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A Message from Noelyne....
Do you remember that sinking feeling when you realise that the work that you have spent hours completing has not saved correctly? You search all your folders desperately looking for the file. You search all directories even though you know there is no way that it will be in the G: drive...all to no avail? For a while you are in denial and keep telling yourself that it must be there somewhere, surely? Eventually the reality starts to seep through and then the frustration builds into panic and annoyance at the thought of having to do it all again.
Yesterday I spent all day designing a Facilitator Brief to accompany a new Training course. I kept pressing save regularly because learning from experience I wanted to avoid losing any work or having to redo it. I updated my client at the end of the day feeling quite proud of myself as to how much I had achieved, including mastering the required template.
So can you imagine my horror this morning as it slowly dawned on me that the word document that I thought I had so carefully saved was no where to be found. Have you ever done that? It sends you into a panic and sick feeling and then tears of frustration. You don't think you can face having to do it again and want to give in there and then. You feel totally frustrated and helpless because you know there is absolutely nothing you can do to retrieve the document. If you know something that I don't please comment below.
Yet you know that you have to overcome the frustration. You have to get over your feelings of annoyance and stupidity and resign yourself to the fact that it has to be reworked. So I notified my client of my superb mistake and that there was a chance that I would not make the deadline as a result. Better to be upfront and honest about it. Own up to my mistake. Then set about starting all over. I struggled to overcome the frustration initially as my brain sort of went into a 'I don't want to do this mode' however, once I got over that the actual task second timr round was much easier. I was now familiar with the content, design and layout so it took far less time to complete. It made me look at the source documents again and I spotted things I had missed first time round. The finished product was far superior to the original and what's more I completed it on time.
A big lesson was learned about saving files contained originally in a zip file....it doesn't! You need to extract them and save as. I'm now and expert in this design and topic. By the way if you do lose a document try these options to recover it before you start over: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316951
The lesson is never ever give up no matter how much you want to. If it's worth doing you will get your rewards. Overcome your frustration and just do it!
Although I don't recommend this as a learning approach.
Enjoy the process of life,
Noelyne Jones
P.S. Request a copy of my Free Special Report here
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