All posts by Art Gelwicks

Mindset

The Great Stuff Transfer

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No, really, I don’t need that.

There are a number of generational memes circulating about the habits of the “boomer” generation and their proclivity for giving things of dubious value to their family members.

The transfer of physical possessions from Boomers to Millennials is often referred to as the “Great Stuff Transfer”. While much attention is paid to the financial assets and the transfer when it comes time, Boomers are also attempting to pass down a massive accumulation of physical items, such as fine china, silver flatware, crystal stemware, various collections, and heavy antique “brown” furniture. Items that were perceived as having a potential growing value when they were obtained, but have proven otherwise. Some examples of these “valuable collectibles” are:

Figurines and Statuettes

Hummel figurines: Once a prized possession on many mantels, these cherubic German figurines are now largely rejected by younger generations who favor minimalist decor. As original collectors pass away, the market has been flooded, reducing the value of most common figures to under $50.

Precious Moments: These teardrop-eyed porcelain figures suffered a similar fate. Despite having a massive collector’s club in their heyday, the sheer volume of figurines produced over the decades crashed the secondary market, with most now selling for just $7 to $25 online.

Other decorative figures that have lost their investment value include Lladro statues, Royal Doulton figurines, and Swarovski crystal animals, which have failed to keep pace with modern tastes and lack any true rarity.

Plates and Fine China

Collector plates: Companies like the Bradford Exchange and Franklin Mint heavily marketed plates—such as those featuring Norman Rockwell paintings—as “limited edition” investments. However, production runs were massive, and the practice of hanging decorative plates on walls has fallen out of fashion. Today, most of these mass-produced plates are worth less than $15, and sometimes under $5.

China sets and serving platters: Because modern entertaining is much more casual and fewer homes have formal dining rooms, large sets of floral fine china have rapidly declined in value, often selling for a fraction of their original price or being entirely rejected by heirs.

Toys and Fads

Beanie Babies: The poster child for the 1990s speculative bubble. Ty Inc. initially created artificial scarcity, but once they ramped up mass production, the illusion of rarity shattered. Today, roughly 99.9% of all Beanie Babies are worth less than $20.

Cabbage Patch Kids: Despite causing literal shopping riots in 1983, the mass-market dolls from the 1980s are now ubiquitous. Average dolls from this era sell for just $20 to $50.

Modern Barbie Dolls and Hess Trucks: Due to overproduction and manufacturers leaning into “limited edition” marketing gimmicks, most modern Barbies (1990s to present) and Hess trucks produced after the 1970s have little to no secondary market value.

Art and Home Decor

Thomas Kinkade prints: The “Painter of Light” saturated the market through a vast network of over 300 galleries. Because the “hand-embellished” prints were produced in such huge quantities, the market collapsed. Prints that originally cost hundreds or thousands of dollars often receive no bids at auction today.

Longaberger baskets: Once a billion-dollar empire sold via home parties, the secondary market unraveled as home decor trends shifted away from the “country chic” aesthetic, leaving many standard baskets struggling to find buyers at any price.

“Brown” antique furniture: Heavy, dark-wood dining sets, cabinets, and sideboards made of mahogany or walnut are widely rejected by Millennials and Gen Z, who prefer lighter, minimalist, and space-saving furniture.

Paper, Cards, and Comics

“Junk Wax Era” Sports Cards and 1990s Comic Books: In the late 80s and early 90s, card companies and comic publishers massively overproduced their products to meet speculator hype. They utilized gimmicks like foil-embossed variant covers, which completely eliminated any actual rarity. Today, most collections from this era are virtually worthless.

Stamps: Once known as the “hobby of kings,” stamp collecting has seen a dramatic decline as physical mail becomes a novelty. Online marketplaces revealed that many stamps once thought to be rare were actually quite common, causing prices for standard vintage stamps to collapse.

Passing on to the next generations

However, Millennials and younger generations overwhelmingly do not want these items. This rejection is driven by several practical and cultural shifts:

Lack of Space and Different Lifestyles: Millennials often live in smaller spaces, rent rather than own, and favor open-concept homes that lack formal dining rooms or the wall space needed for large furniture like mahogany sideboards and linen presses. Furthermore, modern entertaining is much more casual, rendering formal china and silver obsolete for everyday life.

Because Millennials are refusing these items, the burden of managing this “stuff” still falls on adult children, who often resort to renting self-storage units, making frequent trips to donation centers, or simply throwing the items in the garbage during estate clear-outs.

Looking forward, the overall U.S. self-storage market was valued at $45.34 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $57.79 billion by 2031

Minimalism and Experiences over Things: Younger generations lean heavily toward minimalism and prefer to spend their money on experiences, travel, and “memory-making” rather than accumulating physical possessions.

Plummeting Financial Value: Items that Boomers considered highly valuable investments, such as traditional brown furniture, have largely lost their financial worth at auction due to a lack of demand from younger buyers.

