5 books to help you be more productive at work

We’ve all heard it before: you’ve got the same number of hours in the day as Beyoncé. (Your choice of idol may vary.)

But knowing how to get the most out of that time can be tricky. We’ve all heard we should be working smarter, not harder – but no one ever explains how!

Thankfully, these 5 authors have put together actionable, accessible advice for all us Solanges on how to increase our productivity, focus on meaningful work, and get more efficient at the office.

Routine Machine, John Lamerton

As a British businessman, John Lamerton may not be the household name that Richard Branson and Alan Sugar are… but maybe he should be!

After making – and losing! – millions in the dot-com bubble, John has mastered running a successful business with being a present parent and having time for the things he cares about. Rather than working 100 hour weeks, John works smarter, not harder, by making sure he’s always focusing on the things that grow his business and building routines to do the work for him.

Pulling from his real, hard-earned experience, John lays out exactly how he’s done things, with actionable tips and advice on how you can do the same.

And he has a knack for explaining it all in ways that aren’t just easy to understand, but funny and memorable too, using examples from the 90s TV show Gladiators and children’s favourite Peppa Pig, alongside billionaire Warren Buffett.

Routine Machine is a great start for anyone looking to carve out a better work/life balance for themselves, but if you manage a company – or if you’re looking to start one – you might be better starting with his first book, Big Ideas for Small Businesses.

Ask a Manager, Alison Green

Alison has written the work advice column Ask a Manager for the past 15 years, giving advice on knotty workplace issues from interviewing well, to managing up, to what you should do when an employee puts magic curses on her coworkers.

While many issues are written for an American audience, good advice transcends at-will contracts, and Alison’s advice for both individual contributors and managers is sensible, helpful, and actionable, with advice on wording and tone to smooth over any situation (really absolutely any situation) and get everyone working together productively.

Joy at Work, Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein

You’ve probably heard of Marie Kondo, the tidying up expert who asks you to get rid of anything in your home that doesn’t spark joy.

Sadly, it’s not as easy to do that at the office, or the microwave that seems to constantly smell like burnt fish would be long gone. Along with the printer and most of the customer base. But organisation is a huge part of productivity and something a lot of us could use a helping hand with.

It goes deeper than a cluttered desk too – organising your digital documents so you can efficiently find what you’re looking for (and so can your coworkers!) and avoiding overwhelming your calendar (and yourself!) are hugely helpful things to try, and Marie and her co-author, organisational psychologist Scott Sonenshein, go into detail on exactly how you can accomplish them for a workday that doesn’t start with you already feeling stressed out.

Inspired, Marty Cagan

Marty Cagan is a thought leader in product management – the middle of the Venn diagram between design, development, and business needs – but this is a book you don’t have to be in product to appreciate.

It’s a detailed look at how some of the most successful tech companies have become so successful and created technology products customers love – in a time crunch and on a budget.

With interesting insights on everything from Netflix launching their subscription model without a payment system built – because the 30 day free trial meant they had a month before it was needed – to how the Google Adwords almost never launched because the engineering and sales teams resisted it and had to be carefully influenced to give it a try, Marty shows how testing ideas, prototyping, and getting people onside can lead to huge changes within a business.

If you need some inspiration to drive you productivity, Inspired is it. (Funny, that.)

Burnt Out, Selina Barker

This might feel like an unusual book to include on a list of books to increase productivity, but burn out is a real health risk we all face, and – if we run ourselves down trying to do too much – we’ll lose months and months of productivity. And might never fully recover to the level of output we were at before.

Being able to recognise the signs of burn out and knowing what we need to do to recover from it is vital, and this book is as much geared towards preventing burn out from ever happening as it is helping people cope and rebuild from it.

Selina has a knack for writing in a comforting, supportive way while still giving practical, straightforward, and actionable advice that really will make a difference.

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Increasing productivity is one of our big whys at Beyond.

We create budgeting software for SMEs which free up your employees’ time, make sure everyone’s on the same page with the latest, up-to-date figures, use AI learning to give your team intelligent suggestions and shortcuts, and truly let you work smarter, not harder.

(And we even have detailed help sections telling you how.)

Book a call here to see if we’d be a good fit for your team. (Or if you want to chat more books!)