amount of time?’. The question for us as individuals is, ‘how can I best spend my own time?’ Donna makes work work and in this brilliant addition to her productivity series, she tackles the relationship between work and time, and shows us how to get a refund of our most valuable commodity – time.
— Matt Church author of Rise Up: an evolution in leadership and founder of Thought Leaders
We all remember a great teacher. Holding attention. Caring to make important matters practical and bringing joy to life. Donna is such a teacher. She brings care, attention and practicality into her teaching and writing about time, every time. In her latest book The 1‐Day Refund, Donna puts a powerful promise on the cover, that's not left hanging. It's great to know there's a bit of science behind the 85% that yields flow, Donna then delivers the ideas, tools and techniques to think differently about how we achieve this. How we govern time ourselves makes for a better leader in each of us.
The 1‐Day Refund completes Donna's ‘Trilogy on Time’ — it's a great bookend to her teaching and writing on being effective with the time we have available and making life better for everyone.
— Dr Richard Hodge, This Century Leadership and Governance, DrRichardHodge.com
The productivity section of the self‐help bookshelf has never been my cup of tea. The genre has always been so intensely focused on maximising our ability to produce stuff that it rarely seemed conducive to actually enjoying a full and balanced life.
For that reason, Donna McGeorge's contributions deserve to be a category unto themselves. The 25 Minute Meeting and The First 2 Hours are each a gift to those of us that want to unshackle ourselves from the busyness of the status quo and embrace a life of calm and control. In that vein, I think the book you hold in your hands might be Donna's coup‐de‐grace. The stand‐out quote from the introduction is ‘Instead of trading time for money, we need to trade energy for impact’, which resonates down to my soul, and in true Donna McGeorge style the pages that follow describe and unpack a strategy for helping you achieve exactly that.
Since reading this book I'm trying a number of the experiments Donna suggests, with some very encouraging results. If you too deserve a day of your time back, I heartily endorse Donna and the ideas shared in this book.
— Col Fink, speaker, author of Speakership and Tribe of Learning, head of programs at Thought Leaders
Anyone who can give me back an extra day each week is a total genius! Thanks Donna.
— Kieran Flanagan, speaker and author of Selfish, Scared & Stupid and Forever Skills
THE 1 DAY REFUND
TAKE BACK TIME SPEND IT WISELY
DONNA McGEORGE
First published in 2022 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064
Office also in Melbourne
© John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2022
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
ISBN: 978‐0‐730‐39820‐2
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.
Cover design by Wiley
Cover and part opener image: © Ankudi/Getty ImagesInternal illustrations by Donna McGeorge
Disclaimer
The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.
About the author
Donna McGeorge makes work work.
She is passionate about enhancing the time we spend in the workplace (too much, for many of us) to ensure it is effective and productive, and enjoyable.
Donna has worked with managers and leaders throughout Australia and the Asia–Pacific for over 20 years. In 2020 she, like many of us, transitioned her work from live, in‐person to online. She delivers productivity programs, keynotes and webinars globally across a mix of industries.
Her CV is as eclectic as her record collection (yes, classic vinyl). In addition to roles at Telstra, Qantas, Ernst & Young and Ansett, she has managed Theatre, Sports and Concert Tours for the UK‐based travel company Keith Prowse and been the Asia–Pacific Organisational Development Manager for the Ford Motor Company in Shanghai.
Donna also shares her knowledge for good through appearances on The Today Show, radio interviews across Australia and writing articles for publications including The Age, Boss Magazine, Smart Company, B&T Magazine and HRM. The 1‐Day Refund is the third book in her ‘It's About Time' productivity series. The other two are The 25‐Minute Meeting and The First 2 Hours, published by John Wiley & Sons in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
She runs her business from her home in Hope Island, South East Queensland, a region known for its world‐class beaches, but her most creative moments come while sipping tea on her balcony and gazing at the meandering waterways with her husband, Steve, and her dog, Prudence.
Donna believes that while workplaces are complex, they are not hard. More often than not it's getting the simple things right, consistently, that has the greatest impact.
She also knows that when we decide to be intentional, we can surprise ourselves with what we can achieve.
Acknowledgements
In 2018 I published my first ‘proper' book, The 25‐Minute Meeting. It was a super‐steep learning curve, and I couldn't have done it without the team who supported me.
