Author: Prakash V. Rao
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 92 pages
Book Review by: Sonu Chandiram
Most of us want to spend more time on activities we want to do, and less time on the activities we have to do. Our want to do list of tasks are those that relate to our goals. But to reach our goals, we have to do some, or many tasks (we may or may not like) that will help us get closer to our goals.
Examples: You really want to see Europe. But your employer has assigned you a big project to complete in the next 60 days. You want to spend 15 days in Europe with your family and the best time for everyone is 45 days from now.
So if you really, really want to see Europe 45 days from now, you can devise a plan to work smarter (and/or harder) to complete your project at work. If you feel confident that your plan will enable you to finish the assignment in 45 days, you can present it to your boss and make a deal for you to take 15 days vacation. This would be a win-win situation.
Such a plan does two things: it saves your company time and possibly also, money. That makes your boss happy. It also makes you happy because you get to do what you want to do: take a 15-day vacation with your family touring Europe.
The objective of this game is quite simply written in the short two-page Summary of this book; to create more time working on your goals by spending less time on the activities you have to do.
The brief Contents of this book are also quite clearly presented at its outset:
- Introduction
- The Bank Your Time Game
- Playing the Game
- Estimation
- Beating the Estimates
- Time Accounting and Accumulation
- Using Bank Your Time
- Other Tactics
- Summary
This brief, compact book is refreshingly clear and concise on saving, conserving and utilizing probably the most precious commodity for most of us in today’s busy and oftentimes, harried world. How do you spend less time doing the have to do items (sometimes called “grunt work”) so that you can utilize the time saved to do your want to do things that bring you closer to your objectives? This book is your guide.
Most time-management systems found in books are: boring, difficult to stick to, painfully complex, and counter-productive in the sense that they take up so much time trying to understand and follow on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis that people give up. They are unnatural and require a lot of hard work and practice to be useful.
On the other hand, the Bank Your Time Game is fun, exciting, simple, and gives you a sense of satisfaction in accomplishing your goals.
A succinct way to describe it comes from the author himself:
“Bank Your Time is a game that is also a comprehensive, goal-oriented, metrics-driven, tactical time management program. It is comprehensive in that it covers all aspects of time management. It is goal-oriented: it allows you to set targets that you can achieve. It is metrics-driven in that it has ways to measure your progress and manage your adoption of the system. It is tactical: as a game, it is based on a set of tactics that you would use to reach your objectives and to win.”
Prakash V. Rao is an author, coach, consultant, speaker, and trainer.
He discovered Bank Your Time by accident. He was seeking to teach his son time management in a fun way. The project grew and took a life of its own! He developed it as a tool to assist him in the management of software development. It has since developed into a powerful efficiency and productivity program
He is the founder and president of VKS Associates LLC, a boutique management consulting and business coaching organization in New Jersey. With over 21 years experience in software development and management, he helps businesses achieve greater profitability through efficient implementation of tasks, projects, processes, and operations.
Prakash Rao holds two advanced degrees: A Masters in Computer Engineering and an MBA in Finance from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.
He enjoys listening to and performing South Indian classical music. He also enjoys reading books on fantasy, humor, motivation, mystery, and science fiction.
To read his articles on time management, go to www.ezinearticles.com. He maintains a blog on bankyourtime.wordpress.com. You can follow him on Twitter @bankyourtime, or email him: [email protected]