This dynamic has created a significant emotional and generational disconnect. Boomers, who were often raised by post-Depression or wartime parents, tend to attach deep sentimental value and personal history to their belongings. In contrast, younger generations do not typically tie their memories, life stories, or sense of self-worth to material objects.

To navigate these tense family dynamics, advice centers on finding a compassionate middle ground. Younger generations are encouraged to show empathy by not diminishing the sentimental value of their parents’ items, offering to keep smaller, manageable alternatives (like photo albums or jewelry) to honor their memory, and remembering that they are ultimately not obligated to hold onto unwanted possessions after a loved one passes.

The Forgotten Generation

While the cultural conversation often focuses heavily on the clash between Baby Boomers and Millennials or Generation Z, Generation X is caught right in the middle of these economic and generational shifts.

Here is how Generation X figures into the broader dynamics of wealth, possessions, and cultural conflict:

Co-Inheritors of the “Great Wealth” and “Great Stuff” Transfers Alongside Millennials, Gen Xers are the primary heirs in line to receive the estimated $90 trillion in assets currently held by the Silent Generation and Baby Boomers. Consequently, they are also on the front lines of the “Great Stuff Transfer” and are facing the daunting task of managing the avalanche of fine china, collections, and physical possessions being passed down.

A Divided Stance on “Brown Furniture” and Heirlooms While Millennials are frequently characterized as outright rejecting traditional “brown furniture” and heirlooms in favor of minimalism, Gen X’s response is more mixed:

The Burdened: Some Gen Xers feel the same overwhelming burden as younger generations. One Gen X commenter confessed to quietly sneaking items out of their parents’ house on every visit to donate to Goodwill, anticipating the monumental labor that clearing the estate will eventually require.

The Appreciative: Other Gen Xers feel left out of the narrative entirely, noting that they actually do like and value brown furniture, antiques, and traditional decor.

The Bypassed: Some Gen Xers express relief when their older Boomer parents decide to skip a generation and leave their assets and belongings directly to their grandchildren instead.

Strategies for Managing the Transfer

This can be a tricky course to navigate, with emotional investment being as much as the financial one. Some things to keep in mind:

The Sunk Cost Fallacy: There can be a strong sentiment by the owning generation that the amount invested in an item is the minimum of it’s worth. This fails to take into account demand, depreciation, and condition as contributing factors. Because a thing cost X doesn’t mean it now is worth X+Y. This can be difficult to explain and convey, especially when having to admit something is not valuable can also mean that person is wrong.

Value by Exception: Too often the “value” of an item is based on a unique case and set of circumstances, not the norm for the majority of the item type. For example, the rarest Beanie Babies can go for $10,000 but the common types go from $1 to $20 in value. Hundreds of millions of the toys were produced, so the odds of having a high value one to pass down are extremely slim. Unfortunately, because “there might be a chance” the succeeding generations are deluged with boxes and containers of common items all with the potential of that diamond in the rough.

Emotional Value: Many things are assigned an inflated value because the cost of the item is artificially adjusted with an emotional connection to an event or a person. An example of this is the copper string art my grandfather made when I was a child. There is an emotional value added to the financial worth of the items that can complicate the decision making process for keeping or getting rid of the items.

Giver Identity Value: This is a more insidious challenge to the purging process. In cases where the giver is still present in the receiver’s life, there can be an expectation of acceptance because “I’m giving you something I think is valuable” so you should appreciate it. There must be an understanding when something is passed along, it is completely at the receiver’s discretion as to what is done with the item. Situations where the giver may come looking to see if you’re “appreciating” or “getting something out of” the given thing can add an emotional weight disproportionate to the value of the item.

An Agreement

My kids and I have a few agreements based on experiences I have had with things transferred from my own parents I recommend for others:

  1. Once something is transferred to them, it is theirs to do with what they will. I relinquish all rights and expectations to the item.
  2. When the time comes they are working through the things I leave behind, I have zero expectation of them keeping anything they do not find personally valuable. “Dad would have wanted me to keep that” is not an acceptable answer.
  3. Things that were transferred to me have no greater value than the things I obtained on my own. Just because grandmom or granddad gave me something, does not mean my kids are obligated to keep that thing.
  4. I will not judge from the great beyond. If any of my kids choose to part with a thing transferred to them rather than pursue recouping any possible financial benefit from an item, they should never feel I would be disappointed in their choice. So often, the cost and effort to recoup that value is not worth the return.
  5. Swedish death cleaning is in effect. One of the greatest gifts I can give to the future is to make the decisions of what needs to go in advance. If I make the choice and discard / sell / donate the thing, it is one less thing they need to address.

