rochelle dancel's posterous

I've been working pretty flat out on one particular web project recently.  The timeline is short, the thinking is all-consuming, the deadline is tight and the workload is mammoth: in short, the perfect recipe for mental, if not physical, burnout.

In theory, I should be blitzing through it this weekend.  But, after a week a sleep deprivation and tunnel vision, I made the very conscious decision to do nothing.

Well, not nothing, exactly.

I had two nights of dreamless fourteen hour sleeps.  I cancelled other work plans this weekend and took myself off to the V & A, where I spent an afternoon circling the Rodin collection.

I read Vogue and Dazed & Confused at Starbucks and the third part of Stieg Larsson's trilogy in the bath.  I watched the DVD extras from Love, Actually and Fletcher's second season all over again.

I took my mother out to dinner and had lunch with both my brothers.  I cooked soup and practiced scrambling eggs (I think I'm getting better). I went to the gym (twice), went swimming (twice) and signed up for Gyrotonic sessions.

It's practically the end of the weekend and I haven't once put pencil to paper or opened my laptop (I'm on my phone).

A.R. Rahman once wrote, 'Sometimes standing still can be the best move you ever make.'  And words to that effect have often been said to me by people more organised, more productive and more focused than I will ever be.

There's something in that. I absolutely cannot wait to tackle that website again tomorrow.

I don't usually post my goals for the year online - I'm not that brave - but instead I write them in the back of the Muji diary that I buy every year.  I didn't keep any of my resolutions but one, and that one I did fairly spectacularly.

I posted my year in photos earlier, but here's how I'm going to remember 2011:

Shifting teams:  This time last year one of my aims was to 'do more work with beautiful world'.  I did one better: I left my old job and joined the beautiful world team.  Six months in, I'm still riding a very steep but enjoyable learning curve and we're doing some pretty great work.  But I'm still in the PayPoint.net groove though - I'm their retained designer and I'm very excited for the projects that we'll be working on together this year.

Suitcase living: When I joined beautiful world, I expected my freelance schedule to die down, but it went completely the opposite direction.  So I'm blessed to continue enjoying a fairly full freelance schedule, but as my client base is around the world, this often means hightailing it to the airport on Thursday evening to spend Friday and the weekend meeting with my clients and collaborators. This year I've averaged two overnight trips out of London every month, most of which involved getting on a plane or a Eurostar, and I've eaten more room service club sandwiches than I care to remember.

Finding out that the NHS is actually quite good: I had to have a minor operation in August, by which time I'd left my old job and the private health insurance that went with it.  From all the scans and tests through operation and recovery, I found all of the NHS staff amazing.  Yes, their admin system could do with greater efficiencies and their buildings need a facelift, but you don't really get to test the system until you have to go through it yourself, and I did just fine.

Going with the flow: Because of all of the above, 2011 was anything but the year that I had planned.  But what I did learn was that I'm in good shape to adapt and not feel bad about it.

So, for the first time, here's what I want to do in 2012:

Take an actual holiday: The last one I did was about this time last year when my brothers and I went skiing in Vancouver.  We took the laptops but didn't do any work.  I haven't had a holiday all year this year, so next year I'm going for a diving holiday.

Celebrate Fletcher 3: Regan and the team in Toronto have been doing an amazing job in production, so I'm gearing up to play my part in making our final season the best ever.

Manifest our next web series: most web series producers come in pairs, and my other half is Regan Latimer. Post Fletcher, I'm looking forward to our next show together.

Take better pictures: I see most of my world in a frame, whether it's a placeholder in a wireframe, a campaign mock-up or something I've taken for reference on my phone.  This year, I want to get better at taking pictures and seeing whether photography might be a hobby I want to take up.

Launch at least one of my blog projects: Throughout 2011, I've diligently been working on content for one of the three blog projects I've been developing. At least one will launch by Q2 this year.

Practice my commercial experience: I'd like to do this on one of my own projects, so a new viable online business will be put into development this year.

Blog more: I just need to get it done.

Sleep more: I get about five hours sleep every night and I do pretty well on it.  However, this Christmas week, I've been sleeping beyond my normal alarm and it's really quite delicious, so I'm going to try to do more of it.

