One consequence of this blog that I hadn’t really anticipated is that people want to talk to me. That’s really nice, but to do what I do, I have had to put my life together a little differently to most.
What I hope to have conveyed in my writings is that my “recovery” from that which was keeping me down has been a multi-prong effort. An important aspect is strict control over my contact with the outside world.
As you’re aware, I run a small design business. Client contact, face-to-face and landline, just about chews up my people time, leaving just what’s required for family. The bulk of my work I handle via email. It’s great getting together with a client to discuss subtleties but, overall, I find email quicker, more reliable and more accurate.
The virtues of email over other modes of communications are that I can deal with it in my time, I can give thought to a proper response and I can keep track of commitments.
I’m not as much of a Hermit as I’d like to be, but I find real-time communications invasive and distracting. I no longer have a cellphone. I don’t have any messenger software on any of my computers, apart from the messaging systems of the forums I follow. Twitter is almost certainly the most ridiculous “tool” I’ve encountered. I’ll use Skype only when there’s something that can’t be done by email.
So please, if you find yourself working with me, bear with my idiosyncrasies. 20 years as freelance graphic designer and commercial photographer makes it clear that I can do what I’m told to do, but I really do my best work when I’m doing it on my terms.
Cheers,
Craig
