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Jan Yager, "Time Masters: Eleven Secrets to Greater Productivity and Life Fulfillment" (Hannacroix Craft Books, 2026)
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- [00:02]
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- [01:15]
Jan Yeager
Welcome to the New Books Network.
- [01:20]
Rebecca Buchanan
Hi, this is Rebecca Buchanan, host at New Books Network, and today I am here with Jan Yeager to talk about her latest book, Time 11 Secrets to Greater Productivity and Life Fulfillment. Jan, thanks for being here with me today.
- [01:33]
Jan Yeager
Thank you for asking me.
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Rebecca Buchanan
Could you start out by kind of talking about why you decided to write this book? I know you've written a number of books on the same subject and other subjects, so why. Why this one? How'd this come to be?
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Jan Yeager
Well, I think that the second half of the subtitle is really part of it. The subtitle is 11 Secrets to Greater Productivity and Life Fulfillment. The main title is Time Masters. And I feel that it's the life fulfillment that so many more people, including me, need to be reminded about. We've heard productivity up the kazoo, including me. But hey, you know what? What do you want your whole life to look like? Not how many things can you put on your resume?
- [02:28]
Rebecca Buchanan
And you have. Like I said, this is not the first book you have written about this subject. And you even wrote how to finish everything you start. You've written everything. So what is it that you really wanted? Why did you think now is the time to do this new book? What are you adding to your own conversation?
- [02:49]
Jan Yeager
Oh, sure. Well, it's interesting because how to finish everything you start. That is an exciting, exciting success story. Five years after the book was published, it became number one in India, Kindle beating out Harry Potter and Dr. Covey's 7 Habits for six months. And that was very exciting. There'd been 10 foreign sales. We've sold over almost 40,000 books in English. But that book, believe it or not, I actually had to go back after I finished Time Masters and add a chapter on AI to how to finish everything you start. Because as early as 2018, we were not lay people. The techno people were thinking about it, but the average person was not thinking about AI and used properly, it can be a huge productivity saver. But once again, it goes to the life fulfillment part. I have sadly had several friends pass away from illnesses in the last few years and I just felt so annoyed that they didn't leave something more for me as a friend to grab onto. You know, my friend Sharon, you know, she didn't write a memoir. My friend Elia, who was a filmmaker, she didn't leave her views on film that I could read. You know, her philosophy on life. So that's really what what Time Master does. It's this amazing 11 secret combination of better productivity. Number one secret everyone probably can guess, prioritizing. But then you have the 11th secret, seek, explore mentally within yourself plus experiences.
- [05:03]
Rebecca Buchanan
So before we kind of. I'd love to talk about the sort of different secrets. Before we do that though, could you talk a little bit about the research you did for this book? Right, so this isn't just kind of you saying, here's what I think you have within each chapter, like stories and research that you've done. So. Yeah, can you talk a little bit about that?
- [05:23]
Jan Yeager
Well, you know, one of the things I've been doing literally since my very first book, going back decades, is yes, I have a lot to say. Yes, I'm a good researcher, but especially since I have a PhD in Sociology and we know that people see the world through their own framework. So I reach out to others. I interviewed experts in addition to myself. Paula Rizzo, who's the list making queen. I interviewed her and she contributed on list making. David Allen, one of the great productivity gurus, shared what his secret is. But in addition to the Time Masters that I either corresponded with or interviewed, I got surveys and correspondences for over 100 people from various professions, countries. And it just, you know, not everyone could make it into the book, even though I read or listened to all of those or conducted the interviews. But you know, I picked the ones that were most powerful and interesting. There's a woman from India who contributed her acronym, and that's in the appendix. And, you know, a former producer for several talk shows who had her acronym of how to be productive. And I, of course, read a lot. There's a lot of good stuff out there, classic books. I reread some of the classics for our work week, dip back into the Seven habits. But also some of the newer books, Deep Work and the the others, Atomic Habits, which I'm very proud to say is often suggested as a companion purchase to how to finish everything you start. And now Time Masters is gaining traction, so that's exciting to watch as well.
