The Time Bandit Solution

Recovering Stolen Time You Never Knew You Had

Greenleaf Book Group, 2015

15 min read

10 take-aways

Audio & text

What's inside?

Your employees lose 40% to 60% of their time to interruptions. The worst interrupters are your employees themselves.

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Editorial Rating

Qualities

Applicable

Recommendation

Although author Edward G. Brown grew up in humble circumstances in the East Bronx, he developed a successful career managing Hollywood celebrities – including Hawaiian singer Don Ho – owning restaurants and nightclubs, producing chart-breaking music, and partnering with Roy Rogers, the “King of the Cowboys.” Brown, co-founder of the Cohen Brown Management Group, taught himself how to manage his diverse, often stressful professional activities. He bases his time-management program on his business and life experiences and on the academic fields of management theory, psychology and sociology. While he sometimes bogs down in time-consuming detail, getAbstract recommends Brown’s effective time-management program, and his sensible ideas about avoiding interruptions and managing your work schedule. His top-quality presentation makes this vividly illustrated (even glitzy) book an ideal choice for anyone who wants to work more efficiently.

Summary

Time Thieves

Some bandits don’t take money or jewelry; they steal your time. These “time bandits” interrupt your work progress and pilfer chunks of your day. Time bandits include your clients, colleagues, supervisors, friends and family members. But, if you’re like most people, you are your own worst time thief. Though you don’t mean to, you probably also steal time from your colleagues. Don’t feel too bad: Everyone else is a time bandit, too.

Time banditry and work interruptions are serious problems. In the turbocharged business world, where many employees must somehow handle their own work plus the jobs of former employees who’ve been downsized or laid off, time has become a precious commodity. Burdened with heavy workloads, many of today’s employees feel like Sisyphus, vainly trying to roll his giant boulder up the hill throughout eternity. They voice a common complaint and lament: “We have too much to do and not enough time to do it!”

Wasted Energy, Effort and Time

Interruptions cause workers to lose 40% to 60% of their “daily, weekly, monthly and yearly time.” According to analyst Jonathan B. Spira, interruptions cost US businesses $588 billion annually...

About the Author

Edward G. Brown is co-founder of Cohen Brown Management Group, whose clients include Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank, Prudential Life and Merrill Lynch.

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J. G. 7 years ago

I enjoyed this article, curiously wondering if I am the offending bandit. I'll definitely be discussing time locking (as opposed to traditional blocking) with my team @getabstract #30DaysOfSummaries
J. W. 7 years ago

#30DaysOfSummaries The Philosophy and Principles sounds nice, and the best way to solve problem is to take actions immediately.
A. A. 7 years ago

I still think Sun Tzu gets it best that all plans fail at the first point of contact.

I fee that the tricky part in this approach again is the 'Who'.

Edward G. Brown