What's in a label

At some point last year I decided to give the GTD system a try and one of the tools that the author recommended was a labeler. (I'll likely go on about GTD in the future, many times.) I never had one before. I didn't see what the big deal was. I'd always just written (usually in pencil for re-use) directly on the Manila folder and throw it in. Much more convenient and easier. I'd use white labels if I chose to re-use a folder written in pen. But I read his justification for such an item and went to the office supply store and purchased this:



There's nothing particularly special about this make and model other than the brand is easy to come by for replacement supplies. But, oh my, what a difference it seemed to make, both visually and therefore psychologically. It created a kind of order to my files. Using this labeler made the cabinet and a few other things clean and pleasant to look at. It made my filing system inviting. It made it look like I had my act together in this department. I now WANTED to put stuff in those files. I highly recommend acquiring one. As I mentioned before, good tools facilitate a behavior...

An unexpected use I had for this was printing a couple labels with my name on it and applying these labels to my writing implements. I haven't had a huge problem with loosing pens but I do it often enough to notice. I read an article on this very topic however ("nothing is too trivial on the internet..." to paraphrase Scregman's quotation) and decided to label my writing implements in current use. Note to the skeptical: I only labeled those pens that I actively use and carry; I don't label all my pens and such. What this does for me is three-fold.

1. It tells me which pens I'm actively using. I can immediately identify those pens from the others and tend to use those. I therefore now tend to have a bunch of full pens and one that gets drained to empty rather than a bunch of pens that are in various states of ink drain. I've never paid much attention to this before nor had I thought it was a big deal until I sent a supply of pens to Emilf, a portion of which were almost dry or completely dry. This way I can immediately focus on draining one pen and have full confidence when picking up a replacement. There is also something satisfying about using an item to completion. Does it seem like more trouble than it's worth? Sometimes, but just a quick labeling eliminates even this minor irritant.
2. My current pen likes to try and climb out of my pocket or sometimes get "borrowed" while sitting on my desk or otherwise get lost. Thrice has it actually succeeded in separating itself from me and thrice have I recovered it sometime later. Once it was sitting on my desk after probably having been dropped somewhere else in my office building. Twice I saw it left on a colleagues desk, readily identifiable and awaiting me to pick it back upon strolling back to said desk. There's something mildly comforting in that minor safety net as well.
3. Since this implicitly encourages me to keep track of my pens, I need keep fewer of them. I also get more picky about what pens I use and no longer pilfer them fiendishly from the office supply cabinet... at least not as much.

Yes, these are minor points and on the grand scheme of things are non-necessities, and they can indeed make me appear to have nothing better to do... but this is one of those little things that provides a surprising amount of satisfaction; moreso than I would have thought, at least, for such a trifle.

Addendum

I just realise that I did use a labeler long ago. Those were the cheesy embossing labelers kind of like the one below. I don't think I ever liked them but there was nothing else available. I remember as a kid punching out labels to attach to other stupid things and nearly always creating a little white triangle in the corner trying to peel the backing off. Biggest problem with these things is that any kink in the ribbon turns white ruining the label. The other thing I remember was that the ribbon was stiffly curved (especially towards the center of the spool) and invariably the adhesive backing was never strong enough to keep the label from eventually popping off whatever it was stuck to. At least there's been some progress in this area.