Tried and True vs. Trying Anew

June 30, 2011

Once you learn and successfully employ a specific process, you stop exploring alternatives with a child’s eyes. You turn your attention to other matters. Eventually, the daily management of your processes overwhelms your time and attention, such that you rarely if ever adopt a new process. You stay with the tried and true instead of trying anew.

Stifle the urge to stay exclusively with the tried and true. You’re likely missing out on opportunities to simplify and improve.

In the past, I collected daily receipts in an envelope or accordion folder, or left them with an assistant. Now, using an app called Expensify, I simply take a photo of my receipts, type in a couple things, and the receipts are matched against my credit card statement and sync with my accounting package. I had to get past the inertia of doing it the old way before I was willing to see a better, faster way of accomplishing the same thing.

If you have been doing the same thing for a long, long time, challenge yourself to see and experiment with other ways. Try anew.

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