The (Tank) Notebook

I know how important my notebook is.

It has been around since 2009. My parents brought it from Canada as a birthday gift to me.

When I got it, it was up-to-date technology and had everything I needed to do my work.

8 years after, it’s still like a reliable tank. It’s heavy and has the firepower to do all the things I asked for.

And like something that does its job so well, I took it for granted too many times than I like to remember.

Missing Power Cords

One day I forgot to take my power cords. I left it in another place.

Most of the time, it wasn’t a big deal. I would just go there and pick it up.

But it was a bit far away. It would take 3 hours to go there and back. And besides, I’d be there the next day.

So I had to wait. Make due with what I got.

The problem was I had a good amount of work to do on the notebook that week.

The timing was utterly horrible.

Losing Stuff

These days, I’ve been forgetting items here and there.

Last Thursday, I forgot my swimming hat and goggles.

I had faith that I would find them. I don’t think people at the pool would take them.

Yesterday morning at 6 am, I went to see if I can find my stuff at the lost and found.

With some help, I found them. I was surprised to see a number of goggles, hats forgotten by swimmers.

They even wrote the dates that people left them at the pool!

I just felt the appreciation for the effort made to have these back.

Then I forgot more stuff again.

Lesson No. 1 – Got Everything?

Make sure you have everything with you!

The cost of losing anything will cost time, productivity, and effort.

Not only that, losing stuff brings stress, tension, weariness, and weakens the will to get things done.

Lesson No.2 – Seeing the Good in Losing Stuff

On the flip side, losing stuff forces you to pull out resources you’ve never tried before.

In my case, I went around to see if there were other power cords I could borrow in the meanwhile at the Institute.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any.

The next morning, I went to visit the in-laws with Da Missus to see if I could use their power cord to temporarily charge my notebook.

The in-laws’ notebook was from the same company. It was an older notebook. The connector looked similar to mine.

Maybe it’ll work.

If it didn’t, l had to make due and force more creativity out of myself to make the day work.

To my surprise and glee, the power cord works! 🙂

Seeing the power brick confirmed it.

And I can get back to work.

Conclusion

Losing the power cord wasn’t the end of the world. As I breathe, it was a problem that can be solved.

We should always give ourselves the chance to believe that things can get done (well) when obstacles arise.

While we don’t know what we’re missing until it’s (temporarily) gone, we can appreciate the ideas, the solutions that come from missing stuff.