by Naomi | Oct 20, 2016 | Tools & Apps
My playlist is an eclectic collection of tools that help me approach my work as play. My hope is that they’ll do the same for you.
Object: Creating a focused learning plan
What Didn’t Work: Allowing the content that others post, podcast or promote to shape my learning on their schedule, being constantly overwhelmed and distracted, not knowing where to start.
My Aha! Moment:
You know how it feels
when you see your to-do list
and its filled with tasks
you don’t know how to do
your heart races
and your mind fizzles
and you feel like a rock climber
scrambling
with no hand-holds
your feet slip-sliding
Why am I so behind?
I know I need to learn but what
do I type into google?
Does everyone else already know …
everything?
You remember
How simple it seemed
In school
Your teacher shaped your learning
All you had to do was show up
The day planned in sturdy blocks
Topics listed in clean lines on the board
Here’s the next step
And the next
Sometimes you were bored
But if you were overwhelmed
You could raise your hand
I’m lost.
Where do I start?
Where do I start?
If I only study what I already know
What about the things I don’t know?
What if I’m missing that one
magic wand
shortcut?
If I raise my antenna
to take it all in
I won’t miss anything.
But what if I actually miss everything?
What if the noise
drowns out what actually matters?
Thus: The Knowledge Map
- You know more than you think you know about where to start learning.
- Think of your growth like a jigsaw puzzle. If you obsess on one middle piece, you might be stuck for years.
- Instead, you start with the edges, and look for what fits. What you’re doing is giving yourself a starting place.
- A knowledge map pins down the “you are here,” arrow and constructs a learning plan from that location.
How to Play:
- Brainstorm the general categories involved in this area of knowledge. For instance, in marketing, your areas might be social media, email marketing, content development. In writing, your areas might be character, plot, setting, theme.
- Are any of your subcategories of others? Sort accordingly until you have master categories and subcategories.
- Add any other key subcategories that come to mind. The more intricately you know a topic, the more subcategories that are likely relevant to you.
- Put your categories on a map. Tap into your intuitive thinking by assigning each category an image. Draw them or collage them––have fun with it. Perhaps “dialogue” is a well on the farm labeled “character.”
- Use two post-its per category and subcategory. One post-it is for knowledge or mastery. Where is your firm footing when it comes to this topic? The other post-it is for what you wonder. What would you like to know?
- Map the entire area of knowledge, and then step back to take a look. It may be that some categories are stage one, others are stage two, and some are stage three. Alternatively, you may have stage one, two and three within each category.
- Give your stages names that clearly describe their aims. For instance, your stage names may include: build foundational skills, experiment with possibilities, dive deep into specifics.
- Sort your questions into these stages.
- Figure out a plan for how to start stage one. Seek out resources specifically focused in this area.
Player’s Notes:
- Keep the process playful. Don’t think in terms of right and wrong. The point is to figure out where you are currently, and based on that location, where your energy will be best focused next.
- Keep the process loose. As you head into stage one, you’ll encounter new information that may change the categories or timeline. Give yourself permission to revise your plan. You’ll know if you’re sabatoging yourself and derailing the process, or if a change is genuinely needed.
- Keep the process rule-free. Once you know a topic fits in stage three, you won’t be so overwhelmed when you encounter it in real life. If you find a podcast about stage three that you’d like to listen to while you’re in stage one, go for it! Your map isn’t a set of rules. It’s a navigation tool.
Our world is changing at an extraordinary rate. Lifelong learning is no longer optional. If we want to work, play, connect, and make a difference in the world, we need to engage with new ideas, new technologies, and new skills. It’s true that we need to stretch ourselves. True growth, however, takes time. When we choose to go deep, to learn authentically, and to build bridges from current knowledge to new concepts, we may feel like we’re going to be left behind. However, in the end, much less time is lost skittering from idea to idea, only to learn nothing. Take the time you need. Make choices, however difficult they may be. See how life becomes more settled and richer because of the decisions you have made.
by Naomi | Oct 17, 2016 | Creative Life
Do you have enormous goals on your mental or physical to-do list such as:
- Learn how to podcast
- Write a novel
- Run a half-marathon
- Learn to play the guitar
Projects such as these beg the question: Where should I start?
When learning to draw, the first task is to stop one’s mind from translating the concept “apple” into a symbol. We must see the real apple with all its curves and irregularities in order to accurately draw it.
In my experience, the same is true with goals. Our brains, amazing tools that they are, simplify complex projects into impossible-to-tackle placeholders. While we can pick up a guitar and start plucking strings, for most of us, the time spent isn’t likely to result in learning to play guitar.
