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Automate Your Busywork: Do Less, Achieve More, and Save Your Brain for the Big Stuff Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 148 ratings

Learn to automate your busywork and focus on what really matters

In Automate Your Busywork: Do Less, Achieve More, and Save Your Brain for the Big Stuff entrepreneur, founder, and CEO of Jotform Aytekin Tank delivers a can’t-miss blueprint to help you make the most of your most precious asset: time. You’ll explore what’s possible when you offload repetitive tasks, why automation has democratized innovation, and how you can use cheap―or even completely free―no-code automation tools to transform your ability to focus on what truly matters in your business and life.

In the audiobook, you’ll discover:

  • Why the future of business is no-code, and how you can use an automation-first mindset to unlock your productivity potential
  • How to move from busywork to less work, and finally to having the time you need to accomplish your most important work
  • How you can use delegation and automation to achieve “timefulness,” the state of having enough time

A must-hear handbook for every entrepreneur, founder, business owner, and freelancer who just doesn’t have enough hours in the day, Automate Your Busywork will also earn a place in the libraries of managers, executives, and other business leaders looking to maximize their most valuable resource.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

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Product details

Listening Length 6 hours and 15 minutes
Author Aytekin Tank
Narrator Rich Miller
Audible.com Release Date May 30, 2023
Publisher G&D Media
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B0C447PL25
Best Sellers Rank #107,981 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#47 in Office Automation
#361 in Time Management (Books)
#2,546 in Career Success

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
148 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2024
    Those of you who are busy days and nights love this book. Wisdoms taught in this book are essential to identify which work flows we are to automate for devoting our attention to deep work.
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2023
    This book lacked sufficiently practical ideas for automating true busywork and the concepts for freeing yourself from the tyranny of "busyness" was undeveloped. If you work for a decently large company you can't simply download and use random third party apps as he suggests, nor can you deploy most automation without a reasonable degree of technical aptitude. The poor business schmucks who read this will get an account with Jotform and realize they still need two more integrations and a pro from IT to actually develop a working workflow. Need to onboard an employee? Yeah, you shouldn't use an off-the-shelf toolkit unless you want to hang your company's entire reputation and financial well-being on your capacity to map, build, and deploy software on your own. His advice may be more suitable for a family or small business of less 20 employees. Conceptually the ideas to think in terms of automation are helpful for laypeople but entirely superficial for readers with experience in coding, Agile, and the software delivery lifecycle.
    75 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2023
    This was incredibly insightful and really well-written. If you are a fan of systems thinking, follow the work of other productivity experts, or just want to find the time to focus on the work that matters most, then you need to read this book!

    It is not just a bunch of short-term tips and tricks, but rather a deep dive into the enduring principles of automation (and the accompanying mindset) that gives people the bandwidth to do deeply human work.

    It's filled with practical examples, backed by deep research, and provides the motivation to re-evaluate your current workflows. I highly recommend it!
    16 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2023
    Contains practical applications to automating business functions. Features an actionable framework to follow and then includes use cases and tools that you can take and apply for your business functions.
    6 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2023
    It starts strong but quickly fizzles into a commercial for his company. The main use is a list of service providers to automate your work.
    38 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2023
    Henry Ford's assembly lines demonstrated that machines don't replace people. Rather, they are replaced by other people who know how to work with machines. In Future Shock (1970), Alvin Toffler observes, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." I was again reminded of that prediction as I worked my way through Aytekin Tank's book, Automate Your Busywork.

    Tank immediately establishes a collaborative rapport with his reader by skillfully using first-person PLURAL pronouns and direct address. Many readers will have the same reaction that I did, that he wrote this book specifically written for me. He had me at the outset:

    "We're all drowning in busywork. We all have too much to do. Despite all our technology -- or maybe because of it-- so many of us spend our days fighting busywork that distracts us from our higher purpose.

    "What would you do if you could eliminate the dull and repetitive tasks you hate? If you could have back all of the hours you spend treading water, trying to stay one step ahead of your ever-expanding to-do list?"

    As Tank explains, his ideas about work and automation "have evolved over the years, but a few principles continue to hold true:

    o "Your productivity is not the problem." He identifies what it is and explains HOW to solve it.
    o "Work isn't going anywhere." So what? He explains HOW to focus on what must be done and done well.
    o "If you have a manual or repetitive task, you can automate it." He explains HOW to focus on what can't be automated.
    o Modern work requires a machine for success. Replace linear thinking with circular thinking.
    o Automation cannot happen overnight. Circular thinking about automation can happen immediately. Tank explains HOW.

