Moleskine for More Creative Business Planning

I had some uninterrupted free time today. That is a luxury that doesn't happen often enough for me. After a leisurely lunch I began to sketch some leaves and trees. My doodling morphed into some random business ideas, and I quickly realized that there was not enough room on the tiny scraps of paper I had with me to contain all of the ideas.

Then I recalled the collection of virgin Moleskine journals at the campus bookstore across the hall from where I was having lunch; and I rushed over to buy a yummy new journal. YUM-OH. Fresh clean pages. What do you do with all that potential? Well since my thoughts were about my business I quickly decided to journal my business plans instead of doing them the way I have done them in the past. Creative company - creative business plans. Really, this journal is the space I plan to use to fashion some order out of creative chaos. Fun.

You should know that typically, I resist tradition where I can. I was used to writing down my thoughts randomly, only to lose them and rediscover them later. Finding them again was like serendipity - or my way of figuring out if the idea still worked for me. Not very efficient. I don't suggest that unless you want to waste time.

So for weeks these particular thoughts have not left me alone. So buying this journal and committing to putting the thoughts here, in just one place, and working through them is BIG for me. This is the Big dream journal - I expect amazing results.

After ripping open the plastic covering and tossing it away, I used my black Micron pen to write my full name inside the cover along with my address. I'll illustrate the first page later.

I don't feel like scanning my pages this evening; and even if I did they're likely to make sense only to me. So instead I'll describe how I'm journaling my business plans. This process is working for me because I think in pictures; and when I speak and write, I literally see the words dancing in my head. Words I can pluck out of the ether and jot on the page. And currently, woven between the words are doodles of circles, trees, hills, a paisley, arrows, flowers, dragon tails and snouts, and a random line or two. Journaldoodling. - this is the reason I'll never invest in a palm gadget to jot down my notes. I prefer pen and ink, and smooth new paper. I write in the margins. I like to create things that are out of the ordinary.

Anyway, I decided pretty easily on the format. The first page of the journal sets the intention - or what the journal is for. On the second page I listed all the ideas in my head, in short, one-to-five word phrases. On each of the next pages, I took one of the ideas from the second page and expanded on the topic.

When I've finished with my mind mapping exercise, I'll go back and see which ideas jump off the page. I'll star, highlight, or color around the biggest ideas. I won't cross out the ideas that don't agree with me, I'll just take additional notes on those ideas about why they don't work at the moment. (They might work later)

Then I'll make some plans, and a few task lists, and move forward. So maybe all creative business owners should have a journal for their life's work. It's so much more interesting this way than the typical business plan. Plus, I'd love to see some of Oprah's doodles and personal notes :-)

Be well,

Lise