In 2008 I'm losing it
Be nice... no, not my sanity, or my sense of all reason. My stuff.
Then again, losing a certain degree of sanity could be pretty interesting too... I think it was Mark Twain who said, “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.”
Something I'll be keeping packed in my bags for the trip down Jubilation Way (nickname and wonder-path for our learning in 2008) is my steady migration to a 'trusted system' (in GTD-speak) of completely web-based tools and archiving. To some people it may sound like a contradiction - a trusted system that I place in the web's hands and not my own hard drive or some good old fashioned filing cabinets?
Exactly. More take-the-risk fun than a Barrel of Monkeys.
I have two reasons.
#1, I have completely lost patience with reviewing, reorganizing, and restoring my old stuff, only to dust it off in the name of a really clean house, and starting the process all over again - both with material stuff, and as a metaphor for the intellectual stuff. Do that enough in a lifetime and your stuff loses its sentimental value real fast.
#2, I have learned to develop tremendous faith in my own creativity and capacity for more learning (yay JJL!). Before that sounds too vain, please look at it from my very practical point of view: I am positive that I can replace or recreate anything I might happen to lose, or I can learn to. Better yet, I can start from scratch and create stuff that is totally new. (Kinda like cranking out blog posts.)
“Use it or lose it” is sounding fabulous as a new mantra. I'm liking new versus collectible, starring role versus variety show, spare versus abundant, and as contentedly streamlined as possible --- in Hawaiian, ma'alahi.
See, even my language of intention is working for me with losing it --- just one Hawaiian word for a bunch of English ones.
A biggie for me in this leap of faith has been learning that I can lose Microsoft Outlook for a romp in the jungle with Gorilla King Google and their entire tribe of monkeys in a barrel. Monkey GMail, monkey GCalendar, monkey GDocs, monkey GGroups, and the newest monkey I've had loads of fun with, Picasa.
And yes, I do mean for my business apps in Say Leadership Coaching and Ho'ohana Publishing too. I've got a few more barrels as well, not just the Google one (like TypePad and 37Signals) but one and all are web-based.
Jan 12 Update: At LifeDev, Glen posted How to Become a Google Docs Power User today if you are interested in learning more about it. One issue I have with Google Docs however is that it won't allow me to upload pdfs --- anyone have a workaround tip for that?
Living dangerously? Nah. Losing it is liberating.
What will you be losing this year?
Postscript: This was a contribution to our January theme at Joyful Jubilant Learning: Packing our Bags for 2008.
Post author Rosa Say is the author of Managing with Aloha, Bringing Hawaii's Universal Values to the Art of Business, and she currently writes for Managing with Aloha Coaching, Value your Month, Value your Life. Visit her there, pick up a feed for your reader, and let her know what you think.
If you like what you read here and there, consider spending some time at her new Tumblr log too, Ho‘ohana Aloha. It's another really cool barrel.
Amen! I told my husband I am tired of picking up my house because it just falls back down.
I am losing guilt, unreasonable and unimportant expectations, and a bag of junk in my garbage can a week until my house stops falling down :)
Posted by: April Groves | January 13, 2008 at 04:54 AM
Hurrah April! Guilt is a wonderful thing to lose!
Posted by: Rosa Say | January 13, 2008 at 12:53 PM
No answer for the PDF upload Rosa, but I have the same issue so my eyes and ears are on the lookout also!
Posted by: Steve Sherlock | January 16, 2008 at 07:49 AM