Habits…the things that you do or don’t do that eventually become hidden to your conscious self. They are easier to see in other people than in yourself. I could tell you all about my husband’s habits, but the ideas don’t flow as easily when I try to identify my own. The problem with habits, even good habits, is that they often outlive their usefulness. I ran across a perfect example last week.
I was struggling, yet again, to comfortably arrange my graphic design workstation and the various components it holds. I like to use at least two displays as I work so that I can have my design on one screen, and all other interface elements in a separate screen. I’ve been working this way since my displays were enormous cubes that took most of my desk space and provided excellent pre-warmed cat beds during the day. (I still kind of miss moving a wandering cat tail off the corner of my display.)
The Mac OS even coordinates the two monitors so my cursor falls off the edge of one screen and enters the other simultaneously. This system preference allows me to control the edges…telling the computer which display is on the left and right.
I’ve had the same 36″ wide desk for the 20-some years I’ve been a freelance designer. But the monitors have become flat and wide, and one of them is actually attached to my laptop. I tried angling them, tipping them, putting one on a separate stand…every “solution” either caused a new ache or pain, or degraded the use of the second display…I just wasn’t using it.
So I sat back and looked. If I put my laptop directly in front of the second display, I could see both easily without the side to side issues. If-only-I-could-arrange-the-displays-that-way-in-the-preferences-OMG-I-CAN…
<POOF>
Habit shattered. Problem solved. I had been stuck in an invisible rut in the road of my own making.
My new “vertical” arrangement also incorporates a bluetooth keyboard in a lower tray that keeps my upper body comfortable. Both screens get maximum use now. It just makes me wonder…what else am I making harder than it has to be? What else have I learned that I need to unlearn? or learn again?
I feel a house-cleaning of habits coming on…