- [07:40]
Rebecca Buchanan
And this book is not only sort of informational, you also have in every single chapter and kind of in your appendix kind of work. I don't know if worksheets is the right word, but, like, you have activities for people to do, and so can you talk a little bit about that? And that choice, like, you could have just been like, here is what I learned. But you also made it more interactive.
- [08:04]
Jan Yeager
Sure. Well, part of it is, you know, I am an academic. I've been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses since my mid-20s. But also I try to learn from each of my books. I do take feedback very seriously, both positive and I don't like the word negative. Both useful. And one of the. There are 523 reader reviews of how to Finish Everything youg Start in India. And one of the consistent positives was, I love those exercises. I found those activities so useful, and it is an extra effort for the author to create that. But I said to myself, hey, if it worked for how to finish everything you start, let's do it for Time Masters. And I know from even teaching college students, I have my students do a presentation, and that is an interactive way that they at least one part of the required materials they own for themselves. So that's. And I always say in the beginning of the book, the exercises and activities are optional. Do them, do some of them, do all them, whatever you want to do. But it's there if you want to take advantage of it. And it's a way of making what they're learning their own. And that's so pivotal because we're all bombarded by so much information and it's not that easy to zone in on what's important and to reinforce it. And that's really the goal of those exercises and activities.
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Rebecca Buchanan
So let's talk a little bit about your sort of 7 or 711 secrets. I got my numbers right.
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Jan Yeager
Oh, no, that's okay. And someone said to me, why is it 11? And it's because I wanted to use Time Masters as the, you know, the. The overarching concept. And there are 11 letters in time Masters. So there you have it. If there were two. If there were. If there were 13 letters, there'd be 13 secrets.
- [10:36]
Rebecca Buchanan
And it makes it easy to, like, try to remember all of them. Right. So the first one you say, I mean, you mentioned is target. And so prioritizing things, is there anything you want to say about.
- [10:47]
Jan Yeager
Well, no. I also, you know, it's important to point out that, you know, I thought about in doing the 11 secrets, the first four, because that's the word time, I did make sure those are the four most important. So you have making your priority task a must do. I just turned down someone wanting me to comment for a major magazine on a different topic than what my priority is right now. And I wrote to the woman who was nice enough to say, I think your expertise would be useful. I wrote back and said, sorry, but right now I have a deadline on a priority task that's unrelated and I can't do this. And that's really so important to get that idea across, because we all want to say yes. We all don't want to displease people. And if you don't say yes to the right things and you start saying yes to things that distract you or get you off your. Your journey, you just can get flustered. What you should be doing starts not to have the quality it should. So making your priority must do. For some people, starting out first thing in the morning is the best way to do it. Other people, you know, some people who tell me, you know, I also do coaching, and people who want to write, they'll say, oh, I'd write, but I don't have time. So I'll say, well, well, let's talk about your weekend. There's 48 hours. And they're shocked to realize that, hey, you know, I could use the first two hours Saturday and Sunday morning to do whatever task it is I'm not getting to. So the second one is interesting. It stands for the I in time, and it's individuals. But then I added on and pets, but it's still an I. And the reason why I added pets is that, you know, I'm in an age group, knock wood. I'm lucky that, you know, my husband and I are still kicking around to 41 years of marriage, but sadly, so many people are Single because of divorce, because of widowhood. And research has found that even a pet, it could be a frog, it could be a snake. It's more likely to be a cat or a dog. It can really help mental health, extend life, but also individuals. It's so important. I remember once, for one of my previous time management books, going all the way to Baltimore and one of the big chain stores. And I'm doing a presentation. And of course, there's one person, and I have come all the way from. At the time, I was living in Connecticut. And so this one person happens to be a senior in high school, and his mother planted him there. She said, I want to do my thing in the store. You stay here. So I decided to talk to him just as if I was giving a lecture to a hundred people. So we talked about time management. And here he is, a senior in high school, and