Why?
- We haven’t clarified what we mean by “learn to play the guitar.”
- We don’t know where to start.
- We quickly lose heart when we can’t track or measure our progress.
Let’s turn these challenges into proactive steps, and see where they lead.
Clarify the Goal
In the Attic, we explore the heart of a project. In the Studio, we improvise to bring new possibilities into the world. However, the Workshop provides us with tools to give our loose idea-material structure. In the Workshop, one asks: What do I know? What do I need to know? What are the pieces of this project or this skill? Where might I start?
One major task of the Workshop is to determine the scope of our project. It’s one thing to learn to front a rock band, and an entirely other one to learn to strum campfire songs. When we clarify our project, we determine our focus. With focus, we can clearly see which actions will be most effective to help us reach our goal.
One of the best strategies for clarifying your project is to take a quiet moment, close your eyes, and picture success in detail.
- What will the scene look like on the day you achieve this goal?
- What will you see, hear, feel?
- What will you be physically doing?
Once you have a clear picture, capture the highlights on paper. This scene becomes your destination point, and helps you determine which actions are relevant, and which are not.
Determine Where to Start
While we want our destination to be a firm location, with creative projects especially, the path to the goal can vary widely. Consider an open space with many trails that end at a lake. There may be four or five possible starting points, and various trails with scenic points along the way.
In the end, our experience of “hiking to the lake” is singular. No matter how much we plan a hike or a creative project, something is bound to surprise us along the way. Ideally, we want to create a plan with enough structure to keep us moving toward our ultimate goal, while leaving room for surprise.
Ask Yourself:
- Where are my current circumstances with regard to this project?
- What do I hope to learn along the way?
- How much time and stamina do I have?
Track and Measure Progress Toward Your Goal
Each year when Society of Young Inklings begins the Inklings Book editorial process, we ask our mentors to choose a specific revision focus. For instance, the mentor and youth writer may focus on developing character through dialogue.
By focusing on dialogue, the youth writer sees improvement that can be specifically described. “My dialogue used to be x, and now it is y.” This clear growth builds confidence. While revising with a specific focus, writers often identify other weaknesses and fix them without becoming sidetracked. Contrast this approach with a general “I’ll fix everything that’s wrong” approach. You can see how rabbit trails and discouragement easily set in.
In order to track and measure your progress, be specific about what you’re tracking. Ask yourself:
- What external milestones are essential along the way?
Here, consider the achievements between start and finish, such as character profiles, a plot, a first draft, a critique session, a revision, etc.
- What internal milestones are essential along the way?
Here, refer to the question: What do I want to learn along the way? Break that goal into measurable steps. If you want to learn about developing believable characters, what is involved?
First Steps
If you do have a giant project on your to-do list, depending on your style, your first step may be to head into the Attic to figure out why this project is so important to you. Alternatively, your first step may be to hit the Studio to play around and find your general direction.
Somewhere, though, early on in the process, the Workshop becomes a necessary step. For most of us, the purpose of major projects such as writing a novel or running a half-marathon is to challenge ourselves to grow. Growth will happen naturally whether we make a plan or not, but we’re more likely to see the results we hope for if we understand what those results will look like—both externally and internally.
I look forward to hearing about your projects and successes! Make sure to share so we can cheer you on.
by Naomi | Oct 13, 2016 | Tools & Apps
My playlist is an eclectic collection of tools that help me approach my work as play. My hope is that they’ll do the same for you.
Object: Breaking a complex problem or idea into manageable parts
What Didn’t Work: Starting a project with the first step that came to mind, trying to hold an entire problem in my mind at once while playing with possible solutions, hoping a solution would show up if I simply “thought harder.”
My Aha! Moment: When I first rolled up my sleeves to try David Allen’s Getting Things Done method, the piece that sounded most ridiculous to me was the suggestion to “write each to-do on a separate piece of paper” as part of a general brain-dump. Umm … I thought, That’s going to be a whole ream of paper, and an overwhelming stack to work through.
However, the brilliance of the suggestion became quickly clear. As I wrote each item on a separate piece of paper, the tangles in my mind loosened. Snarl by snarl, the tasks and projects unwound themselves until I had a clear vision of my situation. Even though the pile was overwhelming, it was also complete. It turns out one piece of paper is easy to handle. Dealing with one to-do at a time is efficient and satisfying. Sorting tasks became much more simple, too. I could make a project stack, and put the tasks in a general order.
