Pen to paper
There are three items I’d hate to lose – my computer, my cell phone and my notebook. Losing the first two would be an extreme inconvenience, but the data on both are backed up and could be replaced. The material in my notebook goes back about a year and much of it would be impossible for me to replicate.
In a multitude of colors scribbled from front to back, back to front and from the middle to both the front and back are inspirations, snippets of information and crazy ideas. Since my notes are fragmented I started using a type of Moleskine meta data system to answer the problem of following my fragmented flow of ideas. I use two directional indicators (← means continued from, while → means continued on) next to a referenced page number. I simply number the right hand page, no need to number both sides. For example, ←24 would indicate from page 24 and → 36 would mean the material was continued on page 36.
Now, when I record ideas and bump up against other material I can make a note of where in the book the information is coming from or where I continued it to. It’s like a hyperlink system on paper.
I scribble…
- Info – raw info along with ideas and aspirations.
- Mind-maps – nothing beats pen and paper for exploring ideas and linking them together.
- Recording ideas – explorations, ideas and inspirations are precious, so it’s important to record every idea you have before it’s forgotten.
- Journal – recording your musings can help make sense of work and life.
For inspiration check out this exceptional collection of Moleskine artwork and a Flickr group with about 4,000 members and 36,000 images.
Whether you use a notebook as a creative outlet or an organization tool or both, here are several pages of Moleskine notebooks.
The power of small
Often many business do all they can to make themselves appear like a big business. They think that their company would be more successful if it were bigger.
But bigger may not be better. New ways of communicating have changed how businesses connect with clients and customers. These methods allow smaller firms to be agile, fast, and responsive. They can leverage technology to outmaneuver and occupy market space in which they otherwise might not be able to compete.
This approach is outlined in a book I just finished, Speak Human: Outmarket the Big Guys by Getting Personal
From a customers perspective there are advantages to dealing with a smaller enterprise. Better service,
Here are a couple of worthy quotes.
“As businesses get larger, it’s easier to hide bad people in them. This is because there are so many things going on, alongside numerous coworkers who can shield one’s dismal performance. Toss in some memos, meetings, office politics, and it gets harder to determine whether a staff member is kicking ass or just great at kissing it.
“In a company of one, there’s little room for any of this. When you’re that tiny, you have little choice but to be exemplary.”
You can currently read much of the book’s content on the Speak Human website.
