Morten Hansen is a Norwegian-American professor and an outstanding management theorist with great ideas about productivity and work. You can be well assured that when he comes out with a book about management and productivity, it is worth checking out.
Hansen has a large number of educational titles earned from some of the biggest universities around the planet. His work and expertise were also noticed both by the University of California, Berkeley but also by the famous corporate Apple University. Over at Apple, Hansen has the role of instructing new employees when it comes to the company’s culture and management ideals.
The professor’s knowledge is also backed by his Administrative Science Quarterly award. With all that said, it is unquestionable that his latest book, “Great at Work” is filled with valuable lessons.
Learn to Say No
When it comes to work and productivity, Hansen considers that you should learn how to say no, and only focus on the things that matter the most. Instead of saying yes to every distraction and letting the things around you steal your time, you should learn how to say no more often.
When you’re working, you need to be in a mindset that it’s good for work, and try to avoid distractions as much as possible. By learning to say no, you will not only have more free time but, your working hours will also be more effective.
The issue that most people don’t understand is that when you’re getting distracted from work even for a couple of minutes, you are actually wasting a lot more time. Because you lose your momentum, you end up losing more time. And all of those couples of minutes start piling up, resulting in hours and hours of wasted time.
Quality over Quantity
When it comes to the quality of work, Hansen also has some unique views on the matter. Instead of working for a large amount of time, Morten believes that it is better to work for less while being totally “obsessed.”
Hansen considers that focusing all of your attention, even for shorter periods of time, on a single thing instead of dozens will end up rewarding you more. Obsessing, how he calls it, on one thing at a time will help you get faster results. In his view, multitasking is a broken concept because it fragments your attention, allowing you to do ten mediocre things at once, instead of a single great one.
Accept more, then coast
Morten Hansen
Do less, no stress
Do more, then stress
Do less, then obsess – aim for this!
However, even if this idea might have not been shared in Hansen’s book, being able to obsess on a single thing, for larger periods of time will end up paying you a lot more dividends. The combination of smart work and hard work always has the best results.
Conclusion
Morten Hansen’s book, “Great at Work” is a true gem when it comes to productivity and time management. This book was also included on our “The Best Business Books of 2018” list because of its valuable lessons. We surely advise giving it a read or maybe checking out some of the other reviews and book recommendations present on our website.