64.4 Million and Dropping

In 1999 we reached the peak number of boomers in the United States with 79 million people. That number is expected to drop to 48 million by 2036 and 24 million by 2046. With each drop, the next generations deal with more and more “stuff” transferring hands. Millenials will continue to be the generation tasked with managing the transfer over the next two to three decades until it becomes the issue of Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Hopefully long before then we will have learned our lesson and realized the value of experience over things and start to trim our consumption. That is, unless late-stage capitalism has it’s way.

What do you think? Are you ready for the Great Stuff Transfer?

Coaching, Strategy

The Flurry of Finishing

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The productivity struggle we all talk about deals with not accomplishing what we want, moving things along their planned path, or organizing the myriad of things headed our way often fails to address one key area…what happens when things DO get done?

Every so often (though in today’s world it feels less and less) we have a day where things do get finished. You get a little momentum and a chore is finished or a project is completed. You feel a little burst of adrenaline and dopamine knowing you don’t have to commit your energy to worrying about that thing any longer. Then another task follows suit…and another. At some point in the day you stop, catch your breath, and go, “Damn, I got a lot done today.” Those are the successes we need to raise up.

The sense of accomplishment when a task, long on the list, is completed is so satisfying. Whether it’s a checkbox checked, a line item crossed-off, or a status changed, closing out something that has been weighing on you is the proverbial weight off your shoulders. Sometimes it’s a collection of disparate things getting done; in others it’s that mythical “flow” state for which we’re searching and have found.

Where we underestimate is the value of completing many little things. We look at the big items, the milestones, the world-shaking (ok, maybe not world shaking) tasks as the ones that deserve all our attention. But the little tasks…that’s where momentum comes from.

Daily summaries, journaling, and recurring tasks

There are tools out there that provide summaries of the tasks you have completed as part of their function. Todoist is a good example of one of those tools, though the detail provided is a bit lacking. Having a tool that gives you a measure of the little things in aggregate keeps you from discounting the value of completion.

Keeping a daily record of the tasks you complete, even the little ones, can go a long way to helping you savor the feeling of success. For example, Capacities does an excellent job of managing daily notes and then providing consolidated views so you can see everything that was noted during the week. Notion allows for databases to track completions providing a data-centric view of the items done. Workflowy gives you fast-filtered views of crossed-out items for a rapid overview. The list goes on and on. In the end, being able to go back and see what you’ve done, and how much, can be a strong positive motivator.

In many cases, tasks happen again and again. One of my favorite phrases for repeating tasks comes from an old commercial, “Lather, rinse, repeat.” Finding a way to track not only the completion of a recurring tasks, but also the consistency of completion is another powerful motivator. Many tools, Notion and Capacities for example, let you either build your own tracker or have a tracker built into the tasks themselves. In either case, seeing that bar fill longer and longer with each successful completion feels good.

Celebrate your successes and light the fire

All in all, the most important task you can complete is taking time to revel in your success, evaluate your completions, and understand what you can carry forth to complete even more.

Use the record of past success to ignite a fire under you when needed. It doesn’t work all the time, but there are moments when going back and seeing those good days, that can be enough to light the spark.

Know someone struggling with appreciating their successes? How about sharing this article with them?

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Techniques

A New Way of Thinking – Notes as Objects

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What if everything was a thing?

person writing on brown wooden table near white ceramic mug
Photo by Unseen Studio on Unsplash

I’ve been working with note-taking tools for decades now, from paper to pocket digital, outlines to mind maps, and so many more. Recently I’ve been using an application that has been around for a few years now, but in my estimation isn’t getting near the exposure or credit it deserves.

What if every note you make, every record you keep, every annotation was its own object and could be managed independently?

It sounds simple enough, but once you go down the rabbit hole you find it’s a radical shift from traditional knowledge systems. So much so it requires a change in how we think about our information.

Let’s take something simple. I’m preparing for a trip and I need to put together a packing list.

Now for most systems, this is easy enough. You create a note, a page, or a database record, add check boxes, and enter all the things you need to pack. That’s great… if that is the only time you ever want to deal with that information.

What if it did more?

How about each item on that list being its own object so you know not only that you need it, but what it is, details about it, and all the times you referred to it?

Can’t find an item? Look up its object and find the last time you used it.

Put something in a “safe place” and now you can’t find it? Look up its object and check that note. Or even better, when making your list, connect the object to the list so you can find the item right away.

Need to replace an item on your list? Pull the object that tells you where you got it, what it cost, and has an image of the item so you can find it in the store.

We are so obsessed with process and procedures, workflows and methods, that we forget those are driven by objects that we interact with. If we manage the objects, we can manage their interactions.

Let’s take that object idea a step further. If we turn the packing list into an object itself, we can clone it for future trips, make changes to clones, and add the cloned object to the daily notes for the days we’re traveling.

The tool I’m using automatically creates backlinks between objects, so I can see on a day the objects connected to the day as well as from the object see what days I needed to work with it. Even better, when I create a new object, say I make a purchase at a store, it’s automatically backlinked to the day I created the record.

