A couple of years back, I wrote a post on ‘what’s in my bag?’. This was a weird post to a few. But, folks who surf the net, know this to be a trend, with a peek at the Flickr stream of pictures tagged with ‘what’s in my bag?’ revealing interesting point of views. It’s just interesting to observe how people use various tools to navigate their day. What they use to get their work done. The posts reveal how we think, what we value, the workflows we follow, how we interact and make sense of the world. In this post I reason out why I use what I use on a daily basis.
There are two ways of identifying workflows and tools. One, by analyzing various available options and choosing a tool that fits our workflow or values or by observing how we’ve worked so far, what tools we used so far, to understand what stuck and what fell by the road side and identifying what remained over time. In the past, I tried to find the best solution out there, to get a particular work done, only to find it fall by the side as it did not fit into my workflow. After few such futile and costly attempts, I decided to observe how I work, how my life is structured, what I use to get my work done, or use go about the day and decided to invest in getting the best tools to match that. It worked. I still experiment. I still do get attracted to new and shiny toys and incorporate them into my day to day life. But, I pretty much have settled into a rhythm. I know what I need. Medium may differ, but workflow remains the same.
I was a digital convert a few years back; using my phone and tablet extensively. But, over the last few years, I’ve consciously tried to back away from social media and from buying the latest technology. The cost of acquiring and maintaining new phones/tablets and subscriptions of apps just burnt me out. Social media had its devastating affect, triggering episodes of anxiety and depression. With no downtime, I ached for the peace and obscurity of an unplugged life. But, moving away was not easy, because my entire workflow relied on apps and gadgets. How could I put my phone down more, if I was using it to get almost my entire work done? So, I tried to decouple my work from my phone. (‘work’ representing anything that is to be done, be it personal or professional). Where once, phone was the one gadget I was proud of using for everything, I now started using dedicated tools to get the same work done. I started keeping my phone down more. (I still struggle with it. But, it’s been a promising start.)
My workflow behind the medium, has been consistent – capture thoughts, and work that has to be done. From digital, I navigated to analog. Capturing thoughts and work to be done now predominantly happens in a notebook – my ‘Midori/Traveler’s Company’ traveler’s notebook. I use three inserts – for Work, for Personal & for rough.
I still use Remember The Milk (RTM) to capture all tasks at one place which I plan to transition using a combination of Chronodex and loose sheets of paper, but I haven’t finalized on any approach yet. As of now, I capture a few tasks I want to get done from RTM on a paper that stays in my Kraft folder and work from there. At the end of the day, they get ticked in RTM. I use the ‘Personal’ notebook to capture quotes I love, snippets from articles, books I read and my own thoughts. I use ‘Work’ notebook to capture meeting notes, todos that later get transferred to RTM. Rough notes is where I put pen to paper to think through. I think best with a pen in hand and this book gives me the flexibility to be imperfect, to doodle and to be untidy.
I love fountain pens. Over the years, I’ve wanted to use a few, but ended up using a different few. Lamy Safari, Kaweco Al Sport, Twsbi Eco have been my most used pens. The Traveler’s Company brass fountain pen is my daily work horse now. Writing with a fountain pen, to me, is a ‘lively’ act. It is wonderful to see ink flow through the nib onto the paper in shapes determined by my hand, capturing even the slightest tremor. I don’t get the same visceral feeling while using a ball pen.
Two other items that I use without which I don’t step out of the house are my Bose Nose Cancelling headset and a book to read. I’m extremely sensitive to noise and the headset helps minimize most of the ambient noises. Put on some white noise (rain drops) and you can be oblivious to the surroundings even in the midst of a busy cafe. A book on the other hand is my fall back option. What do you do when you are not engaged? or bored enough? I plunge into a book.
All these items in a Samsonite backpack along with my phone constitute the items I have to use to navigate through my day. What do you use, my dear reader? and, why?
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