he tells me he doesn't have time for friends because his main concern is being on the football team and getting good grades so he can get into a good college. And I'm like, well, yeah, but friendship when you're 16 has to be a third priority, you know, so that's so important for people to hear and not just sending a text. And not just, you know, it used to be that you'd make a phone call instead of getting together in person. Well, guess what? A phone call is a lot better than just sending an email or a text. But one of my. My best friend lived three to four hours away in New Jersey. So, you know, it took a while to figure this out. When the kids were little, we'd have a destination, get together where we'd all go to some fun thing like Sesame Place. But once the kids had left home and everyone's older, I'm like, why don't I ask Google what's the halfway point between her house and my house? And then for a few years, we would meet for lunch and sometimes even a movie so that each of us was driving an hour and a half instead of one person driving three or four hours. So making individuals important is the number two secret. And the third one we talked about is M for time. And it's machines and technology delegate to AI or other technology and also delegate to people before AI. In my previous earlier time management books, I would tell people, the reader, that if you are bored with the task, that often is a good sign that you should be delegating it to someone else and you should be focusing on the tasks that require your skills. And it's interesting because I've just published a new book called the AI Enhanced Author or Publisher. And in that new book I tell the reader, you can use AI but it needs to be in a way that's in the best interest of your integrity, of your work, and you're not going to use it to write for you. But it's a brainstormer. And in the book, which my proofreader is my first line of of response. So she loved the way I took a new play that now she's proofreading. I wanted her to proofread it after the AI book because I wanted the AI book to get into Amazon and to be available through other sources. So what I did in the play is I interacted with AI about concepts and I said, this is what happened and this is what the heroine is dealing with. And I get feedback. Now I wake up early. I'm in the Robin Sharma 5am club. He's actually published by my publisher in. In India, Janko Books. So the fact that I could ask AI and not wake my husband at 5 in the morning and say, hey, I'm thinking of this, does this make sense? It's going back to machines and technology. It's using technology to my advantage, but not in a way that's going to backfire. And that's a very important line to understand and to work with. And then the last of the four secrets in the top four of time is E for evaluate and innovate. And what I say in that is consider everything you do invent if you can. Now, I'm going to give you a really simplistic example. I like to take several vitamins and, you know, like vitamin D, vitamin C, et cetera. And I was constantly trying to remember, you know, did I take the vitamin, when did I take it? So I have medications I take for a health challenge. And that was in one of those sorters. And I never missed a day because I had morning and night for the pills. So I go to the drugstore and is it okay to still say drugstore? I go to the pharmacy, we'll call it a pharmacy. I go to the pharmacy and I look and see there is a sorter that has four units, not just two. So I take all of my vitamins and I put them in those two extra ones for the whole week. And suddenly, for the first time in literally years, I don't have to think about, did I take my vitamins? Am I taking my vitamins? And it's something so simple. Now, granted, the new sorter was not cheap it was like $14 because it's big thing but it was worth it because it was an innovation that just makes my life so much easier and consistent and that's so important for everyone to do with so much that they do by rote and they don't think about. So those are the top four.
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Rebecca Buchanan
Yeah. And then so you have these sort of top four that you talk about but then you are not like okay, then we're done. Right. And I think like it's interesting because I think some of even what you're talking about, those, the next, what is it? Seven really kind of are ways to enhance those top four. Right. Like thinking about ma. Like, like you're mentioning, even what you sort of mentioned there gets into that sort of fifth one about maximize. Right. Like so how do you maximize your time? How do you get rid of some of those things that you like think about? This is what I really need to do and that kind of thing. So yeah, can you talk about. Yeah, let's talk about those, those, those other seven that you kind of are getting at to, to kind of help then move us forward. And some I think like, like I love, like, like you said, seek for your last one. But I also love the stillness, you know, like some things people don't think about but like there's self care in here too. That really helps.
