21 September 2009

journal + pages

i just recently finished a journal and thought i'd share some of my favorite spreads [i just typed 'favorite friends' and i don't really know why? but i guess they're friends? anyway. it's been a long day!]




living out your gifts


This might just be one of my favorite photos of the year. This is my [genius] friend Rowan, doing what he does best [being a genius]. I love this photo so much; Rowan is a huge inspiration in my life, and this shot just captures his focus and drive.

07 September 2009

productivity

I think it's mildly ironic that a day off of work found me discovering more about work than any of my normal days AT work. [did you have to read that sentence as many different times as I had to re-write it? sorry! I'm ADD!]

Anyway, back to work talk. Or not really work talk, more like life talk. Through a series of clicks on a random blog, I found a link to the website inboxzero.com. Lots of reading, video watching and note-taking later, and ALL of my inboxes are currently at zero. Zero, people! I can't tell you the last time that my inboxes were at zero ... probably because they never really have been? Merlin Mann [in his video on inbox zero and email processing] proposes that your inbox should only hold emails that you haven't read yet. It's remarkably common sense, yet somehow, my e-mail inboxes somehow drain so much time and life away from my time and life!

Here's an idea from Mr. Mann: what is your life about? What are your priorities? Once you know this, answer the question: Do your internet viewing history/inbox/RSS feed/blog roll/bookmarks reflect what you are about? Or do you spend time looking at/reading/digesting things that you really don't care about?

Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist's Way [and oh man, could I blog about THAT book right now] suggests that for a creative, reading other people's words is like ingesting tiny, word-sized bites of junk food for the brain and spirit.

I guess I'm just feeling a little self-protective these days. I only want to engage my brain in things that reflect what I am about. Do I really need to bookmark 9,000 links to 9,000 websites I will never actually visit? Do I need to collect books that I don't really enjoy? I have big dreams for my life, and every word-sized bite of food I take in either adds to my dreams [nourishes] or takes away [depletes].

So thank you, inboxzero.com, for making me assess my life. I think I needed it.