The On-Time, On-Target Manager: How a "Last-Minute Manager" Conquered Procrastination

by Kenneth H. Blanchard, Steve Gottry

The author of the phenomenal New York Times bestselling classic The One-Minute® Manager explores one of the most common and insidious problems plaguing the workplace—procrastination.

In every workplace, in every industry, lurks a diabolical career killer. Procrastination. In this latest addition to his bestselling series, Ken Blanchard tackles this problem head on, offering practical strategies any professional can immediately put into practice to improve his or her performance. In The On-Time Manager, he stells the story of Bob, a typical middle manager who tends to puts things off until the last minute. As a result, he misses deadlines because his lack of focus causes him to accomplish all the meaningless tasks before he can get to the important things. Like many professionals, Bob rationalizes, justifies, and tries to explain. With his trademark clarity and vision, Blanchard shows how Bob learns to overcome his problem transforming himself from a Last-Minute manager into a productive On-Time manager.

Genres: Business, Management, Leadership, Nonfiction, Self Help, Audiobook, Productivity

156 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Ken Blanchard, one of the most influential leadership experts in the world, is the coauthor of the iconic bestseller, The One Minute Manager, and 60 other books whose combined sales total more than 21 million copies. His groundbreaking works have been translated into more than 27 languages and in 2005 he was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.

Ken is also the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California.

When he’s not writing or speaking, Ken also spends time teaching students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. Ken can be found at www.kenblanchard.com.

Reviews

[Marlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

6/21/19:

Listening to audio books has caused me to be much more open to the world of nonfiction books. Since I graduated from college, I have avoided nonfiction books unless I have a specific issue I feel the need to investigate. But I kind of resented these nonfiction books encroaching on my free time, so I have mostly avoided them. Now, however, I can listen to the nonfiction books as I'm doing other things, so I don't feel so resentful. Either way, listening to books (or A Slob Comes Clean podcasts) keeps me entertained while I do mundane tasks.

Anyway, I mention all this because this book so far is in the form of a story. And though some other reviewers called the story cheesy - and I admit that maybe it is - I'm enjoying it because it pushes the book closer to my (much) preferred genre of fiction.

I am not a manager, nor have I ever worked in this sort of an environment. However, I decided to try listening to this book, which is available through my library, because I know that I have become a procrastinator. A responsible one, but a procrastinator, nonetheless. I look at the calendar for today and tomorrow and figure out what I need to do for... today and tomorrow. And no further. Mostly this is fine, but it does create challenges sometimes. Luckily, we have in-laws clamoring for wish lists for Christmas and our family members' birthdays about a month or two ahead of time, so gifts for my husband and children aren't treated this way! Because after all, we need to purchase gifts from us (Dan/Marlene, otherwise known as Mom/Dad) before we can send those wish lists on, right?

Recently, when I needed to sign my son up for a 5K, I procrastinated on completing the registration process. Because I didn't register him early, we didn't get the $5 discount AND he didn't get a free T-shirt. Did he get to run the 5K? Yes. But we both would have been happier had I done it earlier. I actually was going to do it on the last possible day because that's the way I usually roll - but that was the day that I ended up having to do a large amount of preparation for the construction workers coming the following day. I stayed up until 4 AM getting it all done. I then woke up at 5:00 to get ready for the day and then get my kids out the door for school. So I suppose this is actually a double example of procrastination. I did then get a long nap to try to compensate, but it certainly wasn't 6 hours, which is what I usually get. Anyway, to get back to the original story, when I remembered that I needed to find the paper to register him for the 5K by that last early registration date, it was after midnight. Too late for early registration. And to admit the full truth, I never did register him online. I knew that you can register when you show up. So the night before, I tried online registering, and it was closed, as I was pretty sure it would be. But I did have to spend some time reassuring my son the following morning that it wouldn't be a problem, because you CAN register ON the day of the race.

I'm working hard. I'm getting things done. But I am not looking far ahead.

6/22/19:

Well, I've finished the book! I was interested to hear that the story was inspired by the experiences of the two authors. I was also thrilled to hear that ultimately - at the end of the book - God was pronounced - in passing - to be the top priority of the both main character and his mentor. This was not at all a Christian book, nor was it promoting any particular religion. However, I was a bit frustrated when the main character placed God/religion/spirituality "dead last" right at the beginning of the book. So I ended the book with a smile on my face. I'm a firm believer that if you place God first, everything else will fall right into place. My old pastor used to say:

God first.
Others second.
Yourself last.