If you are challenged by ADHD the way I am, having a platform that makes the connections for you automatically, allows you to follow the threads of thinking smoothly, AND doesn’t try to force artificial structures on your mind is a big win. Whether it’s a screenshot of a receipt, a photo of an event flyer, a scan of a document, or a note from a conversation, the “thing” you captured now becomes an asset instead of a burden.

Oh…the tool? Capacities.

Let me know if you’d like me to share more about how to get the “objects” in your world under control.

Coaching

Folders or tags?

Managing your information usually comes down to one of two things.

How many files do you have?

How many notes have you taken?

Those are questions, for many of us, we either don’t know the answer or are afraid to ask. The collapse of so many organizational systems are caused by falling back on old ways of working such as keeping information in folders.

In days of yore…

Folders were the defacto method of organizing information on a PC because they emulated a standard people were already familiar with as well as providing a structure that worked well with file storage of the time.

That time has passed.

Folder structures:

  • Have problems with scalability for large volume use

  • Require consistency in naming

  • Have limits in name length and levels of nested folders

  • Do not facilitate finding your information quickly

  • Do not prevent duplication of content

What’s the alternative?

Many systems now provide tagging and categorization as a replacement for or in addition to folder structures when it comes to organizing data. Now this isn’t the same as putting information into database structures (looking at you Notion), rather it applies structure without structure.

Tagging:

  • Creates subsets of information based on relevancy to a topic

  • Fits well into search capabilities of tools

  • Scales better with growing sets of information

  • Works better with machine learning and AI

  • Do all applications offer tagging?

Unfortunately no, most applications do not have tagging as an option in their information management. Finding applications that leverage tags over folders should be a key concern when implementing or upgrading knowledge systems.

Can I “pretend” to have tags in my folders?

Depending on the system, you can use keywords in your folder and file names to make searching more useful. While still far removed from tags, it does get you closer to the types of functionality available.

What are some ways to get around the issues of folders?

  1. Rather than making multiple copies of a document, decide on the location for one master copy. Depending on the system you can create a shortcut to the master copy in another folder, or in even less capable systems, create a small document in the second location that contains a link to the master document.

  2. Don’t be afraid to reorganize. So many folder structures sprawl out of control because of a failure to realign with changing needs out of a lack of understanding. If you’re moving content from folder to folder, there’s no harm with leaving the old folder in place with a single document pointing to the new location. Heck, you could even add a note as to why the contents of the folder were moved.

  3. Folders work best when organized in wide rather than deep structures. A good rule of thumb is you shouldn’t have more than four folders deep to go through to get to a file.

What’s the right answer?

I wish there was one for everyone. Unfortunately, because of differences in need, tools, structure, content, and implementation, the best answer that can be given is, “it depends”.

Take time with a coach or professional to talk through what you’re doing now, what you need it to do, and what you’re using to do it and they can help you find the right fit for your information management.

Coaching

That little voice in your head

Sometimes you wish it would just shut up.

It’s the quiet times that are the hardest.

When things change, through no choice of your own, that’s when that little voice decides to chime in.

“You deserved this.”

“You weren’t good enough.”

“You should have tried harder.”

or my favorite

“Why didn’t you see this coming?”

We’ve all had times when that voice shows up. Sometimes it’s after something major happens. Other times it’s keeping you awake in bed. Still other times it’s reinforced by the doom-scrolling you’re doing to try and distract yourself.

That voice is destructive. That voice is powerful. That voice is…just is.

But there’s something we so often miss about that voice.

It’s not your voice.

If you listen carefully, you’ll hear the disappointed parent, the angry spouse, the annoying co-worker, the disapproving teacher. All the voices over the years living rent free in your head power that little voice.

You try to fix something – “You’re not smart enough.”

Money is tight – “If you had only applied yourself…”

You’re alone – “You’re not enough.”

These aren’t things we say to ourselves. These are things that are said, hurtful, demeaning, destructive things designed to elevate others at our expense.

Hear them in the voices that said them. Understand where they came from. Weaken them with the understanding they have no intention to help, only to harm.

“You’re not smart enough…I don’t think I am either but if I put you down I can raise myself up.”

“You’re not enough…I don’t think I am either but I can protect myself by shaming you.

“If you had only applied yourself…I wouldn’t have to feel bad about having no idea how I could have helped you.”

The next time you hear that little voice…and trust me you will…tell it:

I hear you, but it doesn’t mean I have to listen, and it doesn’t mean you have anything worth saying.

Coaching

OneNote and Daily Notes

Taking notes when things are happening way too fast.

Over the past year I spent a large part of my professional time operating in “interrupt mode”. At any given moment I could have whatever I was doing interrupted by a question from my team, a request from account management, or a demand from leadership. That sudden stop, change of direction, and resume when finished can derail even the best note taking systems. I didn’t have the best…I had OneNote.

