Stevea Robbins here.

Welcome to the Get It Done Guys quick and dirty tips to work less and do more.

My office is full of piles.

Piles of articles ripped for magazines, piles of books, including Pride, Prejudice and

zombies, the survival guide for the zombie apocalypse, zombies versus ninjas, and so on.

Can you tell I have a thing for zombies?

The problem is that I haven't actually read any of these books. A well-meaning friend will look

me in the eye and implore with great urgency. Steveer, you absolutely have to read why civilization

will fall within five weeks. I rush right out to buy the book, not only because my friend

recommends it, but because, hey, it came out two weeks ago, so there are only three weeks

left on the clock. Surely reading that book is the best way to use those three weeks. Once all

those books start piling up, however, they keep piling up. Fortunately, there are four things you

can do to make it through your book backlog.

Tip number one, realistically assess your backlog.

Start by figuring out how much you can expect to read.

It's easy.

Just get out a book, start a timer, and read five to ten pages.

Then divide the time it took by the number of pages to find out how much time it takes

you per page. If you spent 15 minutes to read 10 pages, it took by the number of pages to find out how much time it takes you per page.

If you spent 15 minutes to read 10 pages, it took 15 divided by 10, or 1.5 minutes per page.

Now, frown slightly and stare at your pile of books and magazine articles.

Estimate the number of pages.

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