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Jan Yeager
Oh definitely. Yeah. Well, you know, as you said, maximize secret 5 which is the first letter in masters, it is an extension of evaluate and innovate but going to make everything and everyone count more. You know, we're a society of numbers and it's so important to think about quality and not, I mean it's a cliche quality and not just quantity but, but it's really important. I mean my research and friendship, you know, having at least one friend can extend your life by as much as 10 years. But if you have eight superficial friends, you might feel like you have friendship but then you have a crisis and at 2:00 clock in the morning you may not call someone, but you may wish you had someone that if you did call that you take your call. So maximizing is very important. The A in Master's in secret number six arrange your time. It was very interesting in the over 100 surveys and correspondences I got about your number one time secret. Time blocking seem to be a very big consideration now it's interesting because I just flashed in my head that now since my husband and I are empty nesters, it's not as big a deal for me to time block because basically I time block around teaching. You know, I teach, and then when I'm not teaching, I'm either writing or researching. Or we do have date night time blocked into our week. I don't tell anyone what the date night is because you don't want to. My area is crime and victimology, so you don't want to give that information out. But I think back to when my younger son, who's now 36 and has a family of his own, was in nursery school. No, even before nursery school, I had an assignment from Parade magazine to do an article on what to do if you're fired. And it was a really good fee. And I made all the phone calls when he was taking a nap. Right. That's what new mothers do. But no one was around to do the interviews. So of course they all call back when he is awake and wants attention. So I don't want to traumatize the poor kid and ignore him. So I decided after that article, I've got to change what I'm doing professionally until he's in your typical half or all day schooling. So I decided to write a novel, which I had always wanted to do, but never got around to it. I had one nonfiction contract after another. So sometimes our own success dictates what we do with our time, and you need something like my epiphany. Hey, what can I do differently? So anyway, so I decide to write a novel. But the way it goes to time blocking is that at that point, Jeff was in three hours a day nursery school. So I would drop him off at nursery school and then I'd run back to the house and all the other. Most of the other women were going to the health club or going out for coffee, but I literally sat down, wrote for three hours, and then went and picked him up and then got my older son from school later. So time blocking is such a powerful skill and technique, and it can change depending upon where you are in your life. And that's such an important part of time Masters that how you mastered your time at 20, at 30, at 50, even at 70. One of my most frustrating responses when I say to someone who's retired is because I'm never going to retire. I'm always going to be working, but doing work that I love and value. And someone will say to me, oh, how did I ever find time to work? I'm like, well, what are you doing with your time? And they can't really give you an answer. So time blocking is powerful. The next thing is part of what you were talking about secret number seven, stillness. And I mentioned to you before we started our interview officially that, you know, one of the secret ways that my husband and I pace ourselves is we like to binge watch various shows. And that is a wonderful way to offset the intense reading and writing and teaching that I do. And he does a lot of editing and writing as well, and creating an inner calm. You know, I'm not into yoga, but yoga is certainly a way to do it. I did try meditating. I actually went to an ashram in India, and I'm on the floor, and instead of being within myself, I had my eyes open, and I'm watching everyone else. And I'm saying to myself, I don't think that's what they mean about meditating. But I have my own ways to meditate, and that's okay. And everyone needs their own way. Then we have secret number eight. I love secret number eight because the typical thing is the to do list. And I believe in it strongly. But what I did to customize it and personalize it and make it my own concept is I also advocate to have done list going back to the fact that we're too focused on, you know, quantity and not just quality. We're too focused on what we have to do, and we need to without sitting on our laurels and never doing anything again. We need to, you know, give ourselves a little pat on the back. Hey, I did do that. And then the tracking that you're done, that what you've done can be very empowering, but also the to do. So I was telling someone who remained unnamed because she's a wonderful person in my life, and I hope she won't know I'm talking about her. If this is ever broadcast in a way she could hear it. But I was telling her that I starting to think about my husband's 80th because it's coming up in November. And this person said, you should live in the moment. Don't worry so much about the future. And so I see that to do not as a prison or something that's, you know, just going.
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Rebecca Buchanan
I mean.
