A funny thing happened after my last gmail debacle.
Remember how I wrote that gmail kinda screwed me by eating my draft? Well … (picture me pulling a Rodney Dangerfield, slightly embarrassed, pulling on my collar) … it kinda worked out for me. Don’t get me wrong, the draft is still gone. But once I sat down to recreate the draft I found that the newer version I wrote was actually better than the old one. I wound up digging deeper, adding layers, and ultimately creating a richer interplaA funny thing happened after my last gmail debacle.
Remember how I wrote that gmail kinda screwed me by eating my draft? Well … (picture me pulling a Rodney Dangerfield, slightly embarrassed, pulling on my collar) … it kinda worked out for me. Don’t get me wrong, the draft is still gone. But once I sat down to recreate the draft I found that the newer version I wrote was actually better than the old one. I wound up digging deeper, adding layers, and ultimately creating a richer interplay between two characters.
I know, I know, I know …
Where I think I did right by myself was not getting all bent out of shape about losing the file and storming off to sulk. I’m not saying I wasn’t upset–I was; trust me (or read my blog!)–but I got back right back to it, and let the lost draft go. Focusing on what I needed to do–rather than on what I’d lost–helped me recover, and quickly. And that led to something better still.
I guess that seems to be true for me on a lot of levels. I’m not in any way immune to all of the annoyances of daily life. Not by a long shot (I can hear you laughing at me all the way from over here!). But I find that the more I focus on what I need to do, rather than on my setbacks, I tend to have better outcomes more often and with fewer bumps along the way. Which isn’t to say my life is in any way smooth sailing–it so isn’t–but as my hero Zig Ziglar says: if we do the things we need to do, when we need to do them, the day will come when we can do the things we want to do, when we want to do them.
Anyhoo, my point (before I got off on one of my philosophical rants), is that gmail can’t screw with me!!!!!
Take that gmail!
Seriously, though, this episode was just another reminder to me that, both as a writer and a guy just trying to make his way in the world, that setbacks can actually be opportunities in disguise, if I just give myself a chance to look at it that way. It’s often easier for me to say than to do, but the more I do it, the easier it gets. If only just a little.
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2009/01/11 19:40
