Pimp my Moleskine!

Here's a quick general interest piece, which just might inspire you to try something different and increase your productivity...

If you read my 'Looking ahead to 2010' post last December, you may have picked up on a sense that I was wanting to make changes to the work I do, the way I operate, and the way I handle my workflow. Well, you'd be quite right.

Having just put in an order for some new kit, I'm reminded that I am still very much tied down to the modern technology, but one thing is crystal clear to me now - moving back to a traditional diary was definitely the way to go! Almost five months into the year, and I have seen my productivity grow, simply because of the way I can structure my days and weeks using old (ie less-fashionable) 'technology'.

As with technique and the way individual items of camera equipment are set up, there's something to be said for feeling 'happy' with one's kit. This may sound odd, and it is a little difficult to describe, but I suppose it's a bit like a golfer having a favourite club, or a chef having a favourite knife. Whatever it may be, these items make their operators feel confident and comfortable in their day-to-day activities.

So, I've finally got around to personalising things a bit further, inspired by a small leather-bound sketch book I bought Inny for Christmas; thanks to her, my Moleskine diary is now a far less standard, corporate affair, and features a nice new buttery-feel wrap-around cover and fastening.


For anyone thinking of doing the same, there's no need to go out and spend a lot of money. The coloured chamois leather itself was an off-cut bought from an art shop, the leather cord came from a haberdashery and the alien fastening was pulled from a pack of buttons bought at Hobbycraft. Total cost - about £4.

Okay, so it's just a bit of fun really, but there is another accidental advantage to this whole process. Because it's something a little bit different, my diary has now become a talking point on occasions when I'm in meetings with clients, colleagues and contacts in my network.


And just as with so much of this kind of thing, you never know what might come out of the most trivial of conversations!

Just in case you missed the link above, please do check out Inny's site, and her exhibition (I plugged it here), which runs until the end of the month.

Tough times and productivity

It's an interesting time for everyone right now. Of course, you don't need me to hark on about how the economy is on its knees and how companies are struggling to survive, their owners wondering how they are going to pay the bills just so that they have a base to work from.

Stress and concern is around every corner, and we all handle this in different ways. My take on the situation is not quite so head-in-the-sand as some people's. Yes, I've felt the effects and yes, I am looking forward to a return to normality (whatever that may be). But at times like these, I tend to get somewhat philosophical and just push on regardless. Sounds like an obvious approach, right?

Time, that ever-precious commodity, takes centre stage - and I'm not one to sit and twiddle my thumbs as the hours pass by. In recent weeks, I have been preparing for what lies ahead and taking care of tasks which might otherwise find themselves pushed further down the order - to the point that it could be weeks before they get done. Such activities are not reserved for moments of quiet, though; for me, January is always a month of gathering thoughts and looking ahead.

Take yesterday, for example. Following an early start and a networking meeting, I scheduled a get-together with a photographer friend, to get some objective, constructive criticism about my website. As regular readers will know, I am not at all happy with the current site. In consideration of its revamp, I was (and still am) completely open to suggestion and feedback.

We discussed where my company is heading, where I want it to be in 6 months' time, and what I need to do to get it there. We considered all manner of issues from website styles to functionality, cost-effectiveness and client appeal. It was a very frank and worthwhile meeting.

The result of those two hours? I now have the design process of my 2010 Commercial/Editorial website under way and, more importantly, I have a 3-phase marketing plan set out in the Moleskine which will take me right up to March. At that point, I will be following a separate, but mostly similar, plan of attack for the Wedding side of my business.

Out of the apparent gloom of this rainy January morning, I am genuinely excited.

All too often, we get too close to our businesses, our projects, our day-to-day running of things. We fail to see the glaringly obvious flaws when it comes to the way we operate and the ways in which we might make improvements. It is not unusual for people to get on the defensive when offers of support and advice come their way, but I have no issue with asking for opinion; it is only in so doing that we develop as professionals, as artists and as individuals.

Dear diary...

Is it me, or are people getting just a little bit tired of technology, the further it travels along the road to apparent progress?

This may sound like a very blasé question to pose, but it seems that a great deal of individuals I speak with all-too-often find themselves the victim of newfangled ways of carrying out tasks, where their traditional methods never caused such problems. As you might guess, it was my own experiences that brought me to write this post, and one in particular which has to do with organisation and data loss.

In previous years, I have always used a typical, long-established form of diary - a paper-based affair - as I am quite traditional at heart and like the combination of reliability and the strangely-comforting tactility of its pages. But 2009 saw a switch to a more hi-tech solution. Or so I thought.

The rationale was simple enough: As I am often out and about, it made sense to have my diary sync'd up to my BlackBerry device so that, in combination with my online diary, I would be able to view/update my schedule in real-time. Simply put: short of losing a connection, everything would be to hand and I would be able to easily stay on top of my commitments day-in, day-out.

But what is it they say about the best-laid plans? I forget now. What I do remember, however, is that by week 2 of November, my online diary only had entries for the last week of October; by the end of the month, October's records had disappeared completely. And on 16th November, it was already beginning to remove that month's earliest entries. Strangely, January-September and December onwards remained intact throughout.

Now, I'm sure the boffins out there would be able to offer many suggestions about how to recover the missing data and so forth but, frankly, I am no longer interested. At the end of the day, I need my workflow systems to be reliable and dependable (in this respect, a diary is no different to, say, my cameras) and so it is time to seek alternatives for the new year.

With this in mind, then, 2010 will see a return to what I know works best for me - a traditional pocket diary. As I type, there are already scribblings in a nice new, highly portable, soft-cover Moleskine - which allows for much pimpage (probably not an actual word) and considerable peace of mind. By way of backup, I will also resurrect my whiteboard planner in the office, so that activities are always noted in multiple locations.

Granted, a return to 'old technology' would not be everybody's answer to the above dilemma, but it certainly suits me. In talking over this issue with a number of people, a variety of alternative options have been suggested - each not without its own merits.

Even though I have now found my solution, I'd still be keen to hear what you have considered useful in terms for boosting your workflow and/or productivity - so please, as ever, drop me your thoughts in the comments section or via the usual channels.