No plan of operations reaches with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the enemy’s main force.
Helmuth von Moltke
In this case “the enemy” was reality (I hate when romance and reality collide). I adore the idea of handwritten postcards, it feels so much more personal … but …
- my handwriting is charmingly (?) idiosyncratic at the best of times.
- the best of times is not sleep deprived and slightly hung over at 6:00 am in a hotel room just a few hours before a flight.
- when I looked at the photos of the message side I couldn’t decipher my own handwriting. 😳
- the postcards won’t reach their potential if they’re not delivered. Delivered to the “wrong” place is cool, but sitting in a pile of undeliverable mail is sadness.
- in retrospect, it probably didn’t matter much that I mail them from That Particular Place.
Lessons learned from the first 7 cards posted:
- efficacy > fantasy: it’s time to print the address, and probably also the message
- there is no rush: no one is expecting them, so it can take as long as it takes
- focus on outcomes: don’t let the game “from how many different places can I post these?” get in the way
I definitely owe an apology to the postal services of a few major cities (and my undying gratitude if the postcards are delivered). I should send them a postcard … one with a printed address.