The FI mode you didn't think you needed

The FI mode you didn't think you needed

So you think you don't need an FI Mode in your busy family and work life?

Chances are, you will thank me later.

I first encountered FI Mode as a youngish wide-eyed intern, learning the ropes of publishing a community newspaper, when very little was done electronically and everything performed manually came with high risk. E.g  Stripping pages of text columns to manually place on broadsheets while racing the couriers clock to meet the printers deadline, was the twice weekly norm.

Occasionally, when an errant typo was discovered, we would have to perform what we coined 'open heart surgery'. It involved desperately scrambling through the scraps of discarded text to find  the correct letter, in the exact same font and size. I'm talking a minuscule millimetre sized patch.

It would be very carefully cut out of an existing random word with a scalpel, precariously balanced on the scalpel tip, then inserted in the crudely cut out vacant and awaiting space. With an expletive for good measure, and whacked  down with force to give it the best chance of adhering, and hopefully surviving the courier's rushed trip to the printers camera to make film. All with stinging eye fatigue. Needless to say, the survival rate of our open heart surgery, was usually a dismal 25%, for obvious reasons.

Such was the extent and investment we made in an already heightened environment to get things right. Only in the last dying moments before the  courier arrived, did we get some form of a reprieve with the announcement "Ok - we're now in FI Mode".

The FI acronym should now of course be obvious, if not, it's Fuck it!

The eventual announcement was not only welcomed but hugely liberating. It was the moment and affirmation point, that no matter what else could possibly be wrong, incorrect or FU - Fucked Up, the anticipated end result was no longer worth the worry, stress and angst.

I think it’s now known by a fancier new age name with the notion that  98% right, is right enough.

I've used FI Mode on multiple DYI projects at home, as well as numerous work related tasks over more than a couple of decades, and strongly recommend its use and application. Although, probably not for people who perform actual open heart surgery.