Before Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or Google+, I was scouring the internet looking for a good source for Moleskine notebooks. Thanks to Google's search algorithm, I discovered a website called DIYPlanner. DIYPlanner describes itself as the best thing since Gutenberg and summarizes its mission as follows:
We are a community of people who see the value of paper as a medium for planning, productivity, creative expression, and exploring ideas. We encourage visitors to share advice and inspiration, and we love to see submissions for templates, kit images and story articles. We are also the official home of the free D*I*Y Planner kits. Please enjoy your stay, and make yourself at home!
I started out visiting DIYPlanner admittedly as a crazed lurker. I visited daily, read members' productivity strategies and began downloading templates to evaluate the productivity tips users shared. I remember spending hours looking at the photos of people's hacked planners, calendars and journals, with awe and envy. And the library of templates! Today it is plentiful and organized, but in its early days, it sprang from a series of, "What if's...?" or "Does anyone know how to....?" Each day I saw members customize, update and share new improved version of dozens of templates.
This was a diverse crew, but we were all straddling a love of paper and technology. This divide, referred to as the Analog/Digital divide, turned into it's own forum within the larger community, where even today many discuss where the smartphone ends and a notebook begins.
This was a diverse crew, but we were all straddling a love of paper and technology. This divide, referred to as the Analog/Digital divide, turned into it's own forum within the larger community, where even today many discuss where the smartphone ends and a notebook begins.
Eventually I succumbed to my own feelings of reciprocity. Shouldn't I contribute something to this community that gave me so much? Yes, I thought, and I became an active and vocal member of DIYPlanner. I updated templates, negotiated a community discount with a notebook website and helped one member of the community write her resume after she was unexpectedly laid off.
Even today, I continue to struggle to incorporate both analog and digital into my life without duplicating my efforts or giving up my love of paper products and felt-tipped pens. Fortunately, DIYPlanner continues to thrive. I don't visit the site daily, but when I return, little has changed. It remains a friendly spot where I can indulge my passion for notebooks or learn how a lefty should hold a fountain pen. To some people, these things matter.
A long overdue thank you to DIYPlanner for teaching me the joy of talking to strangers: Thank you, DIYPLanner!