Ryan's Rules #41: Always, always take a before photo

There’s ivy that grows over the back wall of my garden. Every year I spend an afternoon ripping it out. It’s not too unsightly, it just grows really fast. The itchy, sweaty, dirty feeling having dealt with all the creepy crawlies and debris in it probably bugs me more than the visual clutter. Usually, when I’m done with it, I’ll stand back and admire my handiwork. The wall looks a bit cleaner. The rest of the garden may still need attention but the following day, it looks like I did nothing at all.

To a stranger, the wall might look like it had always been this tidy. In a few weeks I’d forget again and the nagging thought of the ivy would recede back to the cobwebby corners of my mind. Some other more pressing task would take its place.

This is not a unique phenomenon. In a previous job we followed the “Danaher Business System,” a management system not unlike the Toyota Production System but with fewer TPS cover sheets to fill. One of the techniques we deployed in the office every couple of years was 5S. Essentially this was spring cleaning on steroids.

The name of the 5S methodology comes from the five Japanese terms; Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu, and Shitsuke. These can be translated as Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. Without turning this into a lean seminar, let’s just say it’s particularly effective for a server room which over time had turned into a store room. Or for the store room that became the new dumping ground after we had the server room 5S’d. But guess what… both times, we got done and things looked great, “as they should have been.” We stood there, basking in the glory of a job well done and someone uttered “hey, did anyone take a photo of how bad it was before?”

That was the moment when this rule crystallized for me and stopped being a cute piece of advice. This is a rule I actually follow. Even if nobody will ever see the photo.

Like some of my other writings, this sounds almost too simple to write about. Snap a quick picture before you start. Big deal, right? No framework needed. Then get on with it. But I believe this small habit can bring incredible value to you if you decide to use it.

A Single Photo Carries More Than You Think

Human memory can be dodgy. People have been known to imagine things that never happened. Sometimes we reconstruct the past based on how we feel now, not based on facts. Psychologists call this a version of hindsight bias: once a change occurs, our brain alters our perception of the "before" to fit a narrative. A before photo can interrupt that process. It's a fact that your brain (or others) can't argue with later. A small action with big benefits!

1. It proves your effort actually happened. Whether you're clearing a garden, working with a personal trainer on your body, or doing a huge cleanout, the after never speaks for itself. Context is everything. It may still look messy or unfinished now but it was ten times worse before. The before photo combined with the current state is the evidence of your effort.
2. It helps with motivation on hard days. I’ve said before, and I will say again, that motivation doesn’t show up. You do. Motivation comes from work, not the other way around. Anyone who has tracked a weight-loss journey knows there are frustrating plateau weeks. The needle on the scale doesn’t move. Doubt begins to creep in. Pulling up the before photo, next to where you are now, is a morale booster better than any pep talk.
3. It might just protect you legally and financially. A timestamped before photo can be useful evidence. Walk around your rental car and take a few snaps before you drive away. Disputes about "who caused this damage" or "this scratch will require a payment" are resolved in seconds with a photo. It can drag on for weeks without one.

The list of places this habit pays off could go on forever. Here's a handful, just to give you a feel for it.

• Home renovation (when someone else is doing the work): gutters that weren't broken before they got "cleaned"
• Home renovation (when you're doing the work): the damage on the cabinet doors or the hole in the wall that was already there before you started
• Training: a screenshot of your 5k time, or your beer gut, take your pick
• Web design: a screenshot of what the site used to look like
• Renting an apartment: the stain or burn on the carpet that wasn't your doing
• Borrowing equipment: the crack in the handle of your friend's angle grinder that was there before you touched it

I could keep going. But you get the idea.

You Skip It Because You Don't Want To Look

The value of a before photo isn't really about the after. Or the act of comparing between where you are now and where you were.

Often you’ll forget to take a before photo because it’s not a habit you have developed. But why not? You’ve got a device in your pocket more powerful than the computers that guided men around and onto the moon! The uncomfortable truth is that you probably skip the before photo because, deep down, you don't want anyone to see how bad things really are. You ignore the extra weight, the dirty kitchen, the messy code base, the packed comms room. You recoil with embarrassment to think that anyone else might see it. That recoil though is exactly the signal to take the photo and do it anyway. Bask in the discomfort of documenting where you actually are, rather than where you wish you were. This changes the eventual comparison from a mechanical act of A - B = C into something meaningful.

You will benefit most from this habit when you go beyond remembering it occasionally. Maybe one day you’ll have enough projects where you sigh and say “Should have taken the before photo!” Or you can make it an unconscious habit, one that’s automatic, the same way you'd check your mirrors before changing lanes. It takes seconds, costs nothing and it pays off later. Like a lot of things, you can only do it before, not after.

So next time you're about to tackle something that has gotten out of hand, take the before photo. I’ll be out in the garden, doing my annual chore and swearing at the ivy but I’ll definitely be able to show the difference once I’m done.

What's one project in your life right now where a before photo would actually make a difference? Drop a comment. It might mean something to someone more than just you.