Monthly review: October 2013

Posted: - Modified: | monthly, review

Last month, I wrote:

In October, I’ll focus on consulting. In my discretionary time, I’ll focus on lots of drawing and thinking. I want to build that habit of daily visual thinking, and then I’ll use that to learn even more.

And boy, did I ever! I put together a PDF of 105 thoughts from October 2013 that compiled my notes from thinking through different things, and you can see a list (including some small sketches I didn’t include in the PDF) after the blog posts below. Not only did this give me plenty of practice in visual thinking, it also helped me focus and accomplish a lot. I hammered out a pretty decent drawing workflow that made the most of my new gear. I learned a lot about learning. I tidied up. I set up better backups and did some system administration chores I’d been procrastinating. Good stuff indeed.

November is going to be busy but good. I’ve got two projects going on at work, including some animation and voice recording. (That’ll be interesting to sort out with the cats and the heater…) I need to sort out possible tooth surgery for one of our cats and take care of other pet-related matters. We’re working on decluttering and organizing the house. Lots of things going on, and I want to continue doing my daily-ish drawing habit too. Let’s see how it works out!

Blog posts

Tons of sketches! You can browse through them at sketches.sachachua.com or check them out using this list:

Drawings

  1. 2013-10-31 Why do I prefer asynchronous communication, and what can I do about it #connecting
  2. 2013-10-31 What do I want to explore #plans
  3. 2013-10-31 What do I want or need to store on my backup drives #tech #backup
  4. 2013-10-31 Understanding gaps #learning
  5. 2013-10-31 Reflections on cats #life #cat
  6. 2013-10-31 Possibility - Hire or partner with an extrovert to interview people #business #idea
  7. 2013-10-31 Imagining an awesome day #life
  8. 2013-10-31 How do I want to tweak four months of tilting the balance towards consulting #experiment
  9. 2013-10-30 Why does note-taking matter to me - positive #notetaking #my-learning
  10. 2013-10-30 Why does note-taking matter to me #notetaking #my-learning
  11. 2013-10-30 Why do I prefer bottom-up thinking to top-down thinking #my-learning
  12. 2013-10-30 What kinds of thoughts are interesting or useful for me to explore on paper #my-learning
  13. 2013-10-30 Playing with style - how do I want to explore #drawing
  14. 2013-10-30 How do I break a large topic down into small questions that I can handle #my-learning
  15. 2013-10-30 How can I make the most of purchases #decision #business
  16. 2013-10-30 Destructive scans - is it worth cutting apart my books #reading #decision
  17. 2013-10-29 Visual Thinkers Toronto #visualtoronto #sketchnote
  18. 2013-10-29 Bike versus subway #decision #life #exercise
  19. 2013-10-29 Accelerate your learning through visual thinking #learning
  20. 2013-10-28 Setting up virtual machines with Vagrant #tech #vagrant
  21. 2013-10-28 Setting up my development environment VMs #tech #vagrant
  22. 2013-10-28 My roadmap to becoming a better geek #tech #plans
  23. 2013-10-28 Mindmapping chat with vitaminsludge #mindmapping
  24. 2013-10-28 Drawing on paper versus drawing on my computer #drawing
  25. 2013-10-28 Deployment procedures #tech
  26. 2013-10-27 Time Management for System Administrators - Thomas A #sketchnote
  27. 2013-10-26 Planning for the trip #travel
  28. 2013-10-25 What do I want to do with my business #experiment #business #plans
  29. 2013-10-25 Weekly review #weekly
  30. 2013-10-25 How I organize and publish my sketches #organization #sharing #drawing
  31. 2013-10-24 What topics do I want to make progress in daily or weekly #my-learning #plans
  32. 2013-10-24 Sharing my mindmap #sharing
  33. 2013-10-24 Quantified Self Toronto #sketchnote #quantifiedto
  34. 2013-10-24 Personal information architecture #sharing #organization #learning #my-learning
  35. 2013-10-24 My processes for reviewing info #my-learning #reviewing
  36. 2013-10-24 Mindjet 14 vs Freeplane #tech #mindmapping
  37. 2013-10-24 Google Helpout #helpouts
  38. 2013-10-24 Current state - backups #tech #backup
  39. 2013-10-24 Assorted metaphors
  40. 2013-10-24 Assorted business words