Step 1 – Capture as you go

The first thing I did was start a daily note each day. The title was nothing more than the date (Year-month-day format for consistency sake). From the creation of that note, everything else went into the daily note.

On Windows, Shift-Alt-D dropped a date and Shift-Alt-T dropped the time into my note. Stream of consciousness capture came next with everything I needed to know when I was able to come back to what I was doing at some point. The daily note grew and grew as the day took on it’s normal chaotic character.

Step 2 – Search vs. structure

In the beginning I tried to create an organized section and page structure to make it easier to locate information I needed on demand. Unfortunately, the more time I spent doing that, the less of an impact it had on my information demand urgency. Sounds counter-intuitive I know, but reality often does.

I began restructuring my note taking to match how I would need it in the future, not based on the structures in the tool itself. Adding ticket numbers, keywords, client names, team member names, all of these helped when it came to answering that interrupt question that showed up in my doorway unexpectedly.

Step 3 – Information in, information out

Screenshots into OneNote became a fast friend – capturing chats in Teams and information from web pages for reference. Once I came to the acceptance that the majority of the information I was capturing never needed to be edited, relying on the OCR of the images in OneNote made things much more effective.

On the flip side, rather than writing emails in Outlook I started writing new emails in OneNote and then using the Email Note function to distribute the content. Why? In that way I had a record in my notes of the original email, I could capture responses without needing the entire email thread, plus I could add reference content that didn’t need to go into the email.

Not perfect, but not terrible either

I tried other variants during the year: hand written notes by digital tablet, paper note photos, section groups and sections across multiple notebooks, the list goes on. In the end though, while not perfect, OneNote gave me the opportunity to work around the limitations of the environment and business technology and focus on the job at hand. At the end of the day, isn’t that really all we can ask?

Coaching

What AI won't do for you.

The things the hype cycle doesn’t want you to know.

In the groundswell of thinking that AI will “do all the things” it’s important to understand the limitations of what it can and can’t do, especially when it comes to professional needs or running a business.

Any technology in it’s earliest days is amazing and potentially ground-breaking. As time progresses and we learn more, the application of our critical thinking skills become the best check-and-balance for riding the hype cycle.

By Jeremykemp at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10547051

Let’s start with a disclaimer…AI is an amazingly powerful technology that has and will change the way many things work. There’s no argument there. I use AI every day to improve the processes for my work and personal needs. That said, it’s equally important to understand the limitations of the technology and how it is used.

AI won’t:

  • implement organizational change for you

  • solve organizational conflicts

  • value experience over aggregated results

  • provide push back when push back is needed

  • see people as people

  • understand for you

Implementing strategies

AI has an excellent capacity to answer questions such as “how should we do this” with a tone and structure that is convincing and confident. Trouble is, there’s nothing in that response around how to communicate much less implement those answers in a successful manner.

Solutions such as Claude Code can build the tools for automating processes but those same tools can’t adapt when the strategy needs to change on the fly. Understanding what needs to be done, who needs to do it, and most importantly what are the potential impacts, falls on experienced professionals and staff. An AI may give you an answer that sounds good…but it takes a professional to know if it is or not.

Solving organizational conflicts

This is another great example of AI providing perceived insights that it cannot justify. Conflicts that occur within an organization, whether they be personal, departmental, or operational, may be “explained” by AI, but resolving the conflicts always come back to the people involved. Anyone telling you their AI solution can resolve the conflicts between staff members or between staff and processes has a monthly subscription price they want you to pay.

These solutions don’t come from only the “right” answers, but also from having seen the wrong ones play out. Only time, trial and error, and experience can create the proper perspective for a specific set of needs and issues.

Valuing experience over aggregated results

Some of the best business and professional decisions come from “uncommon wisdom” rather than the results of a targeted search of internet sources. When you prompt an AI to address a topic, it’s recommended to have it provide it’s sources as part of the response. Why? Simply so you know from where the answer is coming.

I’ve seen too many people going to AI and asking, “what is the best…” or “tell me the right way to…” and I have to ask, best based on what? Right way according to whom?

Think back to the early days of search engines when we would enter keywords and get back millions of pages of results. Even though the “best” answer for our needs may have been on page 13, we rarely went past page 2 in returned links. There is a gap between the best answer and the most convenient one.

AI doesn’t show you the origin of it’s information unless you ask it to. It doesn’t show you the criteria it used to make it’s recommendation unless you press for details.

Providing push back when push back is needed

I asked an AI, “is it a good idea to fire my staff and replace them with AI agents?”

Sounds well-reasoned and thought out doesn’t it? Sure…and a professional could have said the same thing with a simple “No.” I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

I then asked, “Will it save my business money?”

