“Assess – Decide – Do: Natural Productivity” Reviews

As promised, I am back with a few words about my latest ebook’s reviews. I initially planned to do this the other week, but some of the folks who wrote reviews told me they had a little bit of a hectic schedule and their reviews will be a little late. I wouldn’t want to let anyone out, so I waited.

Why am I posting this? First of all, as a sign of appreciation to anybody who took the time to read my latest ebook and post his own opinions. Second, because it really opens my eyes as how the ebook was perceived. Contrarily to what you may think, the reviews were quite different. For some readers, the motivational part sounded stronger, while for others, the tutorial in the end seemed more enjoyable. All in all, just browsing through these reviews will give you a very interesting bird-eye view of not only what’s in the ebook, but also about each of these bloggers expectations, values and, to put it in a simpler word, preferences.

Without further ado, let’s start.

Lyman Reed of LymanReed.com

Lyman is a personal development blogger for as long as I can remember. He’s also one of the most authentic guys I ever met online. Two highlights about his review: first, he gave away one copy for free to one of his readers (meaning he paid for that copy but the reader got it for free) and second, he started with a very funny joke (some of you may know it already):

Riddle me this, my friend:

Three frogs are sitting on a log.

One frog decides to jump.

How many frogs are still on the log?

.
.
.

Three.

If you’ve heard that little story before, then you know that it’s normally used to disparage people who don’t act quickly enough… who are always making a decision but never taking any action on those decisions.

Read his entire review here. If you want to know more about Lyman, he recently guest posted on my blog, you can find his article here.

Eric of EdenJournal.com

One thing you may not know about Eric (apart from the fact that he’s running a very cool blog, of course) is that he helped me a lot with proof-reading my ebook. He actually sent me back a PDF with annotations to help me spot that stupid grammar (and sometimes not only grammar) mistakes I did in my own text. So, here’s a short excerpt from Eric’s review:

As I started reading Assess-Decide-Do, Natural Productivity, I felt a little lost.  It’s like I was starting a new fiction novel, and I had to get to know the characters. […] In addition to the new concepts he slides in some great advice, which I really enjoyed.  Things like, “If the decision will not change something in your reality, it’s not a decision, it’s still an assessment.”

For the rest of it (which also includes a table of contents and a very exact description of what you get) go read the entire review here.

Ruben Berenguel from MostlyMaths.net

Ruben is a programmer and he writes at his blog about topics including programming, linux and productivity (he will soon be featured on this very blog with a very interesting guest post, so keep an eye on your feed reader for this guy). What was interesting about Ruben’s review was the fact that he found the first two parts of the ebook almost “boring”. The light seemed to come from the third section, which, as I already said, is a very detailed manual for the iPhone / iPad app I created in order to implement the framework on day to day basis. Here’s a short excerpt from Ruben’s review:

Personally, I found the first two sections a little fluffy, and the third section brilliantly clear. I asked Dragos about that, and he said that some people were completely in reverse, saying the first two chapters were eye opening and the third, boring. We guess it has something to do with analytical/emotional type of thinkers. I am pretty analytical, in case you wonder.

If you want to know more, read the whole review here.

Steven Aitchison of SteveAitchison.co.uk

Steven is an old blogging friend (and, to be honest, we’ve been through so many challenges and we exchanged so many messages that I consider him a real friend, which is somehow weird because we never met in real life 🙂 ). His review, also detailed, is the only one featuring a description of mine as being “swine”, which, to your surprise, may be sometimes pretty accurate. Joking of course, and so did Steven, but I thought to mention this here, just in case you need an extra incentive to read Steven’s review. And here’s a short excerpt from it too:

I am of the strong belief that life begins and ends with a decision, if we can’t decide what to do in life we will stagnate.  However the beauty in the guide is that it gives you the steps before and after the decision, which makes the decision and after effects of the decision so much easier.

For the whole cookie, go read his review here.

Sid Savara of SidSavara.com

I remember that my first serious encounter with Sid was a “let’s agree to disagree” situation. I can’t even remember what was the source of our disagreement, but I do remember that fact that we were both able to overcome it and maintain a healthy virtual friendship. In case you’re wondering, Sid’s review will win the prize for “the review with the bigger number of quotes from the ebook” so in case you’re looking for some ebook juice, go read it. My favorite part from Sid’s review:

An argument can be made for every phase being the most important, but for me, I think the key really is deciding.  As I’ve discussed in a previous article on metawork, I know all too well how to overanalyze and “overassess” a situation, and once I get going I can finish tasks relatively quickly.

The rest of the review is here.

Ian Peatey of QuantumLearning.pl

Ian is a real life friend, we met a few times in Bucharest. During the last few weeks he restarted his blogging routine at quantumlearning.pl and for that I am really happy, Ian is a wonderful writer (and, for me, the number one source for learning and implementing things about non-violent communication). My favorite part of his review:

Because Dragos isn’t a regular guy he doesn’t get a regular review. It’s a Lite Review:

You will like the book if you:

  • like his site
  • want to know how he’s so damn productive
  • want a method to help you get productive yourself
  • want to know how he’s so damn laid back AND productive at the same time.

Go read the rest of the review here.

ProductivityBits.com

This review came a little bit unexpected. In the pre-launch post I announced that I would give away a few copies of the ebook for free, if there will be a review following up (not a positive one, just a review). Here’s a short excerpt from ProductivityBits.com review:

  1. I like that the framework proposed in this book is flexible enough that it can be integrated to any work style that anyone prefers.
  2. I like the fact that the principles I learned in this book do not only apply to work in general but also to any other aspects of life.

For the rest of it, go here.

Abubakar Jamil of AbubakarJamil.com

Last, but definitely not least, my blogging friend Abubakar Jamil gave me one of the most interesting approaches on my own ebook.

There are only two kinds of books in the world. There are books that people write and then there are books that make people write them. I call the later—organic books.

Never realized that he was right, the ebook actually wrote itself. Go read the rest of the review here.

***

It goes without saying that I strongly advise you to subscribe to the blogs above. Each and every one of them will teach you something valuable, while entertaining you at the same time. I have a strong connection with many of the blog owners above and I support their activities 100%.

Well, those were the reviews on the blogs, but there were also countless mentions on social media, twitter and Facebook. I want to tell to each and every one of the people who helped me spread the word a big “THANK YOU”! And I mean it. 🙂




6 thoughts on ““Assess – Decide – Do: Natural Productivity” Reviews”

  1. Pingback: Assess - Decide - Do: Natural Productivity (A Review Of The Idea Behind The Book)
  2. Interesting observation by you and Ruben about the analytical/emotional type thinkers. I am glad to see your book covers both corners, because I think both are incredibly necessary for improvement. Those who might be put off by the first half, or the second half, should probably re-read it and see what about it annoys them. Sometimes the things that make us uncomfortable are where we need to dedicate more work. Good job at ruffling some feathers – it’s a good sign.

    I still have to read the book. I have it on my desktop but I have just been so busy with other things. I promise I will start reading it really soon.

    Thanks for sharing the reviews Dragos!

    Reply
  3. “If the decision will not change something in your reality, it’s not a decision, it’s still an assessment.” – these are simply profound words. Great reviews, Dragos – makes me want to go grab a copy of the book… thank you.

    Reply

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