DRMacIver's Notebook
Try not to think about it
Try not to think about it
A useful general principle is “If you have to make a decision to do something, you will eventually get it wrong”. As a result, it is often useful to arrange things to avoid decision making, even when this results in redundant work. This is especially true when one class of error is much more costly than the other.
Some examples:
- Always lock the car when you walk away from it, even if you don’t think you need it. Locking the car when you don’t need to is cheap, forgetting to lock the car when you need to is very expensive.
- Leave useful things (chargers, clothing, etc) in places where you are likely to need them (work, a partner’s flat, etc, your family home), so that if you forget to bring one there is already a supply there. Having extra stuff is fairly cheap, but forgetting stuff you need is super annoying.
- Keep small stuff in your bag that is regularly useful, even if you probably don’t need it on any given trip (e.g. I always carry a phone charger and a pencil case). Same reasons as above (although the added weight isn’t entirely cheap).