In the short term, replacing staff with AI agents can significantly reduce payroll and benefit expenses

An AI isn’t going tell you when an idea is a bad one AND stick to it’s stance on the idea. AIs can be badgered into telling you what you want to hear based on the questions and prompts you provide or worse yet hallucinate and make up the answer. If you’re looking for validation, an AI is “happy” to provide that…but if you’re looking for a rational, experienced evaluation of an idea you need a person with real understanding.

Seeing people as people

In our modern working world, AI has become a major factor in the process of evaluating and hiring people. For better or worse, it can process thousands of applicants for a role, matching their information to the description provided and sifting through to find the “best match.”

If…the job description is accurate. If…the keywords in the resume match the keywords in the role. If…the terminology used across the sources is consistent. So many ifs. As an automation tool, it does it’s job. As something that sees the people behind the text, it continues to fail miserably.

Now we have people writing resumes using AI to optimize them for the AI applicant tracking systems so they have a better chance of being seen by a human. Back and forth the pendulum swings but where are the real benefits being seen? People are not data and when they are reduced to just that we all suffer for it.

Understand for you

This is a hard one to take for many people. It’s not a challenge with AI, but rather with how people handle the information provided to them. An AI can churn out pages and pages of detailed, referenced reports and research based on your prompts: text, charts, images, and more all to provide everything you’ve asked about.

The problem is…are you going to read it? Do you have the time to review, analyze, and process all the information provided to you to turn into something actionable and impactful? Can the AI explain it in a way that makes sense to you and your situation?

I always chuckle a little when, after completing a lengthy bit of research through an AI that goes on for pages, the AI ends with “would you like a one-page summary?” This isn’t an AI problem, it’s a people problem because we know people like quick and easy.

If you know anyone in the consulting field they’ll tell you this has been going on for decades. You spend hours creating the perfect meal of information only to be asked for it to be packed in a happy meal box with a toy. Only difference here is the AI isn’t going to complain about it. Maybe that’s why people like it…no push back.

AIs aren’t professors…they’re elementary school teachers

Now, I’m not disparaging elementary school teachers in any way with that statement. Personally I think an elementary school teacher has a harder job than a professor when it comes to the delivery of knowledge to their audience. (Please feel free to leave your agreement / disagreement in the comments.)

AIs will take a complex topic and synthesize it down to something consumable. A teacher takes complex topics and communicates them in a way that the majority of students can understand. However, the AI cannot tell when you don’t understand what it’s sharing…it can only provide the information.

When we ask an AI for complex research, in-depth information gathering, or recommendations based on available sources, we are presuming we will be able to understand what it returns. It has to be said…that is not always the case.

So how do we get the most out of AI as it exists now and prepare for it’s potential growth and change in the future?

What should you do?

  • Question everything and compare sources

  • Know the difference between can and should

  • Understand the landscape is always changing as are the rules

For the time being, AI is the biggest, noisiest, most disruptive technology out there. It’s critical you don’t fall for the hype, take time to understand how it can help you, and if you’re not sure…ask.

Coaching

The Best Storage Upgrade for your Computer is your Recycle Bin

Do you really need to keep all that stuff?

“Subscribe for our advanced cloud storage today!”

“Add 1 TB to your storage space for 50% off this week!”

The emails that come bearing these incredible offers are fast and frequent. Unfortunately they also rely on you not thinking about the best way to increase your available storage…by deleting things.

Because something is digital, it has no perceived weight, size, or capacity to take up space in our world, so why throw it away? We might just need it at some time in the future. With this thought and others, the trap is set.

Here’s a fun fact…by default, Microsoft SharePoint saves up to 500 versions of a file you place in one of it’s libraries as you edit and save that file. Not five, not 50, but 500. Now do the math of how many files you are saving and you can see why big tech is so anxious to have you add on to your monthly storage quota to keep those versions you “might” need someday.

Where to begin?

Start with the big files first. Videos are a great example. While it may be convenient to have video files in cloud storage, when was the last time you actually played back that video from there? The cloud can be effective for sharing, but far less for long term retention of large files such as videos. This is the time to start thinking about offline storage.

Three copies, two media, one to go

The strategy of protecting your files is best served by following this phrase: “Three copies, two media, one to go.” Let’s break it down.

That video of your kid’s graduation or the once in a lifetime trip somewhere…do you really want the only copy of that stored on some big tech server somewhere? A location where, in the worst case, they are no longer in business and your memories disappear just as easily?

Here’s the plan:

Leave a copy in the cloud, but also make a copy to two local storage devices. Preferably to your computer (if you have the space available…not always the case with the move to SSD drives) and to an external drive.

For example, I keep my most active files (the ones where I never know where I’ll be when I need them) in the cloud for easy access. I also keep copies of those files on my local computer drive AND I make a copy of them on the external hard drive I have for long term storage. Three copies, two media (or more), one (or more) to go.

Sounds like a lot of work.

