Product Description To succeed in today’s ever-accelerating world, speed is the name of the game. Forget “slow and steady wins the race.” The key to getting ahead is not fighting or hiding from speed, but embracing speed and using its power to your advantage. As Vince Poscente demonstrates in this rewarding and, yes, fast-paced book, speed has a unique ability to enrich your life. He empowers you to take control of your time, your tasks, your priorities, and your talents, and start making life everything you want it to be. Twenty new tips–exclusive to this paperback edition–show you how to:
• recognize the difference between repetitive chores and passionate pursuits, and assign the appropriate amount of time and energy to each
• mentally shatter the outdated idea that work, home, and leisure should be completely separate, and create a new, purpose-driven model of organizing your time
• discover how to control interruptions, including how and when to accept them–by learning when to multitask and when to focus
Speed provides amazing benefits–you become more conscious of how you spend your time, understand your authentic purpose, and find yourself more flexible and open to new opportunities. When you harness the power of speed, your life and work become less stressful, less busy, and more balanced. What are you waiting for?
Praise for The Age of Speed:
“The Age of Speed is your bible to surf the speed tsunami that’s overtaking business and life.” –Scott Cook, chairman and co-founder, Intuit
“Thought-provoking . . . It’s time to make peace with the whoosh of your 24/7 lifestyle.” –Time
“[Vince Poscente’s] counterintuitive notion of embracing speed rather than coping with it will change the way people live and work.” –Stephen M. R. Covey, author of The Speed of Trust
You have to be ready for this book . . .November 14, 2008 If you find yourself thinking about how times have changed and everything seems to be moving too fast, then you'll find the information in "The Age of Speed" attention-grabbing and interesting. If you're more into a slow paced existence, than this may not be the read for you.
I read many books on many different topics and I have mixed feelings about this particular selection. It's a book you have to be ready for - you have to be rushing through your life at warp speed to truly appreciate the information contained in this book.
Here's the premise: Just because we're going faster, doesn't mean it has to be of lesser quality.
Let's be honest here - I read it in the beauty salon while getting my hair colored. Yes, I read The Age of Speed quickly, from start to finish in two hours. It's really not that "speedy" of a read, but I felt it just didn't have that much information or "meat." Maybe I missed the point but I kept waiting for the big "aha." I didn't feel it quite delivered the information I was anticipating.
On the positive side - I learned a few things about coping with and even appreciating the fast paced world in which we are currently living. Here are a few examples: *Going fast doesn't necessarily mean working harder. We have the tools at our disposal to accomplish more in less time than our counterparts twenty years ago.
*Every time we speed up the time it takes to complete an unimportant task, we create the possibility of more time to do something we feel is significant.
*To master the discipline of agility, we must also be flexible in our thoughts and actions - and this is an exercise in humility and courage. Being flexible is a test of our willingness to acknowledge weakness and take risks.
*The last section of The Age of Speed held the most draw and information for me. It is entitled "Tips and Tricks from the Age of Speed." This section is a summary of the book's top points and then applies these points to the real world. Example: Be Conscious of Bonus Time - If you figure out a way to save time at the bank and the grocery store, do you earmark that time for something rewarding or do you just fill in the time with passive activities?
Conclusion: All in all I'd give it three stars out of five. The last section was the "meatiest" and held my attention the longest. If you're looking for ways to better understand and better cope with the speed at which life is flashing by then The Age of Speed by Vince Poscente is the book for you.
Light and fastNovember 3, 2008 Years ago, I traveled and spoke on time management. I stopped doing that after I realized that there was something inconsistent about wasting several hours in airport lines while presenting myself as an expert on time management. Vince Poscente had all kinds of options for what kind of book he'd write on the subject of speed. He chose to write a book that's a quick read. That seems fitting.
The book has 36 short chapters, with four pages probably the average length. Nearly every chapter serves to make only one point. The book is in eight sections, each of which is about the length of a normal book chapter. To me, those are the actual chapters.
But it's more useful to see this book as consisting of four parts:
In part one, Poscente describes our age of speed and gives his take on how we got to where we are. Then, he shows that speed isn't good or bad in itself. It's what you do with it that counts.
In part two, he looks at how people cope (or not) with speed. He presents four profiles:
1. Zeppelins are slow-moving folks who have a tough time maneuvering or changing course quickly. They are dangerous and potentially explosive. 2. Balloons just happily float along. They don't seek speed and don't need to. They interact with our fast culture only from a distance. 3. Bottle rockets embrace speed, but do so without a real purpose. They can blow up in your face. 4. Jets move very fast, but have outstanding records for reaching their destinations safe and intact.