4 1/2 stars. (Not 5, because I would have enjoyed more in the way of specific strategies. For example, last-minute Bob now doesn't wait until the last minute to get gas. I would have enjoyed more of those sort of examples.

I plan to read another book by this author as my library has the audiobook available for The Secret: What Great Leaders Know - and Do.

Oh, yeah. There's a review that goes into a lot of detail and covers a lot of the book. I'm not going to do that, but I will say this. To enable yourself as an on-time, on-task manager, you need the three P's: Priority, Propriety, and Commitment. Yah!

"You gotta wanna!"

[Matt · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think reading a business book, or a self-help book, is like asking for advice. And I think in that sense this book is bad advice.

Good advice is when you ask someone about a problem, and they say, "I've had a similar problem before, and here's some things I tried. Turns out these things worked and these things didn't for so-and-so reason. Maybe you could try one of them and see if it works for you".

Bad advice is "This solution will solve your problem", especially when the solution is so simplistic as to be unusable.

The advice given in this book is essentially this super basic viewpoint of procrastination where you just have to learn to prioritize, and do things for the right reasons, and really want it, and you'll be able to do anything you want. And anybody who's tried any of those things knows that the advice has to be more specific because just doing it this way doesn't work. I'd like a book that was just a list of advice I could browse through, so I could get ideas to try for specific problems.

Yeah, book's not worth your time.

[ARC · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really expected much more from this book. It was a tad too simple and did not offer enough depth or something really unique or refreshing for me at least; probably unless you are really like the "last-minute" manager. Nonetheless, it was a quick 2-hr read through and compared with all the other Ken Blanchard books I've read, this one ranks at the bottom thus far.

[Jeremy Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The information is solid and applicable in many situations. The format of the book is absolutely painful for me. I don't enjoy fiction and certainly bad fiction when the real goal is instructional non-fiction. I wish they would have presented this as a more traditional book and included stories rather than trying to make it the main focus.

[Crystal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non-Fiction>Business
Need a little push to remind yourself why procrastination is a bad idea? It keeps you from promotions, healthy relationships, and causes stress to your body. If you're wanting to spend a little more time being ready for life and a little less time reacting to it, especially in the office realm, then this book may help you get your head in the game.
I enjoyed it...it is a run of the mill self-help type book so if that's what you're looking for then pick it up. There's nothing mind-blowing or new here.

[Donny Teeter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick read that is easy to finish in one sitting. I appreciate the authors style of writing, instead of just teaching the material in a "how to" format, he uses the story of Bob, the just in time manager, to teach these "lessons." This way demonstrates how Bob goes through the transition of the just in time manager to an On time, On target manager over the course of a period of time. It's a good change of pace from the many how to books about business and self improvement.

[W · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
A quick read
not very in depth but that's to be expected from a 125 page book

[Reid · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about how to overcome procrastination (for self, managers) to be "on time, on target".

The strategy is called "The 3 P Strategy: Priority, Propriety, Commitment".

Use this strategy if there are performance issues, not effective if there are character issues.


"My job as CEO is to help good people get in touch with what is really important, not only at work but in life, so they can help themselves and others win --- an achieve the necessary results.

PRIORITY: "What is most important?" TRIAGE EVERYTHING
To decide this requires reflection------
- rank personal and business issues in order of priorities, 1 through 7
___ Health and Fitness
___ Faith/Spiritual Life
___ Career
___ Spouse and/or Family
___ Friends
___ Education/Knowledge
___ Recreation/Sports

Rank these responsibilities according to their priority in your life today.

Four categories of daily activities:
-> things we WANT to do and HAVE to do
-> things we HAVE to do but DON'T WANT to do
-> things we WANT to do but DON'T HAVE to do
-> things wew DON'T WANT to do and DON'T HAVE to do

ACTIVITY doesn't necessarily mean PRODUCTIVITY which doesn't necessarily translate into RESULTS.

