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Learning to be Useful

Posted by Nimit September 29th, 2006

I read an interesting article on Ramit Sethi’s blog today, thought I would share. Here is a quote from the article:

The most successful people I’ve met started off removing barriers for themselves–and then for people they wanted to impress. In other words, to become useful, think of how you can be useful to someone else. Some things I’ve learned:

When you go into a meeting, have duplicate copies in case your coworker forgets his.

Spend 5 minutes organizing your papers and to-dos before you go to sleep, so when you wake up, you’re ready to go.

If you don’t get a response to an email, don’t write another email saying, “Did you get my email?” Instead, write this: “I’m not sure if you got a chance to look at this. What do you think? I’ve pasted it below to make it easier for you.”

When you email someone to schedule a meeting, use their time zone, not yours.

Carry a pen.

Also when scheduling meetings, include your phone number on the last correspondence in case they get lost.

Anticipate what people will need and make it happen before they ask. If you run a web site or web app, figure out what your users are going to complain about and address it before they do—or even just acknowledge it. They’ll love you for it. If you go out to a business dinner, have the check taken care of in advance. And if your roommate is going to run out of milk, pick up another carton before he does.

I learned a lesson in being useful when I noticed Manu Kaka always calling home before coming home from work whether the moms needed anything from the supermarket for the kitchen. Or when a friend of mine brought me dinner to my apartment when I was sick without asking me.

Useful people are generally more valued in business and in life. How can you take some steps to be more useful to your world today?

Entry Filed under: Insightful