In part three, he presents three "A" characteristics that really matter in our age of speed: agility, aerodynamics (reducing drag), and alignment. This is modern time management material, and his spin on it is personalized but accurate.
Part four consists of a final titled section and one untitled section. The final titled section is titled, "Harnessing the Power of Speed" and it consists of three chapters. Unfortunately, Poscente seems winded by the time he gets here and this part is a little too lean. It should provide answers to the challenges described earlier in the book but it doesn't quite fill the bill.
This section is followed by three chapters "Conclusion," "Applications" and "Tips and Tricks from the Age of Speed." While useful, these are also overly lean.
Does it deliver?
Being a book on speed, it doesn't have cumbersome analysis. But there is some light analysis and there is some insight. Given the smallish size and the subject matter, this seems about right to me.
However, I suspect Poscente went a little too fast in writing this book. Remember the old saw, "I wrote real slow, 'cause I know you can't read fast?" Kind of the opposite applies here. As a reader, I felt the author wrote too fast--as if he made a connection between how fast he wrote and how fast the reader would read.
The execution could have been thought out a little better to make the book come across as a unique work rather than a compilation of existing material. What do I mean by that? Maybe it isn't the case, but it seems to me that Poscente wrote much of this book by using PowerPoint slides for the core material and just expanding a little on each one. Especially in certain places (such as "Tips and Tricks" and "Four Profiles"), I got this impression. For people who want a quick read about speed and some ideas to think about, the results are probably fine.
Some readers will be disappointed because the book doesn't get very deep, and it doesn't provide a structured game plan for the reader to consider implementing. But then, the book doesn't claim to provide any such thing. It's not a "how to" manual. The subtitle is "Learning to thrive...." and that means an attitude adjustment, not a procedural adjustment. On this score, the book delivers.
I think it makes a good addition to a library on related topics such as productivity, time management, and work/life balance. On that last topic, Poscente provides a viewpoint that would be of immense benefit to probably 80% of readers. I'm keeping a copy in my own library.
There's also a layout aspect of the book that might set some people off. I can't recall seeing any other book that wastes so much paper. It's a small book, but probably 20% of the pages are either blank or nearly blank. You don't get "thud factor" with a small paperback to begin with, so I'm not sure of the purpose in doing that. Perhaps it is to help give the reader a feeling of fast progress through the book.
The drawbacks (perceived or real) of this book don't cancel out its benefits. I think anyone who hasn't absolutely mastered time management will find some benefit in this book and anybody who feels exhausted or overwhelmed by the demands of today will benefit immensely.
A book that should be read... now.September 30, 2008 If you need to read one book to help you take charge of your life, work, and leisure, this is that book. And you should read it NOW. Vince Poscente's "The Age of Speed - Learning to Thrive in a More-Faster-Now World" was written to be read now. Today. Not next month, not next year, because by then, seeing how quickly information tools and technology are evolving and shaping our existence, countless opportunities would've passed.
Poscente lays the foundation of "The Age of Speed" by analyzing man's inherent desire for more from life, the human need to do more with this onrush of technological gizmos, complicated by the fear of stress and busy-ness. He goes on to explain that embracing speed in work and everyday life does not mean sacrificing quality, cost, or peace of mind; and that multi-tasking is actually counterproductive. In a series of real-world examples, he expounds on the four profiles that define how embracing or resisting speed can lead to success or failure. He guides you into determining which profile describes you.
One of the countless crucial points (and "aha!" statements) Poscente delivers in The Age of Speed is a formula for the achievement of one's goals. He stresses that being flexible, sleek, and aligned to an authentic purpose guarantees success. He also likens taking advantage of speed to the philosophy of Aikido. These points are all explained surprisingly clearly in this fast-paced and easy-to-comprehend book.
Most of Poscente's chapters are enhanced by facts, data, and trends surrounding companies and individuals who embraced (or resisted) speed. But the best part of the book is the last two sections: "Applications" and "Tips and Tricks from the Age of Speed." Undoubtedly, this book will challenge your perception of the hectic world we now live in, and inspire you with ways to pursue a more productive and more fulfilling role in it. - Ruby Bayan, [...]
This book stinksJuly 20, 2008 A waste of paper and ink...and my time. I, too, got it at the airport. As I read it, I kept hoping for some "meat", but it was all fluff. Don't waste YOUR time. Don't buy this book. Don't even check it out from the library. P.S. I think reading it actually caused my IQ to get lower. Save yourself! Step away from this book using all the speed you can muster!
Style, but no substanceJune 22, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
About two chapters into this book I realized that the build up that I was hoping for was not going to come. I buckled down and kept an open mind that I might be able to grab some substance in the following chapters. This never quite happened.
The play on scientific studies and company examples barely scratched the surface. I don't recall more than one given example of any single point.
