Blessing in Disguise

How often do we put things off, because it seems easier, only to find that getting it done would have been a lot easier?

I have recently experienced an extreme example of this phenomenon.  It is embarrassing for me to confess to certain things here, but what the heck, we're all learning.

You've probably heard that it is a good idea to establish a system for managing your email.  I have too.  My son has hassled me about it.  I have followed Bob Walsh's comments with interest.  I have even attended a seminar about it.  I heard that a good plan is to keep your Inbox clear, and either process incoming email straight away according to the one-touch principle, or else move it to another folder depending on its classification.

Did I do this?  No.  Just seemed too hard to change from the entrenched habit of constantly re-scanning through thousands of messages in the Inbox and Sent folders, as part of everyday task "management".  Maybe some day I'll get around to it.

Now, a couple of days ago, my email program died.  In the process of trying to re-install/recover, I lost everything.  For fear of further embarrassment, I won't go into details, and please don't anybody mention the word 'backup'.  That's not the point here.

The point is that I have to start again with a blank email slate.  In the process, I have set up some Pending and Archive folders for my various email accounts.  And guess what... It took me about 5 minutes.  Of course it did.  So why didn't I invest that 5 minutes many moons ago?  Good question.

Tags: GTD, micro-ISV

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