EA Mentor

Tag: Productivity

  • New year, fresh start

    New year, fresh start

    Hello admin pros! Grab a cuppa and check out my 2026 Strategy & The Workflow Audit.

    The Messy Truth

    2025 was a whirlwind year. In total, I provided support to nine Directors and one VP, due to a team change in April. Two EAs were on mat leave for half the year. The lead EA left Amazon 2 months after I arrived. I was voluntold to be the VP’s interim EA, which lasted 5 months. In September, I transferred my VP to the new Lead EA. In November, I onboarded a new Director. In December, the EA team was restructured. At this writing, I’m supporting two Directors in very different business units.

    Additionally, Amazon announced it was deprecating Chime and Quip in favor of Office 365, SharePoint, and Zoom. There was a series of rolling corporate office team restacks from April to October, across the US and Canada.

    I use rules and various folders in Outlook to manage email. In the process of managing incoming meeting requests and emails, my system became a bloated mess. I spent far too much time searching shared drives for documents.

    The New Year Reset

    My goal was to clean up my inbox and rules during the week between Christmas and New Year’s, but a shocking number of people were working that week, all wanting new meeting series. I was able to convert my executive’s standing meetings from Chime to Zoom, but that was as far as I got.

    I created a new workflow to manage calendars for 2026 to audit existing meetings and streamline my mechanisms, and determine the value of where my leaders and I spend our time.

    Personal & Business Goals for 2026

    • Personal goal: learn French at the B2 level. This will improve my Permanent Resident application score. I’m currently around A1.
    • Work goal: Reclaim 4 hours of deep work per week. I’ve got several ideas that will greatly improve my executives’ lives.
    • EA Mentor goal: increase my subscribers by providing new EA tools and content.

    The original mission of the EA Mentor was to build my coaching business. However, since I’m unable to generate income beyond my Amazon job, I’ve re-evaluated my goals for the site. I will continue to provide a manual for making that EA work visible and strategic, sharing data-driven mechanisms and contextual intelligence case studies. Subscribers will have exclusive access to checklists and tools useful to working EAs.

    The Workflow Audit

    In 2025, my time was spent on tactical calendar management and documenting org communication. My Lead EA will ultimately determine org mechanisms. The org suffers from silos that extend from leadership to the EA team.

    In December, I handed over the Director I onboarded with another Director. I worked hard last month to earn trust with my new team, but I have a lot to learn about the business. The new Director wants a partner, so I’ll focus more on strategic work and less time on the energy-draining churn.

    Not my actual desk since I work in a paperless office; it’s how I felt at the beginning of the year.

    As for Tools, my goal is to reduce the number of apps I use to manage work and essential documents. I don’t pay for apps at work. Instead, I use what the company provides. I’ll be offloading Asana, which my current org doesn’t use. Slack is heavily used for scheduling. I find this difficult to manage and prefer email. I’m going to investigate Slack workflows and see if I can create or modify a scheduling workflow.

    What I will stop in 2026: documenting interactions with my coworkers. My Lead EA asked me to provide documentation in Q4. There is more than enough material for her to run with.

    Now it’s your turn: What is the one task you are officially firing this quarter?

    Q1 Audit Workflow Checklist. I’ve created a Q1 audit checklist. Enter your email in the form below to get your copy.

  • Engineering Your Outcomes with SMART Goals

    Engineering Your Outcomes with SMART Goals

    If a goal has no deadline, it’s just a wish—and in the executive suite, wishes don’t move the needle.

    As EAs, we are often the ones responsible for turning an executive’s vision into a reality. But if those goals aren’t structured correctly, you’ll find yourself lacking the motivation or the resources to actually cross the finish line. To transform your career from a calendar jockey to a Strategic Partner, you must master the art of data-driven goal setting.

    The Mechanism: The SMART Framework

    I use the SMART system to strip the ambiguity out of my objectives. This isn’t just a corporate acronym; it’s a filter for your time and energy:

    • Specific: Define the exact outcome. No “fluff”.
    • Measurable: Determine your data points. How will you prove success?
    • Achievable: Be honest about your variables. Is this actually possible with your current resources?
    • Relevant: Does this goal serve your executive’s needs or your career trajectory?
    • Time-specific: Set your Hard Stop and work backward to establish milestone dates.

