Quicksand: Then and Now

By Paige Webb

Do you recall an era when fictional television characters like Tarzan and Zorro came to the rescue of damsels in distress or travelers who found themselves in the unfortunate situation of sinking in quicksand? The sight of this always caused me to writhe with anxiety. Would they make it out of the quicksand? Would they suffer injuries? How did they get there in the first place? Despite the fictional nature of the television program, and the fact that there was a 99% chance the episode had a happy ending, the anticipation of a scene in quicksand caused me, and I’m sure other viewers, stress.

The era when we were more in tune with television has evolved. Our society is now more in tune with the internet, and with the internet comes email. I like to think of an email inbox as a modern-day quicksand scene, where I find myself in distress and in need of a rescue. I go about my days committed to my calendar appointments and tasks on my list, but if I am not careful, I slip into my email inbox, and begin to sink. The “pre-EDGE” me would sink and sink further, flounder, and stress out from digging myself out of email quicksand. By leaving emails in my inbox, each time I view it, I get stuck. It’s the perfect analogy, including the stress associated with that feeling.

Each of us is forced to process our email inboxes to get through our days to prevent things from falling through the cracks. In fact, I can’t recall a day in the last ten years when I didn’t have new email every day, and each required a decision about whether to store the information for reference, or how to take action. Client questions, project updates, those pesky “reply to all” emails, family updates, newsletters, and advertisements are just a few examples of the types of emails that make up the quicksand effect. The EDGE Deciding Model comes to the rescue, much like Tarzan and Zorro did. The sinking in the quicksand will cease when the process is applied. Whether the email is something I can delete, do, delegate or defer I know the next action I’m responsible for.

When I began trusting my EDGE system soon after being taught, I had no problems leaving my inbox alone more often. The “EDGE-y” me might visit my inbox a few times a day, because I keep it lean and clean. There’s no sinking or drowning allowed, nor do I find myself in the stressful situation of digging through quicksand! My EDGE system is my hero.