I love my Moleskine. However, if there any knocks against my famous Moleskine Legendary Notebooks it is the people that say they are expensive. On this point of course I beg to differ because I don’t find Moleskine Notebook expensive if you account for their high quality paper and nice build construction. Moleskine are higher quality notebooks, so yes, they do cost more than a standard Walmart composition pad or the little freebie notepad you get from your insurance agents during this time of the year. By the way, remember, garbage in garbage out. Actually in this case it’s garbage out garbage in. Maybe the adage is backwards, but there is a solution to the otherwise “quote-unqoute” expensive Moleskine Legendary Notebooks.
Bring on companies like Borders or Barnes and Noble who if you sign up for their affinity programs like the Borders Rewards Plus membership you will get your inbox flooded at least once a week by coupons allowing you to take 30% off, 40% off, 50% off and during the glorious holiday season like today upwards of 60% off any item you purchase in the store with said coupon. Simply, you print out these special coupons at home, carefully fold them up and place them safely in the back pocket of your Moleskine and head straight to your local Borders brick and mortar store.
Today I got just such a coupon offering me 33% off any item in the store with an additional 10% because I am a Borders Rewards Plus Member so today 60% off my $20 Moleskine a gives me a $8 Moleskine(Plus+ membership cost $20p/y). Not much more expensive than the piece of crap you could possibly buy from Wal-Mart.
So the way to save money and get the type of journal that you would love, is to simply sign up for a free Borders Rewards Membership card and just wait and watch him box for coupons a rolling and use those coupon times to buy your Moleskine Legendary Notebooks. Or if you buy a lot of books you can sign up for the Barnes & Noble’s Card which cost $25 however B&N offers a lot of times much bigger discounts on books, magazines, music and DVD’s. Both companies off discount on coffee to so the cards will pay for themselves in no time.
Since all the naysayers that say Moleskine Legendary Notebooks are pretentious and expensive I say shut the hell up print out your coupon and keep the pen moving. Well that’s enough of this blog post now my buddy Philip and I are on our way to Borders to buy more Moleskine Notebooks.
In the Podcast we cover some volunteer organizations, here are the links so you’ll have no excuses not to give your help and support. Remember you got to get your hands dirty.
If you want to search a database of places that need help check out Just Give at http://www.justgive.org/
In My ‘Skine (inmyskine.com) is about the Fanatic appeal of Moleskine Legendary Notebooks and One Wanna Be Author’s journey to create his first book in 30 days.
Oh yes the Christmas shopping season has been forced upon us early and every company is out there racing or jumping up and down screaming “ohh pick me pick me” like an over eager sixth grader to get our attention. Moleskine Legendary Notebooks are no different and they have just dropped a beautiful little gem on us.
Moleskine Folio Collection has just been fortified with these easy to use loose leaf and sticky notes dubbed Foilo Tools. Now Idon’t have to stick PostIt Notes In My Skine. It felt so vulgar before.
It includes the Stick Notes, a set of 3-packs of 20 sticky notes – 2 plain and 1 ruled, and the Memo Cards, a set of 20 cards – 10 ruled and 10 squared, all retaining the classic Moleskine mood, with ivory color pages and rounded corners. Both are folded into a small pocket cover to protect the corners and edges. They are conceived to fit right in with all your note taking needs, for memories, messages, any kind of list and flash notes, useful at work as in everyday life. -Moleskine Web site
For you viewing pleasure check out this cool stop-motion promotional video from MoleskineArt. If you feel so inclined you can get me these for Christmas.
Actually I did a lot of writing this weekend and I got to pretty much play catch up for missing the target on days 4 and 6. I feel great about my progress for the first week and Im pretty charged up for the next week.
I spent these two day writing about the number one relationship killer in my book, and it will actually be in my book this time when i’m done not just a saying… “Jealousy” .