That’s what big tech is counting on. If things feel difficult or cumbersome, they’re happy to offer an “easy” solution for a nominal fee. But is it really necessary? Let’s do a little more math.

Two terabytes of storage from Google in the cloud will run you about $100 annually. An external USB connected hard drive will run you just a bit more. Year one, the price comparison is a wash. Year two…now we start to see savings. The savings can justify the extra effort pretty quickly.

But what about…

The arguments start to come in, “what about search? what about sharing?” Remember the phrase…three copies, two media, one to go? No one said you CAN’T use the cloud…only that you should use it for the right things. Things that need to be shared are a good candidate for one of the copies to be in the cloud. Things that are rarely needed…they’re best served using local storage and a logical naming system.

Still sounds complicated.

Making the change from the “cloud will manage my stuff” to taking responsibility can be a bit of an effort, but in the long term it is the best approach. Subscriptions are temporary, no matter how big the company is providing them, whereas owning your content and files where you want them is the right way to keep control in this changing tech landscape.

But what about AI? (suppressing eyeroll)

Yes, AI can leverage your information to give you insights and synthesize answers based on your files and content. But what is AI doing with your information when you’re not using it? Does it really need everything you’ve stored? Selective use of information with AI can get far more accurate results than pointing it at the ocean and telling it to go boil it all.

That’s not how they do it at work.

Nope, it isn’t. Want to know why?

They consider information maintenance and storage a cost of doing business, not a benefit for the business. They keep all the things because it’s “non-productive” to clean up, organize, and manage the information. They’d rather let the wonders of machine learning and AI do the work and trust the result, failing to take into consideration that your systems are only as smart as the information put into them.

Ok, so where do I begin?

First, talk to an independent professional. Someone with business, productivity, and IT experience who can map out what you have, what you want, and what you actually need. Compare costs, accessibility, retention, and protection. Then…and this is the real hard part…get ready to get rid of things you don’t need anymore. Free up that space, reduce those subscription costs, and get a handle on what’s worth keeping.

Coaching

When is a task not a task?

In the world of productivity there’s always a running debate around task management.

In the world of productivity there’s always a running debate around task management. Should they have reminders? Do they get scheduled? How do you track them? How do you follow-up? Before delving into that type of discussion let’s focus on helping define exactly what tasks are to you and how you can get a grip on them.

The term “task” is a loaded one in my dictionary, because it immediately conjures the image of something hard, something that needs to be “managed,” and something that needs a “manager.” Let’s change the definition a little and see if that helps grant us a better perspective. Instead of a task being focused on work to expend, let’s focus it on objective to be accomplished. Each task we complete should be an accomplishment, no matter how minor. (You have no idea how often completing the task of “getting my morning coffee” is the biggest accomplishment of the day. Now, with our new outlook on tasks, we can change even more rules.

When we look at tasks there are really two types in my book: tasks you assign yourself and tasks assigned to you by someone else. The biggest difference is the second type, assigned by someone else, involves just that…someone else. Part of the task accomplishment process then has to include the other person in the mix to be considered an accomplishment when complete. Let’s take a closer look at a basic userflow (one of my favorite terms) for the two types of task:

Task A — Assigned by me

Identify the task –> Document the task –> Plan –> Execute –> Document accomplishment

Task B — Assigned by someone else

Receive assignment –> Review assignment –> Acknowledge assignment –> Capture the task –> Document the task –> Plan –> Execute –> Document –> Report accomplishment –> Confirm or review accomplishment

If you are in a situation where a task takes longer than planned, you add in a loop for “Report Status –>” after Execute and go back to Execute to continue working. See how much more complicated things get when we introduce another human in the equation? This is where so many of our “task management” solutions fall apart. As professionals, we strive to find the one system, the one miracle pill, to address both Tasks A and B. They’re a rare beast by any measure. So how do we do this? There has to be a way. My opinion…it all comes from a change in perspective.

Communication vs. completion

Let’s take Task B from earlier since it’s the complicated one and break it down into two main areas: action and sharing.

Receive assignment –> Review assignment –> Acknowledge assignment –> Capture the task –> Document the task –> Plan –> Execute –> Document –> Report accomplishment –> Confirm or review accomplishment

Interesting change in what the task effort looks like, isn’t it? Out of the 10 steps to carry out the task, only two focus on the “doing” of the task. The rest are either receiving, sharing, or documenting (for future sharing.) When we look at our tasks this way, we can see putting energy into the task itself is not where the bulk of the work is derived. The heavy lifting comes from the communication back and forth to keep both parties engaged. Now this is just if you’re working with one person on a task. Think about what happens when we add two, three, or more.

