Time Management Magic Paperback – January 1, 2016

Lee Cockerell is no academic or theorist. He is an incredibly accomplished senior executive who for a decade was responsible for everything going on in every square inch of the 43 square miles of the Walt Disney World® Resort. Cockerell attributes much of his success as Disney World’s Executive VP of Operations to his ability to control his time, and in Time Management Magic, he explains exactly how he did it.The remarkable thing about Lee Cockerell’s approach is that something so powerful could prove to be so simple. And it’s not just his approach that’s clear and straightforward; his presentation is, too. I read through the book in one day – almost in a single sitting – and began to apply it immediately.The most helpful thing about the book is that Cockerell explains in detail exactly how organizes his schedule, and then he walks you through a typical day so that you can see the principles and plans in action. This second feature was something that I hadn’t seen before and I found it enormously enlightening. I came away feeling well prepared to apply the principles myself.A word about tools: The principles in Time Management Magic can be applied in conjunction with any number of time management tools. Cockerell uses the Day-Timer® system both personally and for his illustrations. As someone who has used the tools in Microsoft Outlook® for two decades, I could easily see how Cockerell’s principles can be transferred. I will confess, though, that Cockerell may have converted me!If “get control of my time” is on your list on New Year’s resolutions, as it is mine, Lee Cockerell’s Time Management Magic seems like a great resource.

Read this book in one sitting, applied the principles and it has certainly helped my time management. I've tried so many times to use a planner and have failed every time, until now. This book provides an easy road map and guidance on how to manage life via writing stuff down. Though the book is geared to use a particular planner, I opted for a different type of planner and was able to make it work just fine. I know using paper seems primitive in this day and age, I have successfully used a smart phone and digital platform for everything (and still do, the paper serves as 'back up'), but it got to the point where I needed to see things visually on paper, and it's easier to flip through and find things because I have a visual mental picture of what I've written down. Bottom line, there's something about writing things down on paper that works better for me than just seeing it on a screen, and this book helped me to dial it in and have it work in my life.

If you need help planning your days, weeks, months, or years, GET THIS BOOK!If you need to learn how to become more organized, GET THIS BOOK!I learned about and purchased this book after reading one of Lee Cockerell's other books and I am glad I did. I learned how to maximize my time to the best of my ability. I have instructed a lot of people to purchase this book when they come to me asking how I can get more accomplished in a day than they can in a week.

Great counsel from a top exec formerly of Walt Disney World. Makes a good point about redundancy of systems (the benefits of having backups). In particular having an analog/manual/paper system in tandem with digital planning systems. Who hasn't had a battery run out on them on a "mission critical" device? Have important items written down in a pocket sized planner, and that won't be as much of an issue. Other good points: jot down some agenda points in your planner for key meetings or communications with others. Start your day with planning time and jot down goals for the day rather than wandering hither and yon reactively through the day. Great tips.

The best book on Time Management I've read. His stuff on how to assign right priorities as well as overcoming procrastination (guilty!) were worth the price of the book times ten. Because of his success in managing over 40,000 cast/employees with Disney World and Marriot, you can tell he is writing from real-world experience and not just some idealistic theory.It's super practical and was a pretty quick read. He even put actual pages from his daytimer in the book from when he was at Disney as an example and showed how he mastered assigning priorities. Great thinking to incorporate into your daily life.So, I have made a decision this new year to actively implement his strategies and I've already seen a big change in how much I'm getting done daily (even though I'm self-employed and not some huge CEO executive). I'd definitely recommend it, certainly to business people, but honestly we all need better time management. Time is money, right?

One thing I love about Lee's writing is that he speaks from "the trenches" and you cannot argue with his results. In this particular offering, I enjoyed that he gives examples and advice that have tremendous value in personal as well as professional realms. His advice on preoccupation and how he applied them to wife and kids really speaks to a very distracted society. His somewhat radical view of procrastination (that to be thought of as a procrastinator is as bad as being thought of as a criminal) - became very clear to me as he described the perception of those who are unreliable and ultimately untrustworthy in business.One piece of constructive criticism is that I felt he tried to include too much. One example is the tips he put about meeting management and being effective with meetings, was so lightly glossed over and felt like it was a deeper subject - so to me, came across a bit fluffy.