"I run my own business selling industrial equipment. It’s a high-volume business replete with unpredictable demands from customers. So it is easy to just play customer service “whack-a-mole”, and run out of time to do the things I need or want to do.
Time management was never my strong suit, but the Asian Efficiency programs have worked wonders with my personal organization. In particular the Rituals program was helpful to me, as it reinforced the true concept that any meaningful changes in one’s life happens through one’s daily routine. The Rituals Program was presented in a very clear and straightforward way. Especially useful to me was how it emphasized starting a rituals program, and how to maintain it. It’s one thing to convince someone the importance of rituals, but another to get it into practice and reinforced for long-term use.
I highly recommend this program for those who are seriously interested in making small, incremental, but productive changes in their lives."
Steven B, USA
"AE has been the single most useful resource for me in tactics and tools for improving my productivity and efficiency. I now believe in the possibility of truly taking control of your life through efficient habits and systems. I really appreciate the work you guys do in putting together such great resources."
Andrew W, Australia
"Having read:
● Getting Things Done
● Eat That Frog
● The Now Habit
● Etc...
I had a lot of the knowledge yet it wasn’t impacting my life it just made me feel more guilty when I procrastinated and when I was unorganised! Asian Efficiency helped reinforce the techniques I already knew and helped make them become habits. Thanks to everyone at AE!"
Joel S, Canada
"The biggest help for me from AE has been the concept of morning rituals. I implemented one very similar to yours, and my mornings have gone from the least productive to the most productive part of my day. Many thanks to you and AE. Cheers!"
Alyssa V, USA
"I’ve found many helpful ideas on AE since I started reading your posts a few months ago. Morning rituals I’m familiar with, but needed a tune up; Eating that Frog is a good thing to keep in mind when planning your days; and managing email, (well I still am struggling with that). AE has given me many good ideas on how to improve my efficiency and productivity.
There’s one more thing, however. The thing that is changing my life right now is a habit you taught me. I’ve been on the planet for quite a while now, and for all those decades I have had a bad habit that I didn’t realize was "just" a habit that I could consciously change. This habit affects not only my work, but also my life in general. The habit is to never put anything away when I’m done with it. I just move on to the next project or activity without a thought to what happens to my stuff, and whether I’ll be able to find it again.
My passion is fiber arts and mixed media. Making any fiber arts project seems to require having lots and lots (and lots) of materials and tools out within reach. My studio looks like the aftermath of a hurricane or typhoon when I’m working — and when I’ve finished with a project, I just move on to the next thing without stopping to put things away, therefore I can never find things when I want them. You get the idea.
Life is different now. Whenever I do anything, I now stop to put things away. Putting-things-away is now the final part of the task, not something extra to be done after the task. This one new habit is already helping me in many ways, not just in combating procrastination; I love it. Thanks for all your brilliant ideas!"
Cathie J, USA
"You and your team have made a tremendous impact on my life, my work and personal organization. Building habits used to be an endless dreadful battle, but has now turned into a fun hobby. Equipped with the rituals, tools and wisdom you guys preach, emails, tasks and deadlines are now being crunched at a radically different level, motivation and speed. Thanks a ton!"
Jonathan B, USA
"When I started this journey with you, I was neither Asian nor Efficient, but I was drawn to your positive outlook and practical recommendations. I slowly adopted the morning, evening and weekly ritual and moved to OmniFocus. I now look forward to each day and manage a very high workload with minimal stress, focusing on what brings me the most joy and brings my company the highest value. Thank you for all you have done for me, my customers and my family. P.S. I am still not Asian."
Marty F, USA
"Before September 2013 I perceived myself as an organized efficient person. Others told me that I was, and when working on one project at a time details got taken care of. Then, last fall, I found myself working on projects for 4 clients, and two of them were big! My systems (Calendar, Notebook To Do List, phone reminders, post-its on my bathroom mirror) just were not enough to catch all the information I was responsible for. I don’t recall exactly how AE first came to my attention, but I am so grateful it did.
Around that time I had been reading and understanding more about the rituals and systems around us in our daily lives, and began to experiment with tweaking them. This is an ongoing process! Now I am recognizing others who constantly “put out fires” in the work and personal lives and am astounded that they don’t recognize it.
I introduced Morning and Evening Rituals into my life. I already had unwritten routines that I went through, but writing them down made it easier to follow through and to examine and eliminate those things that were hurting my health and productivity (watching Netflix in bed anyone?). I have found the morning ritual much easier to follow, but am less consistent with my evening ritual. That is something I will continue to work on.
In the last year since discovering AE I have learned to see the systems in place around me, become calmer because I have a reliable way to “catch” all the information coming in, removed myself from a volunteer commitment that was taking up more time and energy than my paid work or my personal time, and improved my relationships with friends, family and colleagues. Thank you for your excellent content and encouragement!"
Heidi H, USA