Books |
The Experts’ Guide to Doing Things Faster
Samantha Ettus
By
Published: Jan 01, 2008
Category:
Self Help
The Experts’ Guide to Doing Things Faster: 100 Ways to Make Life More Efficient
created by Samantha Ettus
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 The Experts’ Guide to Doing Things Faster: 100 Ways to Make Life More Efficient. [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 the female orgasm. 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.
To buy “The Experts’ Guide to Doing Things Faster: 100 Ways to Make Life More Efficient” from Amazon.com, click here.
To read more about “The Experts’ Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do” on HeadButler.com, click here.
To read more about “The Experts’ Guide to Life at Home” on HeadButler.com, click here.
To visit the Experts’ web site, click here.