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Jan Yeager
Cause I. I literally. I know it sounds ridiculous, but this is one of my favorite things. A pencil. I. You know, when I put some ideas for how to celebrate Fred's 80th, you know, I wrote it in pencil because, hey, it's okay, you know, you know, maybe we'll spontaneously decide to, you know, go off to London, or, you know, maybe we won't have a brunch. But, you know, just thinking about the future and having a to do list. You know, we do shopping, shopping lists for what we want to get at the grocery store. Why not write down what we want to accomplish in our careers with our relationships? Number nine ties into my previous book, how to finish everything you start. And for that, number nine, which I call E for endings open up new beginnings. I was so thrilled that I went to the India site for Amazon and I found six reviews of Time Masters. And one of the reviewers pointed out that the idea that endings could open up new Beginnings was something that was very rewarding to that reviewer, you know, that reader reviewer. So, so, so that's why I find writing and research so exciting. Because I know my my own work, when it transforms me, I know it's going to do that to someone else. And when I see it concretized, you know, in a reader review or an email from someone or you know, someone just says that to me. I remember once going to a cocktail party and someone said, what have you written? And I mentioned my book, when friendship hurts. And she goes, my mother read that. I'm like, whoa, that's very flattering. Secret number 10 is interesting. It's routines, the R for routines. And I got into a semi spitting match with someone because she misinterpreted the concept and thought I'm against spontaneity. That's not it at all. Those listening who read the book, including that chapter, will know that the tagline to routines is predictability can lead to achieving more while allowing time for spontaneity. So it's a mix. We need both. But those routines can be very comforting and that can help us to not only achieve more, but have that life fulfillment we're all looking for. And then the last one that I mentioned right at the get go is seeking and the exploring mentally within yourself plus experiences. I just got tickets recently to take my grandson who will be seven, because the show is starting from seven and up to a play with puppetry. And those experiences are so important, whether it's with grandchildren, children, friends, husbands, romantic partners, if you're not married. And then going to the mentally seeking, reading, listening to audiobooks, it's so pivotal to self development. And so Those are the 11 secrets of Time Masters and of Dr. Jan Yeager, your author.
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Rebecca Buchanan
So yeah, you know, I think it's really interesting because like what you have here is not a way to. You said at the beginning of your book like your parents were workaholics, like you did this so that you can have time to be spontaneous have time to do those other things. So I was wondering, like, what is it you're hoping are there? I mean, I know that's part of it, but are there other things you're hoping people who read this kind of take from this and get from it, like, you know, what do you want people to like, leave your book with your.
- [34:22]
Jan Yeager
Well, I guess to have the courage to say, here's what I'm achieving, here's what I'm experiencing. This is working, this isn't working. Let me try something new, whether it's a new food, a new friendship, a new adventure. Just to say someone said to me, what gives you the right to write another book on time management? And I said, I've just published my 72nd book. How's that? Oh, and I add my children like me and my husband and I have a good marriage. So that's an important part of it. Look at your life. Where do you want to make changes? You know, what's working, what's not working, and without getting down on yourself. That's not the goal of the book. The goal is, hey, here's some ideas. What's new, what's fresh, what reinforces what you already knew, what heads you in a different direction. It's interesting because when I first tried to read the Four Hour Work Week, I was a little devastated because I got to the point where Tim Ferriss admits that he hired people to take care of the, the tasks that were slowing him down. And the reason why I got frustrated is this is pre AI this is, you know, maybe even 15 years ago. I would have to check when his book came out, but it was quite a while ago and I didn't have the finances to, to hire people to do those tasks. So. Oh. One of the things I put into the enhanced AI for the, the AI, enhanced author or publisher is I asked AI, this is what I literally. And it's in the book. I literally said to AI, I want to do an author tour of five cities within a two hour drive of where I live in Florida. I want you to give me the restaurants I should consider eating at, the online or print publications I should contact, the libraries I should contact about a possible event, the bookstores I should contact, and one or two hotels that are moderately priced that I could stay at. Now my publisher, Scribner did that for me for my first book and it took a month of time and effort to create my author tour. AI was able to spit it out in five minutes, city by city, Sarasota, Gainesville, Orlando, ET Cetera. Now the important thing is, and that's what I want people to get out of Time Masters. Now a human has to do all the overtures. The