The aim of the book selection (phase 4) was to select the forty most popular personal productivity self-help books in the english language to read. The book title and description of each book in the list of unique results was manually reviewed, using the selection criteria checklist in section 3.2. Books that did not meet the selection criteria were excluded. Of the 1903 results, 272 were selected and 1631 excluded.
Excluded results were grouped by fourteen exclusion reasons: about organizational productivity, about managing others and leadership, industry specific, not on Amazon sales rank, about life fulfillment, not hardcover or paperback, about communications or manipulation, only one book by author, about team productivity, tool specific, too specific target group, job hunting, religion specific and summary book. Figure 12 shows the number of books excluded by exclusion reason.
The complete list of selected books as well as excluded books organized by exclusion reason can be seen in Appendix D. Of the 272 selected books most were found with the keyword personal productivity but each keyword contributed to the selected list. Seventy- eight books were found by multiple keywords. The most common combination were books found both by the keyword productivity and personal productivity, in total 54 books. No book was found by all keywords.
Figure 13: Selected books found by keyword
The forty most popular books were chosen to be read. The Amazon sales rank was used as a popularity indicator. The Amazon sales rank is a list of all the books sold on Amazon.com, regardless of genre. It is interesting to see that the three most popular books are in the top 300 books sold on Amazon.
Table 10: The forty books to be read for the review
# Title Author(s) Sales-
rank 1 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R.
Covey
72
2 The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
Charles Duhigg 174
# Title Author(s) Sales- rank 4 Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating
and Get More Done in Less Time
Brian Tracy 1753
5 Search Inside Yourself: The Unexpected Path to Achieving Success, Happiness (and World Peace)
Chade-Meng Tan
3166
6 The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal
Jim Loehr, Tony Schwartz
3232
7 Thinking in Systems: A Primer Donella H.
Meadows
3241
8 How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
John C. Maxwell
3484
9 The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things Done
Peter F. Drucker 4427
10 Six Thinking Hats Edward de Bono 9322
11 The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice
Todd Henry 9442
12 Working with Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman 14462
13 First Things First Stephen R.
Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill
14476
14 The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less
Richard Koch 14944
15 Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney
15236
16 Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters.
Michael Bungay Stanier
18748
17 Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys To Transforming the Way We Work and Live
Tony Schwartz, Jean Gomes, Catherine McCarthy
18933
18 Self Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Ken Blanchard, Susan Fowler,
# Title Author(s) Sales- rank Effectiveness Through Situational Self Leadership Laurence
Hawkins
19 A Message to Garcia Elbert Hubbard 22533
20 Time Management: Increase Your Personal Productivity And Effectiveness
Harvard Business Essentials
22580
21 Time Warrior: How to defeat procrastination, people- pleasing, self-doubt, over-commitment, broken promises and chaos
Steve Chandler 22784
22 10-Minute Toughness: The Mental Training Program for Winning Before the Game Begins
Jason Selk 25028
23 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think Laura Vanderkam
27442
24 Zen To Done: The Ultimate Simple Productivity System Leo Babauta 34270 25 Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your
Professional and Personal Life
Richard Paul, Linda Elder
39007
26 Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self- Motivation
Edward L. Deci, Richard Flaste
40617
27 The Art of Procrastination: A Guide to Effective Dawdling, Lollygagging and Postponing
John Perry 41093
28 The Hamster Revolution: How to Manage Your Email Before It Manages You
Mike Song, Vicki Halsey, Tim Burress
45598
29 Getting Results the Agile Way: A Personal Results System for Work and Life
J.D. Meier 46082
30 Lifehacker: The Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, and Better
Adam Pash, Gina Trapani
46580
31 Time Management In an Instant: 60 Ways to Make the Most of Your Day
Karen Leland, Keith Bailey
47643
32 MAKE IT HAPPEN in Ten Minutes a Day: The Simple, Lifesaving Method for Getting Things Done
Lorne Holden 48363
# Title Author(s) Sales- rank Achievers
34 Leave the Office Earlier: The Productivity Pro Shows You How to Do More in Less Time...and Feel Great About It
Laura Stack 57158
35 The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months
Brian P. Moran, Michael
Lennington
60467
36 Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job
Emily Bennington, Skip Lineberg
61963
37 Restore Yourself: The Antidote for Professional Exhaustion
Edy Greenblatt 62571
38 The 7 Minute Solution: Time Strategies to Prioritize, Organize & Simplify Your Life at Work & at Home
Allyson Lewis 63000
39 How to Be a Star at Work: 9 Breakthrough Strategies You Need to Succeed
Robert E. Kelley 63022
40 The Personal Efficiency Program: How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed and Win Back Control of Your Work
Kerry Gleeson 69982