Michael S. Hyatt

This book is essentially about how to promote yourself in the world of the Internet generally and of social media specifically. If you are not comfortable with self-promotion, I would recommend against reading this book. If you want to learn how to have a bigger voice in the world, this book is for you. In particular, those interested in publishing written works can benefit from Hyatt's sage advice.

Hyatt, a former CEO of a "Christian" bookseller, lays out a comprehensive digital strategy show more that can be implemented by companies/corporations or individuals. Some of his suggestions require some start-up funding, but one can omit these suggestions if one is on a lower budget.

The chapter on Twitter, in particular, is excellent and perhaps leads the world that publishes in the English language. Again, he sees technologies like Twitter not as an ends to themselves but as a means to advance whatever good message one wants to convey. (At least, I hope it would be a good message.)

The source of his expertise is his time in the publishing industry. As such, he frequently refers to himself as the authority. Like with his views on technology, I read this not as narcissism but as a tool for me to use in my endeavors. Others may dissent, however.

Overall, this book is helpful to learn how to build a personal brand or a platform in today's society using technology. It does an excellent job at it, too. show less

Another goal-setting book... another rehash of all the goal-setting tactics that get splattered all over social media in the days leading up to January 1st. Hyatt insists his approach is different, but the book is just a thinly-veiled sales pitch for his online programs and extravagantly priced planners.

I was hoping for more. Different. Better. Instead, I got a series of common-sense suggestions sprinkled liberally with quotes from other writers and their books. A couple of ideas seemed show more original (like doing the easiest thing first rather than "eating the frog"), and I made a note of those. Otherwise, the book felt like a cheap marketing tactic with a whole lot of filler content. show less

I have a consistent mental pattern with self-help books: I start off super engaged for the first 2, maybe 3 chapters, and then my enthusiasm falls off a cliff. There's always something nagging me at the back of my head that the writers of these books are laughing all the way to the bank on the back of peddling some mysterious black art that's actually stuff we generally know already but which feeds our common weaknesses. A few choice lines in this book certainly didn't challenge that train show more of thought for me (Hyatt taking all his staff and partners on a Caribbean cruise in celebration of goals achieved, and his personal assistant doing things that he's clearly too important and busy to have the time to do, like phone up and make a restaurant reservation for date night with his wife).

In a nutshell, this book is about identifying your habit and achievement goals, zoning in on your motivations to keep them, identifying actions on how you're going to meet your goals, regularly reviewing progress and celebrating achievements. Anything mind blowing for anyone there? No, me neither. It is useful to a degree if you need a kick up the backside to do some of this stuff. Perhaps my biggest realisation on the back of reading this is that I've not really had any personal goals for a long while as I've been focused for too long on the goals of my company and my family, so if nothing else it was worth reading to get a prod on that.

For sure there are some useful techniques and takeaways from this book, but I'm not entirely sure I want to be one of those laser-focused Alphas who runs their life like a military operation. I can see why guys like Hyatt and CEOs of multi-million pound businesses love all this stuff, but I'm mostly OK with where I am right now.

3.5 stars - an interesting enough read and a good prompter if you're into this sort of book, but nothing earth shattering in terms of methodologies. show less

Writing: 4.5; Theme: 5.0; Content: 5.0; Language: 5.0; Overall: 4.5

While this volume is mostly for time management within vocational settings, Mr. Hyatt shares principles that can be implemented in vocation and in life. He gives valuable principles that will help the reader to focus more on getting the right things done, rather than getting "the most" done. Highly recommend for those who need to become more productive by focusing on "achieving more by doing less."

***September 21, 2025***