Learn how to draw out your vision
The older we get, and the more responsibilities we take on, there’s a tendancy for life to become increasingly “routine.” This can lead to boredom and a loss of spirit. So it’s critical to constantly integrate new and stimulating things into your life and daily practices.
I’ve run across one of those recently. It’s very simple yet extremely powerful. Going right back to my pre-school days, I’ve started drawing again. Yep, I get a pencil or a pen, a piece of paper, or even markers and a whiteboard. Then I draw!
(I’ve taken this up with a business motive in mind, rest assured!) What brought drawing to my attention was a book by Dan Roam I just read called, The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. See a video of Dan showing how this works on Fox Business Network.
The idea in the book is to utilize basic drawings to illustrate plans, concepts and complex things in really easy-to-follow ways. What I’ve realized in following the book’s simple guidelines is that drawing actually helps your brain work better. It’s a refresher in that it forces you to deal with your thoughts in a visual way. It transforms “ideas” and intangible, abstract things into physical–drawn, that is–objects.
In The Back of the Napkin, Roam shows the actual drawing made on the back of a napkin by the founders of Southwest Airlines to illustrate their concept for a new airline that would become one of the great success stories of airline history (did someone say, Ding!?).
You can dial up and listen in to a chat with the author, Dan Roam, myself, Anil Dash and Seth Godin tomorrow if you’d like to learn more about the concepts in the book.
Here’s the skinny (as seen in today’s StartupNation Community Bulletin newsletter):
Free Telechat
Wednesday July 9, noon EST
Hear StartupNation’s Rich Sloan with Anil Dash, Seth Godin, and Dan Roam in a one-hour interactive telechat.
How do companies like Apple, Starbucks, Google and Southwest Airlines create raving fans, attract endless clients and become market leaders?
Join Rich and Six Apart Chief Evangelist, Anil Dash, along with bestselling authors Seth Godin and Dan Roam to discover how to effectively solve busines challenges, recognize opportunities and sell your ideas better than you ever thought possible.
Can’t make the live call? That’s ok. Go ahead and register anyway, so you can get access to the recording of the call.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Thanks for giving access to the recording of the call — unfortunately I can’t make it, but I am certainly going to pick the book up during my lunch break. Can’t wait to hear the telechat.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:56 am
chad,
it’s a great little read with a big impact. i’m jumping on the call momentarily. should be a blast!
July 9th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
have you ever heard/read of the book “the hand”? goes into the relationship between the brain and the hand (the developed with one another) i do think the reason you see this resurgence of notebookes ‘think better’ when using their hand. The Keyboard’s less than 200 years old, our hands have been using pens and pencils in one form or another a hell of a lot longer