    Why bother to automate what can and should be automated? Tan identifies seven specific benefits:

    1. Overcome human limitations
    2. Increase speed
    3. Document processes
    4. Maintain consistency
    5. Enable continuous improvement
    6. Enable complexity
    7. Lower costs

    Tan makes brilliant use of various reader-friendly devices that include checklists, bullet points, action step sequences, and boxed mini-commentaries (e.g. "Some Truths About Creativity"). Of special interest to me are his "Exercises" strategically located throughout his narrative. They serve two separate but equally important functions: The exercises force the reader to focus on key points, and, they suggest how to apply them. Here are five:

    o 'What Do You Want to Fix the Most?" (Page 14)
    o "Prioritize Each Day's Most Important Task" (19)
    o "Email Filters" (32)
    o "Which Workflows Can I Automate/" (48)
    o "Your Impact/Effort Matrix" (54)

    John Kotter once observed that the most difficult change to achieve is to change how people think about change. In a similar vein, Tom Kelley and his brother David have devoted their lives and careers to helping as many people as possible to think more creatively about creativity. It is important to keep in mind that ultimate success will depend on your ability to automate busywork from your efforts to automate busywork.

    I highly recommend that Automate Your Busywork be read in combination with two others: Age of Invisible Machines: A Practical Guide to Creating a Hyperautomated Ecosystem of Intelligent Digital Workers, written by Robb Wilson with Josh Tyson and Workforce Ecosystems: Reaching Statrfgeic Goals with People, Partners, and Technologies,co-authored by Elizabeth J. Altman, David Kiron, JeffSchwartz, and Robin Jones.

    Here are two concluding suggestions: Highlight key passages, and, keep a lined notebook near at hand while reading Automate Your Busywork in which you record your comments, questions, action steps (preferably with deadlines), page references as well as your responses to the questions posed and to lessons you have learned. (Pay close attention to the “Key Points” at the end of chapters.) These two simple tactics will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent reviews of key material later.
    17 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2023
    I’m a huge fan of JotForm and use it at my school to streamline a lot of processes that Google Forms and other apps can’t really handle or provide a viable solution. I figured the book would offer more ideas in the area of education uses, but it’s geared more towards business than school….understandably. I did walk away with a few ideas, but nothing really mind-blowing.
    26 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2023
    Just a list of things your should automate. No helpful how-to. Pretty much pointless. Missed the return window unfortunately :(
    36 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Paolodp
    1.0 out of 5 stars Pretty average
    Reviewed in Italy on June 17, 2023
    Appealing title but very abstract on the content, tought it was gonna be way more actionable but no
  • Ali Mese
    5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a no-BS book that debunks the myths propagated by self-proclaimed productivity gurus
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2023
    Love this book and I wish the mainstream media pushed books like this but obviously they will continue to market those "you are a loser if you don't wake up at 5am" non-sense and make us all feel like a failure. I found this book very actionable. 4 days in and I'm making some healthy progress towards applying the Automation Flywheel which is the framework at the center of the book. Aytekin Tank offers insights that are as enlightening as they are practical, painting a picture of a man who not only talks the talk but walks the walk. I love his vision for a future where busywork is a thing of the past. Highly recommended
    Customer image
    Ali Mese
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    Finally, a no-BS book that debunks the myths propagated by self-proclaimed productivity gurus

    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 25, 2023
    Love this book and I wish the mainstream media pushed books like this but obviously they will continue to market those "you are a loser if you don't wake up at 5am" non-sense and make us all feel like a failure. I found this book very actionable. 4 days in and I'm making some healthy progress towards applying the Automation Flywheel which is the framework at the center of the book. Aytekin Tank offers insights that are as enlightening as they are practical, painting a picture of a man who not only talks the talk but walks the walk. I love his vision for a future where busywork is a thing of the past. Highly recommended
    Images in this review
    Customer imageCustomer image
  • ismailmese
    5.0 out of 5 stars "Automate Your Busywork" Empowers You to Reclaim Your Time
    Reviewed in Spain on May 16, 2023
    Automate Your Busywork" is a groundbreaking book by Aytekin Tank that offers a practical roadmap to maximize productivity and reclaim your time. Tank explores the power of "no-code" automation tools, showing readers how to offload repetitive tasks and focus on what truly matters. This must-read guide empowers professionals to achieve a state of "timefulness" and revolutionize their approach to work and life.
  • MR T.
    1.0 out of 5 stars Complete waste of time/money
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 6, 2024
    I have never read a book with so much padded out, filler content. There is nothing of real value here.