PROPRIETY: "...being proper, suitable; correctness of behavior or morals; conformity with accepted standards." REMEMBER THE BILL OF RIGHTS
BILL OF RIGHTS --- test propriety of an action with these ---
-Do the right thing
-Do it for the right reasons
-Do it for the right people
-Do it at the right time
-Do it in the right order
-Do it with intensity
-Do it for the right results
"True leaders do what needs to be done to alleviate the pain of others."

COMMITMENT: "YA GOTTA WANNA."
What do I wanna do? And why do I wanna do it?"
- God, family, priorities, propriety, purpose, ideals,goals, integrity, truth, follow-through -
Saying "Yes" or "No" to something should be the difference between "interest" and "commitment".

[Faeze · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب خیلی مفیدی بود . شاید اکثر ماها نمی دونیم تو زندگیمون چی می خواهیم . خانوم ها هم خیلی می تونن از این کتاب استفاده کنن.چون جای خانوم ها و نقش خانوم ها حتی برای خودشون هم خیلی مشخص نیس.

[Janet · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bob, the incredibly obtuse manager is put on probation and assigned to meet with the "Chief Effectiveness Officer" daily. He discovers the three "P"s of becoming an on-time, on-target manager so that he can do some actual work at his company rather than sit around reading trade magazines all day and then turning in all his assignments late. No one employs people like this anymore, do they? This book is insultingly simple and a waste of time and/ or money. I was pleased to have borrowed the audio book from the library, so I only wasted my driving time, when I could have actually learned something or been entertained. Never again...

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Ken Blanchard. If you listen to him, he is a down to earth, lovable Grandpa like person who has so much experience in management and running a business. This book has some wonderful concepts that one can learn on becoming a better manager. Somehow, KB got stuck with this One Minute theme ever since his first hit book. Therefore, you get these life lessons, which are good and important, in this terribly cheesy story. So I highly recommend the book for the content, but had to lower the stars because the story itself is just goofy.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was pretty hokey. There are much better management books out there - this one was just way too simplistic for me. Although it had some good things to say, it was just framed in this parable-type story about "Bob the Manager" that was pretty lame.

Like I said, some interesting thoughts on management, but I just couldn't enjoy the framework.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent book for people with procrastination issues. This offers simple but thoughtful solutions to this common problem within a creative narrative device for a self-help book: a third-person story. The only very minor complaint is that some cheesy dialog detracts at time. Aside from that, a book I would highly recommend if you tend to put things off for too long.

[Vlad Stepanov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob has two problems: he procrastinates, and his priorities are out of order.

The title of the book is a bit inaccurate, in my opinion. The story isn't so much about procrastination, but more about getting things in the right order. The book did not offer as many solutions to procrastination as I thought.

While many readers are dissatisfied with the book, I rather enjoyed the story.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blanchard's parable style can be trite at times, but his message is still meaty and powerful. This time he tackles Procrastination, mostly by reforming your unproductive habits and replacing them with productive, healthy ones. Excellent.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is staying on my office as a reminder of everything it taught me. For any person who has a plan he or she is working on, or wants to work on, this is contains important strategies and insights to keep in mind. Procrastinators have to read this.

[Gordon Alley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A help for those who procrastinate. You have got to want it!

[Vahid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Precise and straight to the point. A well organized story makes it an interesting book which can help everyone be a better manager and better at making personal decisions.

[Charity Rau · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sorry, this one just didn't do for me. I appreciate the work the authors put into the book, but it just didn't work for me. If I hadn't been in the car listening to this at 2x's speed (It ended being a little over an hour), I would not have finished it.

First of all, there was a lot of redundancy and a lot of wasted words. The important information could have probably fit in a 20 page book.

The second thing that I didn't like was the way it was told in a story form. Clearly the authors are not used to writing narratives. The dialogue was stilted and cliche, and the main character, Bob, came across as incredibly dumb. I don't know why they chose to deliver the information this way and am surprised that the editors and publishers approved it. It also kind of gave me the cheesy feeling of those required vidoes you have to watch on jobsites.

That being said, there were some good tips, but the delivery killed it for me. I would have much rather have had a simple book explaining "the three P's" of time management. Also, the other thing that annoyed me was the way the called the system "the three P's", only it was actually "2 P's and a C".
So call is something else, please!

