Review of WHAT'S BEST NEXT by Matt Perman

Title: What's Best Next: How the Gospel Transforms the Way You Get Things Done

 

Author: Matt Perman

 

Publisher: Zondervan

 

What It's About: What's Best Next is a book about productivity, specifically from a Christian perspective. It looks at productivity from a biblical standpoint.

 

Why I Read It: I've read a lot of books on productivity. When a great deal of your work is focused production and creativity, the many things that you have to do can get overwhelming. I was immediately interested when I found out there was a book on productivity that could speak into God's desire for your productive life.

 

What I Liked About It: I loved this book. Perman makes compelling arguments for the distinctly God-desired role of productivity in a Christian's life. I loved the title of this book because it focuses the book's strategy on choosing the right things to do. Perman argues that getting things done isn't the point because you can get a lot of things done, but they may not necessarily be the right things. Instead, you should develop a way to prioritize the right things to do. Not everything should make it onto your task list. Then I love his definition of productivity. Productivity, from a biblical standpoint, is about doing good things that benefit other people. This framework for productivity helps in the choosing of what's best next to do.

The first part of the book is about theory and theology of productivity. It sets a great foundation for why God cares about productivity and why it's important for us to rethink what being productive means. The second part is more practical. Perman offers an organizational and productivity system that will help you to do more of the right things that will benefit other people. The four step process is to define, architect, reduce, and execute. This process helps you to plan out your productivity schedule and get more of the right things done.

Another great thing about Perman's book is the wealth of wisdom he draws from all of the great productivity books we've all probably read. He pulls the best from these books and organizes them into his what's best next framework.

I've read a lot of books on productivity. This book is, without a doubt, the best of its kind. Though this book is written from a Christian perspective, it's also something that works, so that even if you're not a Christian, there's much to learn from the productivity strategy of this book. I can't recommend this book enough.

Review copy provided by Zondervan

 

Where You Can Buy It: Amazon.com