Jealousy is like a cancer on the mind. I am fighting on the notion of releasing my best pages before publishing so no excerpt today, i know don’t be jealous. muahahahahaha
What the hell happened today? I can’t blame it on the rain can I? I mean I’m no Missy Elliot, Tina Turner or ahemm Ann Peebles (Anne Peebles, DonBryant and Bernie Miller originally pinned this classic in 1973. Ann recorded and released the “OG” version and shot up the charts that same year)! I know this yet some how I took what could be one of my most creatives and pretty much chilled the entire day away. I had been on such a roll the first few days. At first I panicked and though I had a bad case of the writers block but I did what I was taught to do and took out the ole’ trusty Moleskine Legendary Notebooks and began to free write. My blabber writing came out like flood gates but some how this is where I ended up today and fuck me because I feel ok about it… I think.
Oh well the positive person in side of me says the hell with it… Bring on day 5
The name of the blog says it all “In My Sinke”, occasionally there are things i write in my Moleskine that i just need to share with the world. Well straight from the pages of my latest pocket journal is this lovely piece about Halloween.
The Real Halloween
As a wee lad I loved Halloween it was a time to dress up in my costume and go cruising the neighborhood with my two big sisters and my cousin harassing the neighbors for candy and a UNICEF donation. What ever happen to does good old days
The Costumes Mega Stores
The first disappointment with “all hallows eve” is the totally lack of creativity when it comes to the art of disguise. I wanna blame the costume mega-marts but they would not exist if people weren’t so fuckin’ lazy and insistent on this instant gratification disease. Remember the days when people all made their costumes? There was something about spending the month of October creating your All Hallow’s Eve ensemble with the help of mom, family, friends or the dude format the hardware store. Now we walk in and walk out ready to go but with no Halloween soul.
I’m too Cool the wear a costume
Even worse than the microwave costumes are the asshats who think they can just go out and parade around the Halloween festivities and not even wear a costume at all. Why are you too cool to celebrate the best Holiday of the year. At least throw on a homemade mask and try to be in the spirit.
Mall Trick or Treating
Since when did we become so untrusting of each other that we will only take our kids trick or treating at the freaking mall. Really, the mall for a family candy gathering excursion? Wow that just sucks! What will your youngin’s tell their kids for stories of days of Halloween past? Is this the proper legacy for orange day?
Conslusion
Maybe I’m just tripping or going crazy, Tell me what you think about his years Halloween celebrations. Drop me a comment or tweet me.
@DocRock and @Yoon001 talk about Distraction Free Writing and Cafe pickup Lines.
In My ‘Skine (inmyskine.com) is about the Fanatic appeal of Moleskine Legendary Notebooks and One Wanna Be Author’s journey to create his first book in 30 days.
Please leave us your feedback. Don’t forget follow me on twitter http://twitter.com/inmyskine or http://twitter.com/docrock. You can check out my personal blog at http://mrdocrock.com
It’s precisely in those moments when I don’t know what to do, boredom drives one to try a host of possibilities to either get somewhere or not get anywhere. — Anish Kapoor
Today In My ‘Skine I dropped some knowledge on the subject of boredom. Boredom is a huge pet peeve of mine and I have to say I absolutely hate it. Not even to get into the philosophical statements about idle hands and all that mess the notion of bitching about being bored when there is so much to do in the worlds amazes me.
What’s the Big Deal About Boredom?
Easy, If you are bored you are a self centered and cruel person. PERIOD. Look think about this, It is not there is nothing to do… It’s there is nothing you want to do. That is a total different statement and is little about lack of activities but more about being selfish. There are parks to clean, charities that need help, brain cells to cultivate and lots more civic work to be done if for one second these bored people could live outside of themselves for a moment and think more of the next man (ok woman too).
For boredom speaks the language of time, and it is to teach you the most valuable lesson of your life – the lesson of your utter
insignificance. –Joseph Brodsky
Did you know that boredom can be a powerful contributor to workplace related stress. Bored staff members ofter blame their idleness on lack of challenge or under appreciation. This by it self can be a source for dwindling profits and productivity due to loss of focus. Even though boredom is one of the major causation factors of Clinical Depression it is not widely studied.
How To Solve Boredom
Honestly I can’t believe I have to explain this but I will none the less. It’s simple get out there and do something. There are tone os sites out there that allow you to volunteer like Volunteer Match or United We Serve. Another way to solve boredom is to have all of your goals for life, projects, work, charity etc… already planned out somewhere, this way when a few free minutes arise you can get back to task doing something useful. I personally like to use my idle time taking care of others as it gives me satisfaction knowing I’m making a difference.