[Andy]

DNF. Seems like awkward forcing of other books into One Minute Manager format.

First Things First
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another reviewer summed up this book in a scathing one word review as, "Cheesy" and I would venture to say that she is correct. It wasn't bad, and it wasn't a difficult read by any means, but I can't say that there was a lot of great stuff in here. This might be a good starter for a first time manager or someone newer to management in general, but it simplifies things that I feel can sometimes be infinitely complex throughout the book. I mean, if management was as easy as the writer seems to say that it is then anyone could do it and there wouldn't be entire genres of books written about it and programs at major universities devoted to the study of it.

But it really is an easy read. I finished it in a day and had time to spare for other things as well.

[Eduardo Blandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Al parecer es un clasico de los libros de autoayuda vinculado a la gestión de la vida y el ejercicio profesional. La historia que narra es interesante y saben sacar lecciones de cada uno de los hechos contados. Los autores consiguen a través del relato y la insistencia de sus ideas, su propósito que consiste básicamente en sugerir la eficiencia en la actividad laboral. Es un libro que debe ser leído por los estudiantes de administración o quienes necesitan optimizar su vida en sus diferentes esferas.

[Donald A Chambers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Common Sense

Procrastination is a major problem in all aspects of American life.
Triaging priorities is essential. Having a proper value system, as describe by the authors "Bill of Rights", is really the "Golden Rule". The key point that was softly presented is Commitment - ya just have to wanna do it. How to keep that going is the challenge in this fast paced life with so many conflicting challenges.

[Marcia Vanboskerck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great into. Why yes dear Author, that does sound familiar. Yes, that me! --- And its kind of an irksome and bumbling down hill slide from there. When the jacket reads "engaging parable", think poorly scripted "real-life scenarios" from a low budget corporate training video. A lot of fluff around a few good nuggets. Much like the meeting that could have been an email. Try an infographic instead of a novel next time guys. Big time saver.

[Phuongvu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quyển sách Vị giám đốc hiệu quả tập trung vào Chiến lược 3P: sự ưu tiên, tiêu chí đúng đắn và tận tâm. Khi bạn hoàn thành được 3P, bạn chiến thắng được sự chậm trễ, sự trì hoãn và tìm được mục tiêu cho chính mình. Hãy luôn đúng giờ và đúng mục tiêu.
Quyển sách mỏng, dễ đọc. Mình đã đọc hết một hơi vào một buổi sáng đầu tuần tươi đẹp. Merry Christmas🤗

[Jonathan Connor · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this book was written in the 80s by how bad it was. It was not lol. I felt like I got invited to a lock-in and once the pizza was served and everything felt okay the doors were locked and some weird youth minister in a turtle neck and an acoustic guitar started talking about Jesus. Try harder.

[Kayla Argeropoulos]

As a PROcrastinator, this book was helpful to re-think my perspective on work, and remember the reasons why I am doing it. The book is told via the story of Bob, a "last minute manager" who walks through the "3 P's" to achieve the outcome of the "on-time, on-target manager"the. A little cheesy, but an easy read.

[یکی از آنها · Rating 4 out of 5]

جالب بود و تاثیر مثبتی داشت، وقتی این کتاب رو گوش کردم یاد معادل قرآنیش افتادم، «خناس» که در سوره ی ناس اومده خناس از ریشه ی خنس یعنی عقب انداختن و تأخیر انداختن در انجام کاری درحالیکه تاخیر انداختن اون جایز نیست. این کتاب هم یه درمانی برای خناس ارائه داده پس پیشنهاد میکنم. گویندگیش هم خوب بود اذیت نشدم.
من با ترجمه گودرز جوادی‌زاده خوندم.
گوینده: هوتن شاطری‌پور

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

A now standard parable technique in a business book. The dialogue is a little dated and schmaltzy. I imagine there are more current options around procrastination and leadership.

.

— Updated in 25 —
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Will re-read & you should read it
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Recommend & much to appreciate
⭐️⭐️⭐️ = Enjoyable and delivered as expected
⭐️⭐️ = Finished but wouldn’t recommend
⭐️ = Nope

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot like Who Moved My Cheese with some pithy passages that will speak to you as you go through the short book. It might take an hour to read so even if it turns out not to resonate with you, you're only out an hour.