19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
100 ways to do the dull stuff fast, the better to have time for the quality stuff., October 28, 2008
This review is from: The Experts' Guide to Doing Things Faster: 100 Ways to Make Life More Efficient (Hardcover)
Samantha Ettus conceived of the third book in her "Experts' Guide" series well before mortgages started to tumble and crater the rest of the economy. I know because, unaccountably, she asked me to be one of her 100 experts for this book. [About what? you may ask. Read on.]
In that long-ago world, we might want to operate faster and more efficiently because we had so damn much to do. Now we read her book through a different lens --- speed and efficiency are survival mechanisms. It's the same book, just put to a different purpose.
As a cheat sheet to efficiency, these screeds are a Rohrsharch test --- you see what you want (or need) to see. There are six sections: Home, Work, Mind, Body, Love, Pleasure, Travel and Future. No way you'll care equally about them all. Many are written by celebrities. None runs much more than 800 words --- before you have time to get bored by advice of no consequence to you, you're on to the next. Think of this book as Exhibit A of its own argument.
Home begins with Barbara Corcoran, one of New York's most successful real estate agents, telling you how to sell. Buyers decide if they want your house within eight seconds of stepping inside, she says. So go to open houses and see what works for you, then look at your house to see what you need to do. As for putting a price on your house...well, I wish I'd had this advice when we put our apartment on the market a few years ago. It would have paid for the price of the book, many times over.
Work. These days, it's very much on my mind, so I leaned in. A "success analyst" --- who knew there was such a gig? --- offers good advice (Focus! Eliminate distractions! Be impatient!) and even better quotes. (Frank Lloyd Wright had the rear window of his car covered because "I never look backward.") The first female solo pilot for the Thunderbirds explains why a fighter mission lasts 30 minutes but the debriefing takes two to four hours. A very rewarding section.
Mind was, for me, the heart of the book, and not just because it includes my modest advice on forming opinions faster. (Short answer: Smart opinions take a long time; while you're working on developing them, steal opinions from others.) How you think is where success starts or falters --- if your head's in the way, it doesn't matter how brilliantly you do laundry or chop carrots. These essays offer half a dozen infallible ways to jumpstart creativity, help you concentrate, judge character, say no, dodge guilt --- and even, literally, bury the hatchet.
Body hits all the right notes. I was pleased to read that your goal in walking isn't to take longer strides but to take faster steps; your stride will lengthen on its own. A boxing cutman --- there's an expert! --- tells you how to stop the bleeding. A competitive eating champ reveals a cure for stomach aches (no, it's not ginger ale). A nutritionist explains why eating celery isn't a good substitute when you're starving for pizza.
Women who would never pay a trillion bucks for a Sally Hershenberger haircut may crave her styling tips. And for all I know, Laura Mercier's guide to applying makeup unlocks a vital koan. I was moved by "Recover from a Loss" by Dan Gottlieb, who has survived paralysis, divorce, depression and the deaths of loved ones. I questioned most of the relationship advice, but with my track record, why listen to me?
I was delighted to know how to cruise through airport security without hassle and I welcomed a few easy ways to better gas mileage, but I didn't really pump a fist of approval until I read Thomas Farley, whose piece about manners ends the book. For he connects the dots. The way to get ahead faster --- and by that I mean, live more vividly on your way to whatever goal --- is a paradox: Slow down and really see other people.
Along the way, others had hinted at this: the 42-year doorman at the Plaza Hotel, a pick-up artist, an expert on female 'satisfaction'. And here, now, was the author of the "Social Graces" column in Town & Country saying to hand-write thank-you notes, don't multi-task when making phone calls, pay attention to others. In other words: Do the dull stuff fast, the better to have time for the quality stuff.
So forgive Samantha Ettus her curious choice in contributors. Skip the parts that don't apply to you. There's some gold in these pages --- take your foot off the accelerator when you hit it
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book will help you become more efficient, January 26, 2009
This review is from: The Experts' Guide to Doing Things Faster: 100 Ways to Make Life More Efficient (Hardcover)
I loved the premise behind THE EXPERTS' GUIDE TO DOING
THINGS FASTER by Samantha Ettus; i.e., to become more
efficient in every aspect of every day.
Ettus presents 100 different ideas in short but insightful chapters
that included daily essentials, lifestyle lessons, beauty basics,
romance road maps, physical feats, money matters and healthy
hints . . . she chose 100 of the word's leading experts to
write them,, ranging from Hannah Storm on getting ready in the
morning to Sir Richard Branson on getting a loan . .. some
names were not immediately recognizable, such as New York's
most famous doorman ("Make Someone Feel Good") and an
Olympic eater ("Cure a Stomachache"), but that did not take
away from the value of their advice.
I learned much from reading this book, and methinks you will
too . . . for instance:
* [reducing the length of meetings] Start at a specific time each day,
and make it an odd one, like 8:08 a.m. or 4:44 p.m. I've observed
a strange psychological pattern: people are more likely to be prompt
when the start time is not on the half or quarter hour. (Worried that
you'll forget the meeting while traveling? Set a recurring reminder
alarm on your cell phone or Black Berry.)
* [returning phone calls] Stay away from message dumping (e.g.,
calling a person's office to leave a message at 9 p.m. when you know
they've left for the day). This practice is transparent and reflects poorly
on you. The only way to close a deal or reach a resolution
on something is to speak with the person directly.
Some ideas were so good that they were repeated--in slightly
different fashion--in different chapters, such as:
* [achieving success] Distractions are the enemy of focused
attention. A successful race car driver told me, "A little bit
of distraction and you could have a really bad day." . . . Deborah
McGiness, senior research scientist at Stanford, said to me,
"Getting my degree, every year I cut out things. I remember the
year I sacrificed movies. I just said, 'I can't afford the time. I'll
put movies back in my life again once I finish the Ph.D.' "
* [unleash your creativity] Clear the deck so that you can focus
your energies on the area in which creativity is needed. Completely
unplug yourself from your phones, computer, email, television,
radio, and any other distractions from people and pets.
So that said, I guess it's time for me to stop taking calls
and answering emails . . . and, also, turn-off the DVD I'm
half-watching.
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