Notion

The "One-Touch Rule":

Creating the minimum amount of labor by doing things right the first time.

Example: You are undressing.

One-touch: Walk your bundle of clothing directly to the laundry hamper.

Not one-touch: Toss your clothes on the floor or drape them over a chair. Let your dog nap on them. Deal with them when you have time or when someone is going to walk through your room. Touch them a second time when you decide to pick them up and put them where they go.

Example: You need to remember something.

One-touch: Write it or type it directly on your calendar.

Not one-touch: Scribble it on the back of the grocery receipt in your purse so that you can write it where it goes later, when you have more time. Miss the event because it was not on your calendar, paper or digital, and try to make a mental note that your mental notes are horrid.

You get the drift. It's a different way of saying "a stitch in time saves nine".

I was thinking how I need to apply this rule to human relationships. What if I could treat people right the first time? What if I always did the right thing, like not judging or doubting or gossiping? What if I didn't jab or attack when I'm hurting? What if I shut my dang mouth when I'm tired and hungry? What if my words did not reflect the rising mad thermometer inside of me? If I could master the One-Touch Rule with people I could eliminate these off my to-do list:

APOLOGIZE

REPENT

MEDICATE MY HEADACHE, THE ONE I CAUSED

Yes, the One-Touch Rule declutters drama as well as households. There are a few more ways to say it:

There is always an instant in which we decide whether we will put out the fire or ignite the fuse. -Peggy Worthen

The arrow is flown and the moment is gone. -Charles Wesley

Well done is better than well said. -Ben Franklin

Choose the right way, and be happy. -Clara W. McMaster

Let us not overlook the art installation in front of the Salt Palace downtown. I love that thing, but I can never get a great picture because to capture everything you have to be standing in the middle of traffic across the street. Drat! The signs denote dozens of polar opposites surrounding a giant red YOU ARE HERE pin, emphasizing that YOU have the power to decide where you go in life.

 

 

 

I've mentioned multiple times that things happen to me in clusters. After committing to buttoning my lips more often I found this in my jewelry box:

My friend Matt, Blue-eyed Becca's husband, taught me about the One Touch Rule. He learned it on his two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Anaheim and passed it on one day while our dog was scaring his children.

Photo of the paper my sister glued to her sewing room's bulletin board. Isn't is the cutest? It speaks to my love of sewing notions. Who doesn't love pincushions, needle threaders, plastic measuring tape, straight pins, mini sewing kits from hotels, and wooden spools?