    The Alchemist’s Edge: Interview Strategy

    Beyond daily project management, the SMART format is a secret weapon for career management.

    When you’re preparing for a new role or a promotion, take your past achievements and run them through this framework. It helps you develop compelling, cohesive stories that prove your value during an interview. You aren’t just saying you organized an event—you are showing how you engineered a specific, time-bound outcome.

    Install the Strategy

    This concludes our look at the Top 3 Tools for EAs. Whether you are using the Priority Matrix to survive a Bad Brain Day or SMART Goals to architect your next promotion, these systems are designed to help you work with precision.

    Get the Full System: I’ve compiled the Priority Matrix, SMART Goals, and SWOT Analysis into a single, editable EA Strategy Workbook.

    Join the EA Mentor Inner Circle to download the workbook and start making data-driven recommendations that transform your career.

  • Engineering Your Strategy with SWOT

    Engineering Your Strategy with SWOT

    In the executive world, a SWOT analysis is a standard mechanism used to make informed choices for product launches or market entries. For a Temporal Engineer, this tool is a high-level diagnostic for both your career architecture and your Executive’s business landscape.

    To move from a reactive state to a proactive partnership, you must be able to audit the variables around you.

    The Mechanism: The SWOT Framework

    SWOT allows you to categorize any professional situation into four distinct quadrants:

    • Strengths and Weaknesses: These are your internal data points. When auditing your own desk, these are the skills you excel at and the gaps in your technical stack. When auditing a project, these are the resources your team possesses versus the bottlenecks holding you back.
    • Opportunities: These are external factors you can capitalize on, such as a new software rollout that could automate your Executive’s reporting or a networking event that could connect your team with a key vendor.
    • Threats: These are external barriers that could impede progress, such as an upcoming budget cut, a shift in company leadership, or a sudden change in market stability.

    The Alchemist’s Audit: Beyond the Career Pivot

    While many use SWOT for a career pivot—analyzing the risks of moving from a tech giant to a non-profit—active EAs use it daily to stay three steps ahead of the business.

    1. Project Post-Mortems

    After a major board meeting or an offsite, use SWOT to analyze what happened. What were the internal strengths that made it successful? What external threats (like a travel delay or a tech failure) almost derailed it? This data ensures the next event is even more resilient.

    2. Stakeholder Mapping

    If your Executive is entering a difficult negotiation or a cross-functional project, run a SWOT on the opposition or the other departments involved. Understanding their potential weaknesses or the external threats they are facing allows you to help your Executive prepare a more effective strategy.

    3. The Annual Performance Review

    Instead of just listing your tasks from the year, present a SWOT analysis of your role. Show your Executive that you understand the opportunities for growth in the department and that you have identified the threats to their time. This moves the conversation from “what you did” to “how you think.”

    Install the Full Strategy

    This series has explored the foundational tools every strategic partner needs to master:

    1. The Priority Matrix: To filter the noise of daily emergencies and focus on what truly moves the needle.
    2. SMART Goals: To architect specific, measurable outcomes with clear deadlines.
    3. SWOT Analysis: To make informed, high-stakes decisions for your projects and your career.

    Get the Strategy Workbook

    I’ve compiled the templates for all three mechanisms—the Priority Matrix, SMART Goals, and SWOT Analysis—into a single, comprehensive EA Strategy Workbook.

    Join the EA Mentor Inner Circle to download the workbook and start transforming your professional data into a strategic partnership.

  • The Financial Aid Office Lesson

    The Financial Aid Office Lesson

    Back in college, I saw a sign behind a financial aid desk that changed my perspective on work forever. It read:

    “Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part.”

    At the time, it felt harsh. But after years in the executive suite, I realized that sign wasn’t about being rude—it was about boundaries and data.

    Every day, you are bombarded by stakeholders, vendors, and direct reports who all believe their request is the most important thing on your executive’s calendar. If you don’t have a system to filter that noise, you’ll spend 12 hours a day reacting to “emergencies” that aren’t actually important.

    To move from a calendar jockey to a Strategic Partner, you need to stop guessing and start analyzing.

