By Jeremy Madsen
Do you perpetually have a dozen too many irons in the fire? Do you struggle to keep your head above the flood of work projects, Church duties, family responsibilities, personal commitments, emails, text messages, phone notifications, laundry, dishes, and prayers? Is your life’s greatest problem that of never getting enough done?
If so, I strongly recommend reading Don Aslett’s masterpiece on productivity: Done! How to Accomplish Twice as Much in Half the Time—at Home and at the Office.
From when I was first introduced to Don Aslett’s books growing up (via my mother, herself a model of effective productivity), to when I revisited them this last year, I have found each of his publications inspiring and empowering. Done! has shown me how to get more done more quickly and more effectively, with less hassle, less stress, and less wasted energy. Here are five reasons why you should give Done! a try:
1. Don Aslett knows what he’s talking about
Rarely do the credentials of an author matter more than for a book touting itself as being about productivity. In this regard, Don Aslett leaves the masses far behind. The founder of a cleaning company now with over 4,000 employees, author of 40 books, and sought-after speaker and presenter, Don Aslett embodies the principles he teaches. (And he’s a Latter-day Saint!)
2. Done! is packed with actionable and specific advice
Done! offers no gimmick, secret formula, or calendar system for productivity—instead it is packed with specific strategies, tactics, and principles for cutting out time-wasting habits, approaching common problems in more efficient ways, and maintaining motivation and momentum throughout your day and week.
For example, chapter 3 is devoted to listing and describing in gory detail all the activities that rob us time, space, and energy, including three I’m especially guilty of as an editor and writer: interruptions (silence that phone when working!), oversleeping (get up when that alarm goes off!), and “rubbish reading” (ignore those tempting click-bait articles!). This book will help you identify your own productivity weak points.
3. Done! will make you rethink conventional productivity “wisdom”
Occassionally, Don Aslett offers advice that runs counter to the standard productivity fare. At one point, he warns against following schedules—at least, schedules that we rigidly stick to. “Schedules will bind and stiffen you if you follow them too closely. People who have become such expert schedulers that they run around with a planner in their hand at all times lose creativity and flexibility—the schedule becomes their master.” He then tells a story of how, when two weeks of solid rain threw off the yard work he had planned (“scheduled”) during a trip to their summer home in Hawaii, he immediately pivoted to use the time to draft an entire book, write some TV scripts, and even fly to New York and back for a business trip—all completely “unscheduled.”
4. Done! is a fun read
Done! is a delightful book to read. Each subsection is largely self-contained, meaning I can pick the book up for a three-minute motivational pick-me-up while waiting in a doctor’s office or giving a bottle to my baby daughter.
Don Aslett shares many anecdotes—from his own life or others’—that infuse life into his book, grounding each piece of advice in a concrete, memorable, and often funny story or observation.
A warning: Don Aslett’s positive, even exuberant attitude towards productivity is highly contagious!
5. Done! will teach you the greatest secret of productivity: be early!
In chapter 5 (my favorite chapter), Don Aslett lays out what he believes is the one great “secret” of getting more done: be early! A task performed one week early (or one day or one hour) can be three or five or ten times more effective than the same task performed on-time or late.
In the last week alone, here are ways I’ve seen earliness or lateness affect my life for good or ill:
- Early: My wife was assigned to prep some Father’s Day card assembly kits for a family reunion. She finished the kits more than a week in advance, and she also made extra. When I needed a Father’s Day card on short notice three days later, it was a cinch!
- Late: For a teacher council meeting, the Sunday School counselor in charge didn’t finalize or announce the topic until an hour before church, meaning no one had time to study the material beforehand.
- Early: When our temple opened to phase 3 during the 2020 pandemic, I jumped online within the hour and reserved our family a session on the best day for our calendar. Later that day, every available reservation for the next two months had been filled.
- Late: We invited a couple to join us for the sealing session we had scheduled, but the husband had let his recommend expire during COVID, meaning he’d either have to miss the session or scramble to set up two recommend interviews in a week’s time.
- Early: On a vacation up to Idaho, we reserved a hotel in Pocatello several days in advance. When we got to the hotel and checked in, we learned from the desk staff that every hotel in Pocatello had since sold out for that night!
- Late: My wife and I were planning a cross-country move and began apartment hunting about a month out. But by then, many of the places we called had no available units until two or three or even four months after our moving date, decreasing our options and multiplying our stress.
- Early: I gave myself plenty of time to arrive at an unfamiliar airport. After taking 20 minutes to navigate security, I looked around—and realized I was in the wrong terminal! I had to go back out of security to another corner of the airport and pass through a different security checkpoint—but I had arrived two hours before boarding time, so I never felt stressed or rushed!
- Late: On a trip I took this week, three out of my four flights were delayed almost two hours beyond their original departure times. I have seen one long round of stressed passengers, tired booking agents, long help-desk lines, and missed connections. The shockwaves of those late flights disseminated outward like ripples, delaying and postponing everything in their path, from vacation plans to babysitting arrangements to other flights—and the vicious cycle of lateness rolls on.
Think about your typical workday. How many projects do you stress about because they’re behind schedule? How many emails do you get asking you to solve a problem caused by somebody being late? How many opportunities do you lose because you respond to them three days after hearing about them, instead of three minutes or three hours? How much prime writing or editing or brainstorming time do you lose in the morning because you sleep in? Take a page from Don Aslett’s book—be early!
Still not convinced? Listen to this endorsement from the Lord Himself: “He that seeketh me early shall find me, and shall not be forsaken” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:83, emphasis added).
Get more done with Don!
If you want to reach more of your goals, if you want to win the fight against your endless to-do lists, if you want to make a greater impact on the world—I cannot recommend Don Aslett’s book Done! more highly. A delightful read packed with time-tested tactics and unforgettable anecdotes, Done! will forever change the way you approach your workdays and weekends. You don’t even need to read the whole thing—just mine it for all the five-minute nuggets of wisdom it contains. Then put away the distractions, ignore the diversions, and start doing!
Jeremy Madsen is a fantasy writer, freelance editor, and biblical scholar. With his three siblings, he runs the website Atrium of Light, a repository for scripture songs used to memorize scripture passages through music. Jeremy is the founder of Universal Cape Day (March 10), a day to wear a cape, look epic, and feel heroic. He currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife and kids. He is also the operations manager for LDSPMA.