Creative Safehouse
Daily Journal
I've never been a person who liked to use journals or even planners for work. Every year I buy a planner and use it for the first three days and then get bored. When we were told that journaling would be a good way to connect with the material I wanted to do it my own way that made sense to my brain, which has a tendency to wander perpetually. The "Creative Safehouse" is my bathroom, filled with post-its on all walls. This was not a random decision, but very deliberate. I start and end the day in my bathroom and therefore I've enabled myself to start and end my day with reflection and review of the class concepts. What if I have a compelling thought or reflection in class? I use what I call "thought tabs". This is when I simply write down what that idea was on a post-it and put it on my laptop. At the end of the day I generally have a pile and they are translated to the bathroom. The cycle repeats. In the pictures below you'll see class concepts and heuristics (including the beginnings of some of my own), exercises on fluency, flexibility, novelty, etc., BUGS, and reminders of my brand and values, plus more!
Below are some of the biggest themes or biggest takeaways from my weekly reflections. What was my focus: Creativity and trying to master the different heuristics and strategies we've practiced in class. I've also been thinking about my biggest opportunities and how better time management fits into that quite a lot. What did I learn: First, I learned and put to practice a journaling method that I was able to consistently do every day. I learned multiple different tools and strategies for creativity and leadership and was able to practice fluency, flexibility, originality, and novelty with my different uses for a toilet section. What challenges did I have: Time management and task completion proved to be some of my biggest, most consistent challenges, things I knew going into this class.
What will I do differently next time: This is where I feel I've started to make a dent in terms of actual impact in my life. I heard about the two-minute rule, meaning that if you can do something like an email or phone call in two minutes that you should practice doing it right away. This has allowed me to better manage my task completion and is a strategy I'll continue to use. I also heard someone say "a good plan now is better than a perfect plan later". This means that for someone like me (who strives for perfection and perfect conditions) needs to create a game plan on improvement and just start with it immediately. I did this to improve my time management by getting up at five am with a buddy every morning for a week. While it wasn't perfect, this challenge helped me get on track and use more of my day. In a way, this is similar to producing shitty first drafts because it really highlights the importance of just "doing" even if you aren't fully prepared.
What is my plan for approaching mastery: I understand that mastery comes in baby steps and forced, uncomfortable habit building. I'll continue to work on new ways to improve upon my opportunities as soon as I think of them.