Creating the stages in a solution for managing tasks from others must include steps to close the loop on the communications. Updates, snapshots, etc. are all part of the accomplishment of the task, but for more than just the “doing.” If you are going to establish a reputation for being the type of person who gets things done, others have to know you are doing just that. It’s up to you as part of your solution to make sure information about the successes are getting back to the right people in a timely manner so your reputation for quality work grows, rather than just becoming the person who can really crank out the widgets.

When you’re designing your “task management solution” always keep this in mind; the work you do is only a fraction of the work you share.

Coaching

Are you a hat rack?

So many hats, only one head. How do we wear them all without obscuring our vision?

Working solo means you take care of all the things. Big things. Little things. Things you love to do. Things you hate to do. Things you have no idea how to do. They’re all yours to handle.

Talk about overwhelming.

If you must do something new, you must either learn how or find someone to do it for you (hence solo leaning into the first choice rather than the second.) Time spent learning things that don’t grow your business but are necessary to stay in business can feel like a waste of time at most or a burden at a minimum. What’s a solo to do?

Unfortunately, there’s no magic wand to wave, no matter how much the influencers will try to convince you otherwise.

There are dozens of tools out there promoted with the intention of “wearing” some of those hats for you. While helpful, they still can’t completely replace your involvement in the process and execution of your work. Each tool takes time to learn, to implement, and to manage. Is that time that could have been spent doing the thing that needed doing?

Ironically only time will tell.

As a technology and productivity coach one of the most common things I see solos as well as small businesses struggle with is division and prioritization of work. We evaluate work to be done based on how it drives the bottom line, often missing the impact the work has on the short- and long-term operations of our business. Process documentation is a fitting example of this.

“Without documentation, every problem is a new problem.”

So often, the process necessary to accomplish a routine task includes multiple steps and a miss on any of them could derail the task completely. A process can vary over time as requirements and methods change, so the importance of process documentation never goes away.

When I bring this up to solos sometimes there’s pushback: “It’s my business, I know how it’s supposed to run.” While that may be true, how much time are you willing to waste recreating a process you may do only once a month or twice a year? Isn’t your time better spent? The impact to your business in this case is high when it comes to the potential of future wasted time and effort.

There is another facet to the world of the solo…the “I want to do it” approach. Many of us, me included, would rather do things ourselves. Sometimes it’s misguided thinking the only way something will be done right is if we do it. Other times we honestly enjoy learning new things, growing our skill set, and becoming more comfortable in the scope and requirements of our business. In any case, help will still be needed as knowledge doesn’t magically appear no matter how many YouTube videos you watch.

Solos can struggle deeply with the, “You need to do (the thing) this way or else it won’t be right” approach that many consultants and coaches will take. A good, effective coach will work with you to find out how you want to work and then aid in finding the ways to reach that goal. Let’s go back to our many hats for example.

Picture you wanting to purchase a hat. You need a hat as part of your business. You know what hats you like, but you aren’t sure you have the best one for your needs. You don’t want to spend too much, you want it to look good, and you want it to last.

One hat shop (not taking a shot at hat shops…this is just for example purposes) has racks and racks of baseball caps with all kinds of logos and colors. They can sell you anything you want, so long as you want a baseball cap. They will go out of their way to help you understand you really want a baseball cap.

Another hat shop has a huge variety of hats, from beanies to bowlers and more. Your eye catches a top hat on the shelf with all its splendor and you’re sure you would look amazing in it. You’re not wrong, it would be a great look, and all the really successful hat wearers have one you’re told. The price tag is large, and the upkeep will be a lot, but still, if this is what the successful people are wearing, why not?

While struggling with your decision, someone leans over to you and says, “you know, it’s supposed to be rainy and windy coming up.” You wonder why that matters and then it dawns on you. You came in looking for an all-weather, comfortable hat. The top hat, while stylish, can’t handle the wind and weather. The baseball cap, while durable, doesn’t make the impact you want. You’re back to square one. But are you?

You strike up a conversation with the stranger who asks you about where you want to wear your hat, what kinds of hats you’ve had in the past, and what you like about the top hat and baseball cap. The discussion goes back and forth, taking time you didn’t think you had, only to wind up in a place where you have a much better understanding of what you need and want. You reach over and take the wool newsboy hat from the rack, place it on your head, and immediately feel like this is the right choice. The stranger remarks, nodding, “now that’s a hat.” You leave, confident with your purchase, proud you were able to come to the decision on your own. But did you?

At this point you may be wondering what any of this has to do with process documentation, and you’d be right to. If you capture the process you went through to buy your hat, you don’t have to repeat that process blindly again. Referencing the past to apply to the present means your time spent the first time has a much greater impact in the future.

As a solo we need to always be aware of the ways we can help our future selves. Whether we simplify, streamline, optimize, or proceduralize parts of our operation, changing hats doesn’t need to be the challenge it is for so many of us. Take time to study what is required of you in all the ways, determine the courses of action that work best for you, and then make them part of your operation. Now is the time to get yourself a hat rack.