I loved this piece from Craig Mod: Drawing the Calendar. Not only because he shares his practice of using an analog calendar, but because of why he does it. And how he expresses his thoughts.
The drawn calendar is not for minutiae, but for overview, for the ability to both understand the rhythm of coming weeks at a glance, and for the pleasure of ticking off time.
Not only is the purpose something I agree with, but it’s the act itself that brings so much benefit.
… the act of drawing itself becomes a meditation, and slowing down to feel the shape of days and weeks to come carries an inherent value not found in the already-made.
Last:
But most of all, the making of the drawn calendar becomes an act of reflection in and of itself.
I have found myself slipping into this practice increasingly in my work. I often find myself staring blankly at the screen, with swirling thoughts and the need to bring some clarity to a given situation. I may be stuck between two potential directions to take, a have a lack of certainty on how to communicate a need or an idea.
Nothing gets me that clarity more than writing with my hands.
It may be on a whiteboard. Or it can be a notebook (my Baron Fig 2016 Planner is just about out of space). But as long as I’m jotting down notes, breaking things into a hierarchical list, or sketching out a chart of some sort, I find the solution that escaped me as I was plunked at my computer.
Craig’s calendar reminds me a lot of my weekly review. There is peace to be found in planning my week (or weekly intentions) on paper. Yes, most of what is there exists in one digital locale or another. But again, it’s the act itself that brings the value.
I have a greater appreciation for why Patrick started The Cramped. Maybe it’s an thing about us old guys …
