How to Do a Great Job…
& Go Home on Time
By Fergus O’Connell
Pearson / Prentice Hall
November 2005
ISBN: 0273704559
187 Pages, Illustrated, 5 ½” x 8 ½”
$33.95 Paper Original
Most of us haven't been successful in achieving a work/life balance. It remains
a Holy Grail shining in the distance, always out of reach. For those who feel
they have it, it seems to have come down to overcoming the guilt they feel as
they sidle out at 5 pm while everybody else is still in the office. It’s
a small wonder that elusive balance preoccupies us all more and more. But what
if it isn't really a 'balancing act' at all? What if we didn't have to choose
between work and life?
What if we all needed to start thinking and acting in a different way, and if
we did it would be possible to do a great job AND go home on time? Bestselling
author Fergus O'Connell says it is possible - and in this book he shows us all
how to do it. He argues that work/life balance is actually about exchanging
a situation where you are working longer and longer hours, feeling more and
more stressed and victimized, and not always meeting your targets, for a situation
where you’re in control, unstressed, meeting your targets and going home
to your life on time.
With equal combinations of wit and wisdom, Fergus shows how you can get rid
of bad habits and find that extra time we all need. He sets out the behaviors
and actions necessary to take hours back from work and give them back to you
- without compromising on your work performance (and rewards). Simply put, it
is possible to be successful and have a life outside work. This book shows you
how.
Contents
About the author
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1: The promise of work/life balance
Chapter 2: Figuring out where you are at the moment
Chapter 3: Talking the first step
Chapter 4: Another small dose
Chapter 5: The first big one – prioritizing – knowing your objectives
Chapter 6: The second big one – negotiating one thing – saying no
Chapter 7: The third big one – keeping it going – dance cards again
Chapter 8: What’s going to stop you? Approval seeking might
Chapter 9: What’s going to stop you? Guilt might
Chapter 10: If you don’t do it I’ll find somebody who will
Chapter 11: Dealing with email
Chapter 12: The rest of the menu
Chapter 13: The person who does a great job and goes home on time
Afterword
Features
• There are books on time management but Fergus highlights that work/life
balance is not about time management. Fergus puts a twist on this topical work
issue.
• This book is witty, warm and wise - just like the author's bestseller
Simply Brilliant.
Author
The Sunday Business Post has described Fergus O'Connell as having 'more strings
to his bow than a Stradivarius'. He has a First in Mathematical Physics and
has worked in information technology, software development and general management
with companies such as CPT, ICL and Retix. In 1992, he founded ETP (www.etpint.com),
now one of the world's leading programmer and project management companies.
His project management method 'Structured Project Management / The Ten Steps';
has influenced a generation of project managers. Fergus is the author of five
books, including the bestselling Simply Brilliant - The Competitive Advantage
of Common Sense, now in its second edition and How To Run Successful Projects
'The Silver Bullet', now in its third edition. Fergus has also written a novel,
Call The Swallow, published in 2002. Simply Brilliant was runner-up in the W
H Smith Book Awards 2002. Call The Swallow was short listed for the 2002 Kerry
Ingredients Irish Fiction Prize and nominated for the Hughes & Hughes /
Sunday Independent Novel of the Year. His books have been translated into eight
languages.
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