Off the Beaten Path

Command P / Command Shift I / Command Shift Esc......Short cuts on your keyboard to help you do the job faster. Your brain sends the signal to your fingers and they fly over the keyboard like a pianist practicing the scales. Short cuts were created to save you time, but are they really just a way to avoid the well worn path that others travel?

Through the Forest We Go...

As a kid, I would take the shortcut home from school through the ravine. It would save me about 5 minutes and I loved being amongst the trees and walking along the creek. When I learned to drive, I found alley ways and side streets that would cut down my drive time and give me more interesting scenery than a highway and billboards. When I cook, I have all sorts of shortcuts, sauteing while chopping, boiling while frying, talking while flipping, shortcuts that layered on the tasks to keep me from being bored.

Flying through the World Wide Web

Now as I sit at my computer I have shortcuts, organized bookmarks, RSS feeds, quick keys, keychains - everyday there is a new application to shorten my time online, but what happens is the opposite, I spend more time online, only I am faster. And I get to spend time amongst the forest of open windows and streams of content. What I have is more time from traveling the shorter path to explore the unknown ones.

Image: Ophelia Chong / Just Testing