Chalkboards

One day as we were leaving Jason and Leslie’s place in Ann Arbor, after a visit, walking down the sidewalk, they ran after us, asking if we happened to want a chalkboard. After considering it for like 2 seconds we said “of course”! So we left there, happily, with a nice, old, big, wooden framed chalkboard. That was somewhere between 2001 and 2004 and it’s been with us as we’ve moved around the country roughly 10 times. It was a good day when Jeph hung it up in my office, here in our new home. That made it really start to feel like a place to do good work.

I’m a list maker and project planner/manager – it’s the way I approach almost everything in life: be organized and have/follow a good plan. I have google docs with lists of writing topics for our websites, for stories, poems, and essays. I have a google doc of all of the hands-on creative projects simmering on my many burners. I have a current notebook, and many old notebooks, full of ideas, concepts, and inspirations. I’m currently using Action Method to manage our web design and development projects (and, while it has its merits, we’re going to look at some other web based PM options – Basecamp being one, because we used and liked it about 5 years ago.) I have two To Do lists on my iGoogle: “Tasks” and “My Listy”. And, I always have one or two paper “Action Lists” on my desk (sometimes more, but I’m trying to limit it to two.) I could spend far too long explaining how I determine what gets listed where, and that is definitely an ongoing process of experimenting and refining (like life itself – isn’t it great?!) But, I’d rather talk about the chalkboard.

I’ve found that having a visual snapshot of my/our “Current Focus Areas” (that’s what it’s called on the board) is really helpful for me. As much as I value technology, my eyes need regular breaks from the computer screen, and I crave physical experiences (I’m a Taurus – fixed earth…) That’s why I’ve always written paper lists. Writing with pen and paper is a different experience from typing into a computer, where your words are processed and spit out onto the screen. I can choose from an endless assortment of papers and pens – big, small, plain, designed, red, black, and so on. And I can erase or cross off with a satisfying flourish – both can be done on the computer too, but it’s not as satisfying. Anyway, back to the chalkboard. It’s broken into the primary areas of our work life and the current projects we are visioning and implementing. Whenever I want the Big Picture view, I just look across the room at the chalkboard – it helps keep everything in perspective.

P.S. Chalkboards can also be used for playing around and drawing too. Eventually I want to paint a wall, or two (maybe one outside), in chalkboard paint, for the silly, playful, spontaneous, un-organized, un-planned stuff. ‘Cuz that’s equally important.

P.P.S. Thank-You to Jason and Leslie for a great gift!