Since then, I’ve applied this one idea per paper idea to many projects. Most of the time, I use index cards rather than full sheets of paper, as they are highly versatile and also small enough to allow me to see a full storyboard of sequential ideas. Sometimes I use paper index cards, but often, I use one of my favorite iPad tools, Cardflow+.
How I Play:
- I start with a general list brainstorm. What are the parts of this problem? What are the pieces of this idea? I write one idea or question per card.
- I spread the cards out on my carpet, or zoom out from my digital storyboard until I can see the full picture.
- I consider how I might sort the cards. Could the questions be put into categories? Could the tasks be sorted into stages? Once I come up with an organizing plan, I start to sort.
- Sometimes, my sorting plan fails. Maybe the idea only fits half the questions. In that case, I look at why my plan failed and decide how I might alter or revise my approach.
- Once I have my ideas sorted, I look at them again and decide whether I can now create an action plan, or whether I need to break some of the pieces down even further.
Player’s Notes:
- I decide whether to use digital tools or paper ones based on the level of mess. When I have a highly tangled knot of a problem, I generally use paper to start.
- When I start with paper, I often transfer over to digital once I have the first round of sorting done. That way, I can take my ideas with me and continue to adapt the plan.
- I particularly like Cardflow+ with the Apple pencil on my iPad because I can doodle pictures and write words on my cards. The entire process reminds me very much of storyboarding a plot.
Take it to the Next Level:
I’ve found that the more I list and sort, the better I become at categorizing. Also, I’ve become more daring about the sorts of problems I’ll take on, knowing that I have a way to break down the challenges into steps. What kind of challenge might you use index cards or an app such as Cardflow+ to help you tackle?
by Naomi | Oct 10, 2016 | Creative Life
How often do you think about your thinking?
Thinking patterns are largely invisible. For efficiency’s sake, our brains learn the steps of various thinking tasks and run them on autopilot. For instance, if you tried to describe the steps involved in making a decision, you might find yourself at a loss. Well … I just choose. And the process feels like that, too. One minute you don’t know what you’ll eat for lunch and the next, you’re tossing together a Caprese salad.
Here’s what happened behind the scenes. You’ve identified a problem: you’re hungry. You’ve considered criteria: I’m trying to eat whole, healthy food. You’ve brainstormed options: I have tomatoes, arugula, mozzarella, bread … what can I make? You’ve evaluated options: I feel like something cool because it’s hot out today … a salad sounds better than a toasted sandwich. And then, based on all of this thinking, you chose. Collapsing all of that thinking into a second or two is an amazing, highly productive function of our brains. However, the same functions that speed up our thinking can cause us to become set in our ways. Worse, sometimes the split-second thinking breaks down. What if we go through the process, arrive at the Caprese salad solution, and then think … meh? If we don’t know what steps brought us to this decision, we struggle to rewind, revise, and come to a new solution. So, a block––small or large––sets in.
The Ways We Block Ourselves
Picture a classroom of third graders. Today, their teacher has posed a challenge. In groups of four, the students must come up with a product they can create and sell. Imagine that in one group, the teacher has placed the most extreme big-idea thinker in class alongside the most practical thinker. The conversation might go:
Theo: I have the best idea. We can sell magic beans.
Jessica: There’s no such thing as magic beans.
Theo: Ooh! We can put them into bags and make people think they’re magic.
Jessica: People won’t think they’re magic.
Theo: But we can put on a magic show and convince them.
Jessica: (raising a doubtful eyebrow) That won’t work.
Theo: Okay, then, let’s sell a potion that cures hiccups.
Jessica: There’s no such thing.
And round and round, the conversation goes.
The thing is, both Jessica and Theo are right. Each of Theo’s products have the potential to turn a profit. On the other hand, Jessica is pointing out important holes in Theo’s plans with her objections. When Jessica and Theo are both working full-steam simultaneously, no progress can be made. Further, both students are becoming more frustrated by the minute. Soon, they’ll be too emotional to discuss the problem at all.
The Dreamer and the Critic
We each have a Theo and a Jessica living in our minds. When we let them both loose on a problem at the same time, we dig ourselves deeper and deeper into a creative ditch. In a situation such as our Caprese salad conundrum, when our natural decision making process doesn’t provide a useful solution, often Theo and Jessica both leap into action. Turkey sandwich! Too dry! Yogurt and granola! That’s breakfast! Chipolte! I don’t have time to go out!
