Musings from the CU Suite

Written by Anthony Demangone

Last week was one of those weeks.

I travelled a bit.  We had an executive committee meeting.  And we presented our 2014 budget.  We put the finishing touches on a management strategic planning workshop.  And to top it off, we rolled out a new program - a company-wide organizational citizenship review.  We rated every employee on how well he or she played in the sandbox.

For the first time in a long time, I really fell behind. 

Desperate to catch up, I researched the Googleverse.  I read articles. Scanned Facebook posts.  I Tweeted.  I LinkedIn. I did not Instagram.  I'm not that cool.

Well, miracles never cease! I uncovered three productivity tricks that let me catch up. Now, keep in mind, I'm not ahead of the game, but I'm no longer behind the 8-ball.

1. A strange beeping machine. I learned of a strange machine that beeps.  Before you go to bed, you can program it to beep, in an annoying manner, whenever you want.  I thought about it long and hard.  Should I set it to beep late in the morning, or earlier than I usually rise?  I picked the latter. It worked!  I got up earlier, and had more time to work on issues.
2. Compressed tree fibres. If you chip a tree, pulp the chips, and do this and that, you get this stuff called paper.  Get two or three sheets of this.
3. Graphite, surrounded by a wooden casing. I  believe these are called pencils.  But I could be mistaken.  If you take the paper from #2, you can create a list of priorities by rubbing the pencil against the paper. 

 

The original productivity app?

 

Now, I'm not sure my new productivity "apps" will work for you.  Every person is different.  But they will give you two by-products. A bit more time.  And a list of priorities.  

How you use them is completely up to you.

(Now, my father keep talking about this productivity "theory" of "turning off the TV."  Not sure what he meant by that, but if I can really master the three tools I discussed today, I may ask him about what he meant.) 

***

John Harwell, a NAFCU Certified Compliance Officer, did us proud on the Hill today.  John made the case that credit unions must have access to the mortgage secondary market. Here's John's testimony.  If you speak of John today, speak kindly.  He represented us well.  And John, this is for you...Roll Tide!