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Opportunity File
Aug. 18th, 2003 12:20 pmI took a step in the right direction today. It started with a long walk away from the river through a neighbourhood I rarely explore.
I gave myself the day off from writing, too. I can't remember who suggested doing that once a week, but it seems like a good idea. In practice I often skip days unintentionally, but with a nudge of guilt or frustration. Taking a planned break reasserts self-control. I actually want to write for my habitual three hours today, but I'm telling myself no. I'll be all the more eager to get down to work when tomorrow comes. Meanwhile, I have a chance to relax and address other matters.
Uh, this was just meant to be a brief note in my LJ and it's turning into a story. Well, for now let's just pretend I'm talking, not writing.
So I went for this walk in a different direction to shake things up some more and see what falls out. I thought about my mechanisms for avoidance, which I wrote about in a post on Saturday (Delayed reaction, some sexual content).
If I would face a single uncomfortable situation every day, I could start to clear the backlog.
Three particular matters came to mind: two are problems which I could let pass and end up paying a price, the third is a writing lead I want to pursue. So here we go. I'll create an Opportunity File for items that cause me stress, but which I can do something about.
So I came home, quivering with potential. First issue off the top? The unexpected extra charge on my car rental.
I picked up the phone and dialed the company.
A cheerful voice on the other end: "Enterprise Rent-a-Car. We pick you up. Carrie speaking. How can I help you?"
"I'm afraid I have a complaint to make."
I explained the problem politely: that they had quoted the price for an economy car for one month, and shouldn't have charged for 30 days plus one day at the mid-size rate.
Carrie didn't miss a heartbeat: "No problem. We'll fix that right away. I was the one at the counter. I remember thinking it was strange."
She's going to pay the difference back to my credit card.
A simple phone call. Good customer service. Forty-six dollars.
That's when the self-deprecation started. I reminded myself I'm not stupid, I'm neurotic. I just did something I might have neglected to my own detriment, and doing it made me feel better.
I'm going to save myself the embarrassment of writing about the thing I have to do tomorrow.
I gave myself the day off from writing, too. I can't remember who suggested doing that once a week, but it seems like a good idea. In practice I often skip days unintentionally, but with a nudge of guilt or frustration. Taking a planned break reasserts self-control. I actually want to write for my habitual three hours today, but I'm telling myself no. I'll be all the more eager to get down to work when tomorrow comes. Meanwhile, I have a chance to relax and address other matters.
Uh, this was just meant to be a brief note in my LJ and it's turning into a story. Well, for now let's just pretend I'm talking, not writing.
So I went for this walk in a different direction to shake things up some more and see what falls out. I thought about my mechanisms for avoidance, which I wrote about in a post on Saturday (Delayed reaction, some sexual content). If I would face a single uncomfortable situation every day, I could start to clear the backlog.
Three particular matters came to mind: two are problems which I could let pass and end up paying a price, the third is a writing lead I want to pursue. So here we go. I'll create an Opportunity File for items that cause me stress, but which I can do something about.
So I came home, quivering with potential. First issue off the top? The unexpected extra charge on my car rental.
I picked up the phone and dialed the company.
A cheerful voice on the other end: "Enterprise Rent-a-Car. We pick you up. Carrie speaking. How can I help you?"
"I'm afraid I have a complaint to make."
I explained the problem politely: that they had quoted the price for an economy car for one month, and shouldn't have charged for 30 days plus one day at the mid-size rate.
Carrie didn't miss a heartbeat: "No problem. We'll fix that right away. I was the one at the counter. I remember thinking it was strange."
She's going to pay the difference back to my credit card.
A simple phone call. Good customer service. Forty-six dollars.
That's when the self-deprecation started. I reminded myself I'm not stupid, I'm neurotic. I just did something I might have neglected to my own detriment, and doing it made me feel better.
I'm going to save myself the embarrassment of writing about the thing I have to do tomorrow.
