Categories
Reflections

The “Not Doing” List

Periodically, I like to step back and think about the things that I’m not doing. I’m not talking about the things that are on my list, but that I haven’t done yet, or the things that I’m actively choosing not to do. I’m talking about the things that I didn’t have time to think about. […]

Categories
inspiration life Reflections

2021 in Photos

Since 2017, I’ve been posting a photo every day to Instagram and photo.cate.blog. I kept that up last year, posting 361 photos in total. In 2021, the aesthetic monotony of pandemic life really started to get to me and this was probably the hardest this project has ever felt. I think part of the appeal […]

Categories
life Reflections Writing

The Year of Habits

This time a year ago, I felt like my creativity had died of COVID. Died of boredom. Died of exhaustion. Suffocated under the weight of… everything. In the struggle of this, I felt caught between the should of, I should be able to do this, and the recognition that the world was on fire. I […]

Categories
life Reflections travel

How Do We Recharge?

I feel like I’ve spent much of this pandemic digging out of a case of burnout, watching people burn out around me, trying to get ahead of things, trying to inch up from zero but never really feeling like I make it that far. I think it’s understandable that people are burning out, left, right […]

Categories
life Reflections

The Habit of Adequacy

I think about habits a lot. That my word for 2021 is habit is a product of this, and a useful lens to cycle back on it. I think about habits, how to intentionally build and maintain them, and then I remind myself that I set it as a priority for the year for a […]

Categories
life Reflections

The “Care” in “Self Care”

On my weekly todo list, there is an item “do something nice for a friend”. Last week, I assembled a care package. I asked myself, “what does a useless man need but won’t buy for himself?” – the answer, incidentally, was an exceptionally fluffy blanket, some really nice chocolate, vitamins, and assorted skincare. As I […]

Categories
art Reflections

2019 in Photos

In 2019, continuing on from 2017 and 2018, I continued to post a photo every day mirrored between photo.cate.blog and instagram (364 in total apparently, I must have missed one day). This year I experimented with more abstract things, text and positioning, and made heavy use of some new film style filters. I also posted a lot of […]

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Reflections

2018 in Photos

For 2018 I continued my quest to post a photo a day, mirrored between photo.cate.blog and instagram. Last year my top photos had a tropical tint, this year raccoons are the stars. I didn’t have a focus as much this year; like many things, it was much more about the act of showing up. I […]

Categories
management Reflections

Questions for an End of Year 1:1

My coach (Dani) went through this list of questions in our call last week, and I’ve been using it in my last 1:1s of 2017. I’ve been finding it interesting as a structure for a conversation that looks back at the year and where we are now, versus where we were a year ago. Sometimes […]

Categories
Presentation Reflections

2017 in Speaking (and 2018 Speaking Goals)

This year, my speaking goals were: Give a talk I’m proud of. Try something new. This came about because at the end of 2016 I realised I had (nearly) met the goals I set for myself, but I hadn’t really enjoyed the process. I stripped things back and tried something different. My guideline for this […]