Buster Benson’s 750 Words is a brain-dead simple as pie web application with only one goal… To keep you writing. The concept of 750 words is super simple: Everyday you find a way to craft 750 words which just happens to be the approximate word count for three pages of text. You write about whatever you want. It’s just a three page stream of conscious free writing tool.
Why 750 Words Is Worth Checking Out
This idea of writing 750 words per day is great for creating the keep writing work ethic; however the best part of this webapp is the visualization of you own personal data. When you created a few post you’ll get to have measured metrics of compositions. You can track how long it took, words you use the most, your subject matter and more. To give you an idea of how cool the metadata is check out 750words.com Explore page.
You will soon find even if you are a non-writer this site will at least get you brain working and is a great way to get unstuck. The writings are all private and nobody will ever lay eyes on your ramblings unless you export them.
I know this site is supposed to be my homage to Moleskine Legendary Notebooks but I find even if I’m writing in my ‘skine I like to let a quick 750 rip to this online tool when I can. Honestly I haven’t been keeping up with the daily requirements but I’m making a commitment to at least get’er done for the next 21 Days to see if I can recreate the habit.
Next Actions and A Quick Word of Caution
So go give 750 Words a try it is totally free and my just help keep your creative juices flowing. Signing up is easy though one of many authentication methods but make sure you remember which way you sign in. You’ll have to keep using that method forever or you’ll create new accounts for each method. I signed up using openid once and then Facebook Connect later and totally ended up with two accounts.
Update: Try The 750 Words One Month Challenge
Join me as I enter next months challenge for adding entries every day for the month of November.
Conclusion
All and all 750 Words is an awesome site and killer tool. Go forth and be fruitful with you writing
Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land amongst the stars..
Les Brown
Moleskine 101: Goal Setting
Of course there are many reasons to write in your Moleskine but here goes another one. Goal setting can be a major help in increasing productivity as well as a general life hack. The thing about setting goals is the provide you with guideline and milestones to let you know you are on the right track and more importantly heading the right direction. It really does not matter how fast you are running if you are running in the wrong direction. I have heard that saying or something close to it in about six different languages all from different cultures; therefore, there must be something to live by no matter how you were brought up.
Your Word Is Your Bond
Many people say the number one cause of stress is broken promises, especially those promises made to yourself. A good way to ensure you are keeping yourself stress free is to keep your pledges to yourself and others as if your life depended on it… because it does… stress is a powerful killer.
So the first ting to know about goal setting is to stop calling them goals. Goals are a thing you attempt to do and you know as well as I do we all need to stoop attempting and actually do it. I have made a conscience effort to to reframe the word goals to pledges or promises. I actually spent about ten day with Bill Bartmann a Billionaire Entrepreneur. He drilled in my head this idea of making promise cards what basically amounted to a set of 3×5 cards to carry with you daily and to be refereed to several times a day until the things you want to change are second nature.
I use my Moleskine for this. In your pocket journal sized notebook save a hand full of pages at the front or the back for you Promise Pages(Sorry Bill cards are too messy for me). The full system is an entire blog post by itself but here’s the Cliff Notes version:
Write down the six things you need to do this week
Write down the six things you need to do this month
Write down the six things you need to do this six months
Write down the six things you need to do this year
Then you look at this list six times a day and check stuff off as you go if you don’t do it move it over the the next list, if you move it six times you need to reframe, rethink, refocus or you’ll regret it. Ok i made the last part up but it works for me.
This system has a lot more to it and I’ll surely get in the details in a later blog post but start with stop calling the goals first. They are Promises! Promises to yourself that should never be broken.
Conclusion
The size and ubiquitous nature of the Moleskine pocket sized journals or smaller are a great place to do a little life planning and course correction. Let me know how you set your goals opps promises and what tricks if any can you share. Leave a comment and don’t forget to follow In My ‘Skine or Doc Rock. You can check out my personal blog Sleeve of Wizzard at http://mrdocrock.com
