Category: Productivity & Effectiveness

As a long-time executive assistant and project coordinator, I continually search for ways to eek the most out of my time. This is my collection of tips and tools to master your time.

Some thoughts on platforms and stuff

Carl Setzer

Had an interesting chat with some Twitter chums about whether I should port my iPhone number to Google Voice. The responses got me thinking about dependence upon one company or platform. Having all one’s proverbial eggs in one basket opens up serious risk should a) the company go under, b) reconfigure their offerings or, c) simply decide on a focus change. Any of those scenarios open you up to data loss, productivity gains, and other delights.

Oddly, through my love of things techy, I find myself well diversified. Should, say Google, decide to ax a key component, I can easily shift over to MSFT or Yahoo or Apple or… Puts me on a safe place.

I think I’ll stay that way, thank you.

Perfection’s Obsessive Pursuit Destroys Effectiveness

Carl Setzer

The obsessive pursuit of perfection can destroy effectiveness. How easy would it be, continuously review, rewrite, redo a project. Keep revolving within this loop until its perfect, or we die. I would expect that giving into this loop, perfection would only be achieved well after the project’s usefulness was long past. 


Now, we need to keep mind for quality. Try to make whatever we’re creating as effective as possible. Yet, something is better than nothing. 

Deliver the best you can. Fix, with diligence and haste any material mistakes, smile about the non-material. Be proud of your work, and the problems it solves. 

Overactive Mind

Carl Setzer

I’m getting a lot done, but accomplishing very little. I don’t find it satisfying. I enjoy checking off to-dos, but without direction it’s, ultimately, empty. Way too many directions in my life. I need focus.

Examples: the hundreds of email news sources I subscribe to. And the dozen, or more, tasks I load into a day. That’s a weakness in the electronic-tools age. Keeping those emails to read “later” is so easy. Or just shuffle those tasks to another day. Then I get to a point where I have several hundred emails waiting to be read. Or I’m spending 15 minutes moving my collection of overdue tasks to today. It all creates a sensation of “spinning my wheels”.

I’m tacking this, slowly, carefully. First, I’m now aggressively deleting email. And also unsubscribing. For things I’ve been subscribed to for years, I feel discomfort. But with so many I haven’t even opened in years, it’s just time. Time to accept that, though I see the value, I don’t feel the value. And give myself permission to feel that. Also, I’m culling tasks. Some have lingered for months, even years. My mind is telling me something here. Time to listen.

The next step for me requires stepping back, reprioritizing and focusing. I know it will be painful. Selecting that which I won’t do; ugh. I want to do everything. I see, though, I can’t do even half of everything well. Quality is important. Much more so than quantity. Time to embrace it, and live it.

Perhaps I’ll embrace an agile approach. Re-evaluate every few weeks/months. Ensuring I’m meeting my needs; watching for those needs to change. I like that idea. Allowing my life to flow, fluid-like. Accepting my needs will change, and seeking to be ahead. Rather than waiting until I swirl into misery. There’s zen.