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Work Clean

The Life-Changing Power of Mise-En-Place to Organize Your Life, Work and Mind

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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of the Work Clean, written and read by Dan Charnas.

Night after night, chefs and their crews are able to multitask and produce in a way that puts deskbound workers to shame. In Work Clean, Dan Charnas uncovers their secret: mise-en-place - the organizational system that transforms the lives of its practitioners through focus and self-discipline.

Through interviews with top chefs working in professional kitchens all over the world, culinary students, line cooks and restaurant employees, Charnas reveals the ten major principles of mise-en-place -- including 'Arranging spaces', 'Finishing actions' and 'Slowing Down to Speed Up' -- and demonstrates how they can be used to boost productivity in all aspects of life.

 Career Success Food & Wine Gastronomy Personal Development Personal Success Time Management & Productivity Workplace & Organisational Behavior Workplace Culture Business Chef Inspiring Management Time Management Career Project Management Leadership
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While the book attempts, and mostly succeeds in telling you how to use the ninja skills of a chef in your office job, it is very much about chefs and their kitchens. You have to be prepared to listen to hours about how the top chefs work, and use that as inspiration for your own life.

For me this approach to a self help/productivity system was kinda neat and gave a new prospective on what it takes to be successful in life, but I can see some people wishing their was more of the office and less of the kitchen.

A lot of cooking talk

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What made the experience of listening to Work Clean the most enjoyable?

Some life-changingly good ideas for becoming and staying organised. I keep listening to it.

What other book might you compare Work Clean to, and why?

This book, and Mari Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, are my favourites about getting organised. Now trying to put it into practice - that's the hard part.

Which scene did you most enjoy?

I love the kitchen stories - had always wondered how chefs manage to get so many different meals all served at the same time.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, best listened to one chapter at a time.

Any additional comments?

If you want to get organised, here's where to start.

Great ideas for organising working life

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I really enjoyed this book. I'm going to listen to it on repeat for a few weeks. An excellent way of looking at and dealing with work.

Loved it

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I enjoy Masterchef and other cooking shows, and have adopted some of the principles of mise en place when cooking at home… So I was intrigued to see this book.

It’s a clear and entertaining listen, and I’ve picked up some great insights which I’ve already applied at work with week, with fantastic results. I particularly like the 30-minute daily mise, which I’ve chosen to do at 8am. I’ve been scheduling daily planning for a while, but the daily mise approach is much more effective than what I’ve been doing previously.

Well worth a listen!

Improved my working week already

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