    The Mechanism: The Priority Matrix

    I use the Priority Matrix to strip the emotion away from the to-do list. It’s a simple four-quadrant system that forces you to categorize tasks by Urgency and Importance.

    • High Urgency / High Importance: This is the “Engine Room.” Start here.
    • Low Urgency / Low Importance: These are “Someday Projects.” Be honest—if it stays here long enough, it’s probably not worth your time.

    I find this tool particularly valuable on Bad Brain Days—those days when you’re fighting a migraine or a lack of sleep and just need a clear map to follow. It takes the cognitive load off your shoulders and puts it onto the paper.

    Master the Strategy

    The Priority Matrix is just the first step in engineering a high-performance office. In my upcoming posts, I’ll be breaking down SMART Goals for long-term planning and SWOT Analysis for strategic decision-making.

    Ready to install these systems? I’ve compiled all three—the Priority Matrix, SMART Goals, and SWOT Analysis—into a single EA Strategy Workbook.

    Join the EA Mentor Inner Circle to download the full PDF and start transforming your data into a strategic partnership.

  • Engineering the Narrative: The Temporal Engineer’s Guide to Strategic Note-Taking

    Engineering the Narrative: The Temporal Engineer’s Guide to Strategic Note-Taking

    Today’s mechanism focuses on a skill often dismissed as clerical, but in the hands of a Temporal Engineer, it is a high-level diagnostic tool: Note-Taking.

    While this isn’t specifically about formal meeting minutes, the practice of master-level note-taking is the foundation upon which accurate minutes are built. If you are looking for strategies on handling complex or technical meeting records, you can revisit my deep dive on that system here.

    The Memory Myth

    Early in my career—while navigating the technical complexities of Environmental Health & Safety at Fred Hutch—I realized that “learning on the job” was impossible without a rigorous documentation strategy. I had to learn biohazard and chemical safety protocols in real-time while drafting newsletters and safety manuals.

    Data shows that only 0-10% of the population possesses an eidetic or photographic memory. Statistically, you are not in that bracket.

    As Executive Assistants, we deal with a high volume of task switching and the dreaded Drive-By—those unscheduled disruptions that sever your workflow threads. Relying on memory in this environment isn’t just risky; it’s an operational failure. Note-taking is the anchor that allows you to pick up those threads instantly.

    The Anatomy of a Strategic Note

    I’ve observed that administrative professionals who fail to take notes often fall into a cycle of apologizing, repeating questions, and missing deadlines. This doesn’t just hurt productivity; it fuels Imposter Syndrome.

    To engineer a better outcome, I treat my personal notes like minutes for myself. A strategic note should:

    • Summarize Instructions: Don’t record verbatim; capture the intent.
    • Identify Critical Data: Pinpoint due dates, task owners, and stakeholders.
    • Audit Resources: Note the tools and stakeholders required to move the needle.

    The Benefits of Documentation

    • Time Conservation: Capturing details accurately the first time prevents the loop-back where both you and your executive lose time re-explaining an assignment.
    • Predictive Analysis: Over time, your notes allow you to look around corners and identify patterns that others miss.
    • Institutional Knowledge: Notes serve as a reference for rarely used processes, executive preferences, and post-event lessons learned.

    Installing Your System

    Muscle memory requires a repeatable system. Whether you prefer a physical or digital install, the key is consistency.

    Physical Systems: I began with a paper-and-pen Daily Running List, much like a Bullet Journal, transferring unfinished tasks to ensure nothing was lost.

    Digital Systems: After carpal tunnel surgery made my handwriting a creative asset but a functional liability, I moved to digital. I’ve experimented with everything from Evernote and TeuxDeux to Goodnotes.

    Currently, my primary mechanism at work is OneNote. It integrates seamlessly with the Office suite, allowing me to link meeting details directly into my minutes for a simple, all-in-one solution.

    The Experiment

    If you haven’t found your groove yet, experiment. Try one system at a time, reflect on the data of what worked, and repeat until you hit your stride. The only rule? Pick one method. If you jot a note on a Post-it, move it into your primary system immediately.

    Master the logic. Rule the clock. Stop relying on your memory and start engineering your records.

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