Work with good people: I've learnt way more by working with amazing people than I ever did on any course or at school, so, coupled with practice, it's the only way I'll continue to improve.  This year, I will actively seek to work with people that complement my development and productively challenge my status quo to do things better.  And I will also stop working with people that don't - life is too short.

This time next year it's going to be interesting to see what I do on this list and/or what replaced it!

Have a good one :)

For the last couple of years, I've cleared out the memory cards on my phones and posted my highlights. Be warned - there are lots of food pictures.

January

I love aquariums.  I was in Vancouver over New Year's, so my brothers took me to the Vancouver Aquarium for my birthday.

Into the work year - a work in progress, this turned out to be the last piece of print design I produced at PayPoint.net that was published in iGaming magazine.

February

I'm a big fan of NFP Tweetup, so I was honoured to be a co-sponsor of NFP Tweetup 10 via my freelance business, Pixel Philosophy.

6.30am is a rare sight for me, but I started getting up early to go swimming before work.  I'm happy to say that it's something I've continued through the year although, now that I start work before 8.30am, it's slightly more of a challenge, but a necessary one to set me up for the day.

April

At .net the marketing team instigated the first annual Easter egg hunt around the office.  I posted photo clues on the internal blog (launched earlier in the year) periodically throughout the day, which drove more internal traffic and commenting on the blog than previous post attempts (spot the marketing campaign!).

May

This was lunch at Shoreditch House with Simon and Adam, two of the founding partners of beautiful world, to welcome me to the beautiful world team.

June

This is the last picture taken of my old team when we were all together at my leaving lunch...

...and one of us a little more relaxed at my leaving drinks.  Thankfully, my new office is only five minutes up the road and, although I miss working with them immensely, I still see Siobhan, Etienne, David and Sam often.

On my third day at beautiful world, I met the #beautifulbaby, Rachel's daughter, Amber, for the first time.  

July

July was spent settling into beautiful world...

August

I had a couple of weeks off in August for some minor surgery.  Having always been pretty healthy, my first overnight hospital stay, including recoving from a general anaesthetic for the first time, was an interesting experience.

I was sent this box of cupcakes by one of favourite people in my old team to aid my recovery, and I sent an identical box back to them when I was given a clean bill of health. Cupcakes have never tasted better!

September

I discovered spaghetti ice cream (thanks, Gemma!)

October

This is one of the most random moments of the year.  This is me watching the ponies that entertained the children at a family baptism party in Brussels whilst their handler was taking a break.

November

Back in August, my old .net colleague and web developer genius, Sam Dorne, called me up to work on the design for an event on behalf of Microsoft for the Scottish Government.  The event was Govcamp Scotland, and Sam and I were subsequently invited up to Edinburgh to contribute to the event. From presentation slides to signage and t-shirts, one of the best things about designing a logo is seeing it in action.

In November, I also went to Cologne and visited the chocolate factory where the Lindt people show you the process of producing chocolate that you can (conveniently) buy in the gift shop.

This tap was my favourite thing ever!

December

At the invitation of Janssen, I went to Brussels to present on behalf of beautiful world for the first time at a meeting of European patient groups on using social media to support their member organisations and better support patients and families.

The previous evening, I arrived very late and called room service to order a ham sandwich.  This is what arrived.

So this photo isn't particularly great or exciting, but about an hour before it was taken, I took a phonecall from a client saying that we'd won a very exciting piece of work to kick off the new year. So I took Teri and Ash out to GBK to celebrate :)

And, because the year isn't complete without a mention of talented photographer, Gerry Alexis, this is the last photo of her calendar that I've been staring at all year.

"The only way to do great work is to love what you do."
— Steve Jobs

I was a big fan of Steve Jobs, not because of his job at Apple, but for his attitude to his work and life.

Not to bandwagon the moment, but every now and then life throws up an opportunity to collectively reflect on what is important.  

Today, I realise how blessed I am that I get up every day and get to do work that I truly love with people that inspire and challenge me in equal measures.

I hope everyone finds that blessing.

You too can bust a gut and enjoy spaghetti ice cream at Ciao on Charing Cross Rd (thanks, Gemma, for the intro!).

One of my office based friends sent me this email that has been doing the rounds at his office today.  I'm sure this is an issue that affects many offices and I giggled so much when I read this that I just had to share it :)