Research is now showing that the way our brains function in the right and left hemispheres isn’t as cut and dried as we once thought. That said, we do know that the two modes of thinking need breathing room. When we’re trying to dream big, we must learn to pause our inner critic. When we’re analyzing and refining a solution, we need our inner dreamer to stop offering new ideas.
Structuring our Thinking
Most situations don’t call for structured thinking. We can rely on our brains and their efficient ability to shortcut our decision-making process. However, when we find ourselves feeling stuck, structured thinking can be highly useful. We may need to be intentional about leaving Jessica in another room in order to let Theo dream freely. Then, we can ask Theo to exit, and rely on Jessica to evaluate the ideas and craft a practical course of action.
Most people have more creative ideas than they give themselves credit for having. The issue is not that they don’t have ideas, but that they dismiss them too quickly. Other people are overwhelmed with unusable ideas because they don’t know how to sort, organize and develop their piles of thoughts. We need Theo AND Jessica. We need to give them both room to shine.
The Dot Exercise
Here’s a quick thinking tool for you. Start with a large piece of paper and a pen. Title your page with a problem you’re working to solve. Then, give youself full permission to write any possible solution that pops to mind. If any “but” thinking shows up, gently lead Jessica back out of the room. Take at least three minutes to brainstorm. Next, take out colored dot stickers. Place dots next to any ideas that seem plausible. Then, place a second colored dot next to ideas that you’d be excited to try. The goal of the Dot Exercise is to first come up with a set of ideas, and then funnel them down to a workable set of options. Last week, I wrote about the POINT process, which is a fantastic next step for exploring a few ideas deeply in order to make a final decision.
Which of the two voices is louder in your mind––Jessica or Theo? How might you split up tasks to utilize each of their strengths? I’d love to hear about what you’re discovering. Share below, share on Facebook or Twitter, share in any way you like. I love hearing from you.
by Naomi | Oct 5, 2016 | Tools & Apps
My playlist is an eclectic collection of tools that help me approach my work as play. My hope is that they’ll do the same for you.
Object: Making practical creative decisions.
What Didn’t Work: Trying to jump from a general discussion about ideas to an immediate choice.
My Aha! Moment: I’ve been exploring some new creative thinking tools after taking a course called “Creative Thinker’s Toolkit” that’s offered on Great Courses Plus. One of those tools is called POINT, a step-by-step tool to help thinkers develop novel ideas into something workable.
Most have had the experience of reaching for ideas during a brainstorming session, only to later toss out the “wild” ideas as unusable. When we don’t know how to make an idea work, and it doesn’t fit our normal patterns, we reject it. What would happen if we asked ourselves: How might this idea work?
One of my students was starting a new novel. She was at that moment we often reach when solving a creative puzzle. We have a few ideas and we know the next step is a decision. Sometimes we instinctively know which choice is right. Many times, though, if we’re honest with ourselves, we feel less than clear.
Fortunately, at that moment, I remembered the POINT tool. “Don’t choose!” I said, and then asked if she’d like to try a new approach. She was game, so we went through a structured evaluation of her ideas using POINT. By the time she made her choice, she had clarity and confidence and a plan to take forward.
POINT works for making decisions about writing projects, but also for making any decision that has more than one possible solution. Here’s how it can work.
How POINT works:
- P stands for “positives.” What makes this idea appealing?
- O stands for “opportunities.” What options will this idea make possible?
- I stands for “issues.” What challenges might this idea bring?
- NT stands for “new thinking.” What new ideas arise as you consider this idea in more depth?
Player’s Notes:
- POINT offers a method for considering a more unusual idea. When you feel yourself resisting an option because of the unknowns, try focusing on one POINT question at a time. You don’t have to see the end result to consider the possibility.
- Once you’ve evaluated each option, take time to look over the full list before making a final decision. New options you hadn’t considered may arise. Might two of your options combine? Might your ideas lead to a new option that has yet to come up?
Take it to the Next Level:
- Not every problem requires creative problem solving, but if we approached more problems with this kind of thinking, we may find more novel solutions. Take a moment to brainstorm the general challenges, small and large, you face in your life. What problem may benefit from brainstorming and POINT thinking?
Would you like a shortcut for structuring your POINT thinking? I’ve created a template, which you can download here
I am not sure to whom to give primary credit for the POINT tool, but I discovered it while taking the Creative Thinker’s Toolkit course on The Great Courses Plus, delivered by Professor Gerard Puccio. Thank you to Professor Puccio and The Great Courses Plus for sharing this fantastic tool, and for providing an overall well-developed course. I highly recommend the course for anyone who is interested in developing his or her creative thinking skills.
