Liz Danzico is a genius. But you already knew that. I recently stumbled upon her website, and took the time to read through the archives of the most current revision (which only run through September 2009, but since she is prolific there are quite a number of articles to read through). Like most folks classified as genius, she has brilliant friends, including the ever prolific Jason Santa Maria (whom I am not so coincidentally mentioning because he designed her beautiful website).
Her current site has the prefect combination of branding, design, simplicity and personal touch. The header contains the site logo, which is of her dog, a Vizsla (an all-round pointer-retriever). This logo is repeated as an end-mark of entries that are full thoughts or original articles. The articles on her site run much like a typical tumblr-style range of quotes, links, photos, short thoughts, long thoughts, etc., and each differentiated by style. This is one of the few websites where I want to visit it to read what was written in the format it was intended to be read, instead of staying in google reader.
In this link post about an invention for a new style of alarm clock, she writes about how a person’s perception of time changes, and society as a whole for that matter, as you change from clocks with hands to digital clocks:
When we first got our Casio watches in the ’80s, I remember noticing a significant semantic shift. It bothered me we stopped thinking in terms of a “quarter past eight” and instead thought and said, “eight thirty-two.” That precision begat a real sense of how time was moving. Something was lost.
In one of the longer thoughts, or articles, she writes about successful patterns for communication between people:
Whatever you think about reaching out to people, there’s a pattern. It’s not a pre-meditated or a cold one, but a people-centered pattern that when considered, can bring satisfaction to both sides.
We’re often in a position of asking strangers for things: speaking at our events, advice, customer support, exchange of services, lunch, counsel — the list is long. And the simple fact is: people want to be helpful. But they also demand value in return; some are extraordinarily pressed for time, others quite the opposite. But all want two simple things: to be listened to and to receive value.
In this post about journaling, she describes the thought process behind journaling as a way of accounting for time:
Keeping track of time, doing this kind of personal accounting, gives things context; it marks the passing of time not unlike the demarcation school enforced, where time was punctuated by semesters and summer breaks. When you mark time in chunks, you can name it — “it’s fall,” “I’m in my 40s,” we’re in the “aughts.” Shared vocabulary has value because then there can be conversation. Being aware of time allows for both an objectivity and a shared experience that weren’t there before.
What you actively spend time on, and (far more difficult) what you choose not to do, who you choose not to spend time with, and who and what you decide to say no to — what you choose, then — is how you mark time. And that is all there is.