human going to secret number two, the individual connection, that's what's going to make the difference. Someone can tell you. I was interested to see there's a President Obama library in Orlando, I believe. I'm like, oh, President Obama's in Orlando? No, no, it's a library. Okay, Now I know to contact them, but someone has to make that human connection. So that's really what Time Masters is about. I'm 77. It's hard to say that because I'm the generation that said don't trust anyone over 30. So the life fulfillment is very important to me. But I sadly learned about that at 20, when my 23 year old brother was tragically killed, the result of a mugging. I knew before other people in my generation that tomorrow is not a given. However, that was a tragedy and an anomaly. And most people, if you look at the life expectancy tables, do have, According to the CDC, 80, 80 years to work with. If you're lucky, you're going to get 90 or 100. But it is so important to not take time for granted without becoming so obsessed with it that you can enjoy life and Time Masters. There's an audiobook if people prefer that. The audiobook reader is an amazing doctor who donates the money she makes to buying medications for those in South America, but she also does audiobook reading. So just, just enjoy it. Do the exercises if you find them helpful. If you get one idea out of it, I'm hoping you'll get 11 times 5 or 10 and just, hey, if today is the day, that's a wonderful book. Tuesdays with Maury. And I used that in my intro soc class because Maury was a sociologist. So Mitch Albom, who was a workaholic reporter, who was a former student, and when he found out from a TV show that his former professor, whom he had promised to stay in touch with, was dying from als, he decided to go see him. And he, for the next 14 weeks, once a week, went to see Dr. Schwartz. And each of those visits was another lesson. And what was so powerful is one of the questions that Mitch Albom says to Dr. Schwartz is, if you know today is your last day, what will you do now? Mitch Albom says in the book, I expected him to say, you know, I'll go on a cruise, I'll do this, I'll do that instead. I mean, it almost makes me tear up because it's so powerful. He says, I'll do what I do every day. And that's just so powerful that this man felt that each other day was the gift that he gave himself. And then that's really what I want people to get out of Time Masters. Whether you're thinking about what you're going to do in a year, because that's important, but also that today you call the friend you've been putting off calling because you're too busy. You write that letter that you planned to write, but you never got around to it.
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Rebecca Buchanan
So the book. So we've been talking for a while. My final question is kind of self promotion. The book is out now. So anything you want to share about the book or anything else you're working on? What do you want people to know?
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Jan Yeager
Oh, what am I working on? Well, my play, Holding On, Letting Go. My proofreader is going to get it back to me this weekend, and then I look forward to getting it back out there in ebook and print format. Just go to my website, drjanjaeger.com I have a selection of my 72 books. I recently made Time Masters one of the two featured books. So listeners can go there and click on and read more about Time Masters. And you could even click on and order it directly from the website. You know, just to, you know, to know that I write because I want to share with the world expertise some of my writing. I've published five novels, so that's not just entertainment, but also, you know, you teach through fiction as well. One of my most exciting projects, and I hope someone listening wants to make it a real play that happens, is called Please Don't Forget Me. And I don't know if anyone's read Spoon River Anthology, Edgar Lee Masters, but it's one of the great plays of Americana. And inspired by that, I have two victims of hot car syndrome who talk to their parents as if they had lived. And one's a girl and then the other is a male. And through that dialogue, I try to help the audience, the reader, and hopefully the audience when it gets produced, really understand the impact of this preventable tragedy. Because We've lost over 1,000 infants and children since they started keeping records, and it is almost always preventable. So Please Don't Forget Me is available as a book, and I'm hoping because there's only four characters, it would be wonderful for colleges to do as a play or community theaters. So I just love what I do. And when I read these six reader reviews of Time Masters at Amazon India. It's just so rewarding and so it just reinforces. Here's the last line of one of the reviews. So if you're looking for some time management tips that actually work, then this book is it. You won't be disappointed. It's like I didn't say that. That five out of five rating reader said it. So I hope and please those who go to my website, fill out the contact form or the newsletter that you want to be on the mailing list. I love to hear from you and I'd love to hear about how Time Masters is helping you.
- [46:34]
Rebecca Buchanan
Fabulous. Thank you so much, Jan, for talking with me again. Jen Yeager, who's The author of Time 11 Secrets to Greater Productivity and Life Fulfillment. Thanks for being on New Books Network.
- [46:45]
Jan Yeager
Oh, thank you for asking me. And it's been a great experience.