The Action Machine Review – My experience with Derek Franklin’s The Action Machine
I am writing this review after almost a month of using The Action Machine. The Action Machine is a software that helps you to get things done during a day. The idea behind this software is very simple yet powerful: list the things you want to complete during a day – assign a specific time for each task – select and task, set timer and focus on that task until finished. If you have not heard about this software before, you can visit its official website: The Action Machine.
As a procrastinating and at the same time busy person, I would be more than happy to get all of my daily tasks done, let a lone to have full meals, 8 hours of sleep and socialize every day. The fact that I’m an internet marketer and spend most of my time working on the computer makes focusing even a more challenging job. Distraction is just one click away and then I can be drifted away from my main job and wander from sites to sites for hours.
I have read a lot of e-books and guides about how to stop procrastinating. And even though all of the advices are very useful and applicable, its really easy for me to get back to my “old sinful track”. Not until when I read the sales page of The Action Machine that I started to think that maybe only good advices are not enough, but I need a personal reminder that knows all of my plans and just pops up out of nowhere and tells me that “play time is over buddy, get back to work!”.
The software was created by Derek Franklin, a writer and software. After reading the whole sales page, including an endless flow of testimonials and watching the instructional video I decided to take out my credit card and paid 33EUR ($47) to get the software (Thank God it’s a good exchange rate day for European folks). Normally I only buy software after testing out their trial version, but this one offers a 8 weeks money back guarantee so I was thinking “What the heck!”. I was very excited to try out the software, I already know how to use it and the interface of the software looked exactly like what was shown on the instructional video in the sales page. Below is the video showing how to use The Action Machine:
The software already has a built-in list of actions, running from Business related (for example marketing, writing, follow-up with clients, etc), Clean & Organize, Daily activities such as check & answer emails, read news, etc, family, food, finances, health & beauty and leisure.
On the right hand side there are 16 boxes which show the actions that you have planned. There is a 16-hour time bar that shows how much time in total your actions have taken up. There are 50 timer groups so when you use up 16 boxes in 1 timer group, you can use the next timer group. On the top of the software interface is a clock that shows the actual time and date, when you hover the mouse on it, it will turn into the time when all of your planned actions finish. This makes planning much easier and efficient.
What I like about this software is that you can print out a report of your completed actions. This is especially useful when I’m doing a project that I have to report the hour total to my client. In this case The Action Machine is a perfect project management tool. I normally put each action as a project work breakdown, set the time for it, finish it and print out the report for the client.
Since then The Action Machine has become a software I cannot live without. I have been using the software every day and in 2 ways: to plan my day and to keep track of my projects. I develop a habit of planning the following day before going to bed. I just started out using The Action machine and only use it for less than a month but I already
could see that I have completed a lot more tasks than I used to. The cheerful sound of the software and a tiny message appearing in the corner of my computer screen to inform me that a task has completed gives me a sense of accomplishment.
Even though The Action Machine is a very useful software and has become my daily necessity, there are still distractions around that keep me off track once in a while. I have naturally short attention span and sometimes it’s especially difficult for me to concentrate on one thing for a long time. This is one of the thing that I have tried and it has worked wonders: I challenge myself to follow the schedule I have planned on The Action Machine for 4 hours. 4 hours doesn’t sound too scary isn’t it? But if you have succeeded for a few hours, it makes it a lot easier to succeed the whole day, and then the next day. By time I increase that challenge to 3 days, 5 days, a week. It just gets easier and easier to concentrate and follow your planned schedule when you already developed that habit.
More advices on how to keep focused and productive are given in the bonus e-book “Action Unleased” that goes with the software. As Derek allows customers of the software to give away this e-book. Here you are 
Click here to download Derek Franklin’s Action Unleased E-book.
There is no revolutionary information in this ebook, but many tips are extremely helpful for managing your life and after all, it’s a pleasant read.
I like the other bonus e-book much better, but this one cannot be given away, it’s only limited to the software purchaser. It’s “the biggest bang for your buck book”. In this book, Derek Franklin points out how to save from your monthly expenses, the potential savings he points out are pretty huge. Who thought you can save out more than $1000 from groceries shopping? This book is very down-to-earth and applicable. In addition to explaining how to save money from all expenses sources (from car maintenance to movies, credit card, etc), Derek Franklin also gives a few tips on how to easily earn some extra money.
