

Tim Hurson starts by explaining how we all build inner barriers to effective thinking. He identifies our habits of thinking that severely limit our behavior, from “monkey mind” to “gator brain.” Then he demonstrates how to overcome these barriers.

More than anything, productive thinking is an attitude that will let you look at problems and convert them into opportunities. At the end of this disciplined brainstorming process, you'll have a concrete action plan, complete with timelines and deadlines.

The book is filled with many of Hurson's original brainstorming tools that will empower you to generate, organize, and process ideas. For example, you can identify your best ideas using the five C's: Cull, Cluster, Combine, Clarify and Choose. And you can transform an embryonic idea into a robust solution with POWER, which stands for Positives, Objections, What else?, Enhancements and Remedies.

To create the future, you first must be able to imagine it. Productive thinking is a way to help you do that.

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Price: $15.03 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Improve balance and coordination. Includes step by step instructions. Full-color guide!.
Price: $8.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This comprehensive little book covers a series of dumbbell exercises to work out the upper-body, lower-body, and abdominals. Each exercise has a start and finish photo, with easy to follow step-by-step instructions. The Great Dumbbell Handbook also shows you how to set-up your own dumbbell exercise routine, as well as pointers on stretching, staying motivated, and safety..
Price: $8.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A practical, user-friendly guide to the most dreaded of all business tasks.

Written by two top business trainers, this guide reveals the strategies and language skills needed to make the most of performance appraisals-for both the reviewers and the reviewed. It breaks the process into five simple steps and explains what to say with hundreds of winning phrases organized by topic (and hundreds of counterproductive phrases too). Also included is advice on preparing an agenda, body language, and tone of voice-plus true success and horror stories..
Price: $1.17 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A complete set of dumbbell training exercises, including a muscle anatomy chart and how to set up your own routine.

Each set includes four 12" x 18" laminated, full-color posters..
Price: $22.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

An inspirational book for leaders that borrows the ancient secrets of the shepherd to uncover a fresh perspective on the art of leadership and management..
Price: $8.63 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Whether a group of engineers is developing new cars, software applications, aerospace equipment, kitchen appliances, controls, sensors, or any of hundreds of different items, the process they follow is pretty much the same. Except in one company -- Toyota, perhaps the most innovative and highly respected car company on the planet. What is most startling is that Toyota s product development engineers are four times as productive as their counterparts in other companies, according to a study by the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. Most follow a linear process in developing new products.

Toyota's engineers do not. As this book reveals and explains, Toyota's development engineers rely on a development paradigm that is totally different than that found in the West. Companies that are early adopters of the Toyota product development system are certain to realize tremendous advantages over their competitors. This is a change that is coming to businesses everywhere and this book shows the way. It is a must-read for anyone in management..
Price: $10.43 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The medicine ball, a popular exercise tool in the 50's, 60's and 70's, is now making a comeback in the year 2001. The trend in fitness is toward core strength; strong abdominals, obliques and back muscles. The core group of muscles or "core" are often the initial source of physical movement. Therefore, having a strong core is crucial to both sport success for the athlete and functional movement for the average person. Because of it's size, weight, and easy handling ability, the medicine ball is an excellent exercise tool for working the core.

The Great Medicine Ball Handbook shows the user a range of different exercises, along with proper instruction and safety concerns. Other sections include; rotator cuff exercises, stretching, a sample routine, and muscle anatomy diagrams.

This "How to" book gives a complete body workout with start and finish photos and easy to follow, step-by-step, instructions..
Price: $8.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]