  41. 2013-10-24 Asking myself better questions #learning #questions
  42. 2013-10-23 Thinking About Getting Better at Asking Questions #learning #questions
  43. 2013-10-23 Sketchnote Bullet Journal (Ryder Carroll) #sketchnote #notetaking
  44. 2013-10-23 How to Ask Questions the Smart Way (Eric S. Raymond) #sketchnote
  45. 2013-10-23 How can I find the right balance of thinking, learning, doing, and reviewing #my-learning #balance
  46. 2013-10-23 Evernote Fujitsu ScanSnap #tech
  47. 2013-10-22 What do I need to do in terms of system administration #tech #sysad
  48. 2013-10-22 What can I do to get more value from online courses #my-learning
  49. 2013-10-22 Plenty of sleep #life
  50. 2013-10-22 My new sketching and thinking workflow, and mindmap comparisons #process #drawing
  51. 2013-10-22 How can I tap the value I create #business #experiment
  52. 2013-10-22 Different methods for (assisted) learning #learning
  53. 2013-10-21 When do I pause or stop when thinking about something #my-learning
  54. 2013-10-21 How can I think on paper more effectively #my-learning
  55. 2013-10-21 Fitting multiple thoughts on a page #drawing
  56. 2013-10-20 Cooking notes #cooking #life
  57. 2013-10-19 How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought You Think - Lion Kimbro
  58. 2013-10-18 What I want to learn about gardening #gardening #life
  59. 2013-10-18 Weekly review #weekly #scratch
  60. 2013-10-18 Note-taking techniques #notetaking #tips
  61. 2013-10-18 Note-taking system #notetaking #tips
  62. 2013-10-18 Indexing #notetaking #organization #tips
  63. 2013-10-18 Gardening notes #gardening #life
  64. 2013-10-15 Reviewing what you've learned #learning #reviewing
  65. 2013-10-15 Current mapping limits and challenges #my-learning #mapping
  66. 2013-10-15 Applying computer science to learning #learning
  67. 2013-10-14 Mapping what you know #mapping #organization #learning
  68. 2013-10-14 Mapping out learning #mapping #organization #learning
  69. 2013-10-14 Long weekends #life
  70. 2013-10-13 Watches #life
  71. 2013-10-11 Weekly review #weekly #scratch
  72. 2013-10-11 Starting from enough #life
  73. 2013-10-11 Adjusting the speed #experiment
  74. 2013-10-10 Small paper #life #Scratch
  75. 2013-10-10 Relaxing #life #productivity
  76. 2013-10-10 Playing with lettering #life #scratch
  77. 2013-10-10 Late at night #life #scratch
  78. 2013-10-10 Doodles medicine #doodles
  79. 2013-10-09 What do I want to learn about learning #my-learning #plans
  80. 2013-10-09 Thinking about visual outlining #learning #sharing #writing
  81. 2013-10-09 My passport misadventures #life
  82. 2013-10-09 More thoughts about delegation #delegation
  83. 2013-10-09 Doodles #doodles
  84. 2013-10-09 Daily drawing updates #daily #scratch
  85. 2013-10-09 Cats #cats #doodles
  86. 2013-10-09 Breaking down my visual vocabulary #drawing
  87. 2013-10-08
  88. 2013-10-08 Hacklab Dinner - four courses, actually! #cooking
  89. 2013-10-08 Backburner #productivity #plans
  90. 2013-10-07 Where are my people gaps #connecting
  91. 2013-10-07 Sketchnote Media for thinking the unthinkable #sketchnote
  92. 2013-10-07 Sharing circles #connecting #sharing
  93. 2013-10-07 Reflecting on friendships that work well and ones that need figuring out #connecting #Friendship
  94. 2013-10-07 Kinds of email #connecting
  95. 2013-10-07 JetPens #life #decision
  96. 2013-10-07 Delegation #delegation
  97. 2013-10-07 Alan Kay #sketchnote
  98. 2013-10-06 Weekend cooking #cooking #life
  99. 2013-10-06 Possible pasts #life
  100. 2013-10-06 Daily drawing - thinking on paper #drawing
  101. 2013-10-06 Consulting and focus #experiment
  102. 2013-10-05 Logitech H800 #tech
  103. 2013-10-05 How can I help people save time #business
  104. 2013-10-05 Gardening thoughts #gardening #life
  105. 2013-10-04 What would be my ideal daily drawing setup #drawing
  106. 2013-10-04 Weekly review #weekly #scratch
  107. 2013-10-04 Low energy versus high energy #productivity
  108. 2013-10-04 Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky #game
  109. 2013-10-04 Imagining the future(s) #life #plans
  110. 2013-10-04 Drawing and scanning morning pages #drawing
  111. 2013-10-02 How do you want to grow as a sketchnoter

 

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