there was a time when i just drove a car. for a production role i held, i learnt to drive a sixteen ton truck. the key to driving a commercial vehicle was the observation and planning. in real terms it meant lifting my head so that instead of looking at the rear bumper of the car in front, i actually looked at the road in front of the seven cars in front of me.
i’ve been reminded of this today. i’m experiencing planning that is looking so far into the future that i am very capable of forgetting to do stuff in the present. i’ve chuckled to myself about this as i can remember my university open day meeting where i could only see as far as what i could make in a day.
my professional development is very much centred around the balance between the fortelling the future and making in the present. as i send emails out, i do not know what the responses will be on their return. it kind of makes planning a little problematic as i am at mercy of the respondant. i am getting used to this and am seeing it as a game. if i get an email that says sorry can’t help you but try so and so, i can now smile and know that tomorrow i have another email to compose with my elevator pitch and the waiting for a reply. i make a note that it’s not so long ago that every ‘sorry’ email would have been a personal disaster.
and the up side of course is when the email comes back with an on going lead, the energy and positivity is a good feeling. if this was my personal blog i’d wax on about scott green on you tube as a place to go to when i get those buzzes of positivity.
today i’ve begun developing my research and development web presence. i’m not going to describe exactly how the nuts and bolts of the work does it’s thing but am going to share the information i’m using to research and devlop the work. when i have populated with some content i’ll share the url.
yesterday i responded to an invite to pop into a residency happening in derby. there was no one at home so i walked around and did some drawing. seems like ages since i’ve sat and looked and drawn. it was very of the moment and i really enjoyed it.
later on facebook i chatted with the two members of the residency about the drawing i had made and the thoughts and ideas i had had as a result of making the drawing and observing the environment in which i was. i’ve arranged to visit on thursday.
i note how taking time out to talk gave me the space to make something in a short space of time. i note that part of my on going professional development will be to make sure i do those ‘of the moment’ things for myself.
