If you’re familiar with my writing, you know I hate seeing people reinvent the wheel. We need you at your best, focused on solving the next big problem, not stuck on problems that have already been solved.

When it comes to productivity, there’s a lot we already know. But there are only so many hours in the day, so you may not even be aware of some of the solutions others have already discovered. 

That’s why I asked a capable member of my team (Thanks Lizzie!) to summarize the top selling books that have to do with getting things done. By reading these quick summaries, you may notice a book that speaks directly to a weak spot in your own productivity systems.

This is an unbiased collection (filtered for relevance to entrepreneurs) based solely on popularity of sales from three businesses: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and NY Times.

Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life

We’re starting with a book about one of the...

Use the “stop rule” to make faster progress

The guide with a rifle strapped to his back grabbed my mother’s shoulders to stop her from running. The silverback gorilla was tearing through the underbrush as it charged toward her.

It was my brother’s 16^th birthday. His long-awaited gift was a family outing up the side of a mountain in Rwanda to see the nearly extinct mountain gorillas in the wild (our family was living in Rwanda at the time).

When a gorilla charges, you don’t want to run or make eye contact. You’re supposed to stare at the jungle floor and remain as still as possible.

As you can imagine, that runs contrary to our human instincts.

And that’s one of the reasons you’re not allowed to go without a guide. You need someone who has mastered the right knee-jerk reactions that can save your life if the silverback decides to charge. 

A simple rule can be more useful than a complex decision process because of its ability...