Learning From Your Own History

Since I am always on the subject of history I want to teach you all a lesson on not repeating previous mistakes.  I am an expert on this – repeating previous mistakes. All you have to do is NOT do what I do!

I posted an excellent piece on this blog October 20^th. Or, I THOUGHT I had. It was patiently waiting in my drafts till I clicked the radio button clearly marked POST. Later, I went into my posts history to clear up some empty drafts that were cluttering up the place. I just THOUGHT they were empty drafts. One was the introductory piece and the other was my favorite on Mills. My internet connection had slowed and I therefore thought I was looking at two empty pages of draft entries, now I know that was not the case.

After I caught my mistake I thought “No worries I ALWAYS save a copy of all my writings.” (I mean I have a handwritten copy of my very first term paper I wrote tucked away in a box in a shelf ….you get the picture.)

I checked all my document entries, I checked all my removable storage devices, I even checked my college ruled notebook on the computer desk, then all the notebooks in the house, my research files, my briefcase, etc. Somehow, I have come to the conclusion that I have multiple personalities – because there is NO WAY in a thousand suns I – Suzanna – would EVER toss something out – ask my family!

I know you are thinking “OK, you are a nut job, but how does this fit into the category of not repeating mistakes?”

Let me tell you:

In 1983 I first laid my hands on a personal computer in a small computers class in 9^th grade. Our instructor dutifully taught us the most important thing in virtual reality: ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS save save save! Literally! Back then the rule of thumb was to save 3 times in a row. To this day when I compose a document I STILL hit save save save. It makes me feel better, clever, and that I have done the needed thing. So how can a dedicated anal retentive, obsessive compulsive filer and accountant totally mess this up?

I went back to that very first term paper and saw the beginnings of a pattern. In big red letters on the back page reserved for the teacher’s comments was this: 

Miss Johnson, by the fourth grade there are certain things that should just be a rule of thumb – this paper lacks several of these. Specifically: your name, the date, MY NAME, MY CLASS, and the last page of your bibliography (I saw your entire bibliography during the rough draft stage so I know you did it.) OBVIOUSLY you still need to learn to pay attention to pesky details known as the ESSENTIALS if you are ever to expect to pass this class and excel in life. This is why you are getting a C+ instead of the A- that the body of work deserves. –Mr. C

I started from that point obsessively reviewing my work. Correcting and checking, double checking and correcting the corrections. I changed my habits and patterns to reflect a more methodical worker – steady and slow wins the race, right? Fast forward to 2012. I am now middle aged and the mother of two. Somewhere along the way I figured out that real life and writing term papers for teachers are just not the same. Now, everyone having clean underwear, food, a roof over their head, homework done on time, bedtime over with and somewhere in all that fitting in hugs and kisses are the most important things of my day.

So – I have learned to think for myself and decide what are the ESSENTIALS of my life. NOT being perfect is the number one essential. I save save save the memories attached to what I value most – MY FAMILY. So somewhere in all my thousand things I try to do I tossed, deleted, did not move to removable storage, did not save save save and just went on to the next important thing….

All this is to say that I will be catching up on those missed posts and this week’s current one also.

What can you learn from your own history this week?

-Suzanna