Productivity is Power: Five Liberating Practices for College Students by Hillary Rettig
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book had really great tips to help students and professors excel in the college environment. As a college professor, I am always looking for ways that my students (and myself) can improve to work smarter not harder. Throughout the book she provides exercises to do in relation to many of her topics – I think this is a great tool to use in the classroom. There were so many tips to include but there were a handful that I immediately found interesting or useful. Her Idea behind procrastination was really interesting. She states that procrastinators are not lazy but the correct attitudes and habits for being productive haven’t been learned. Procrastination today is one of the biggest issues I see in my students. Her ideas on unproductive vs quasiproductive were also interesting because quasiproductive is something I tend to do. This idea that you are feeling productive but in reality it is an illusion really struck a cord with me. I do this mentality often, and in the end it is because I don’t want to be seen as unproductive, but what needs to get done I don’t want to do. One thing that I tell my students often is in her section on “Working on the Right Stuff”. She says “remember that the goal isn’t to study, it’s to learn”. Students forget this often because many just want to move on and have the mentality to just get through. The last thing I will mention is her chapters on learning the art of failure and success. I think many people see failure as something negative, but in reality it is a necessity to be able to grow and more forward. I found this book to be very beneficial – and you don’t have to be in college or work at one to find value in it.

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