This was inspired by an article in the New Yorker, or NYT (I often conflate the two in my memory), where someone would bring their notebook to a cafe and simply write about what they observed for fifteen minutes at a time.
Last summer, I adopted this practice, leaving my phone and just bringing a pen and yellow notebook to my local coffee shop each morning before my workday started.
Here is the process I’ve found most helpful…
Ingredients
- Black ballpoint pen
- Medium-sized yellow legal notepad
- Timer
Time: 5 to 15 minutes
Step 1: Start by really attuning to the present moment. This seems like a throwaway part, but the amount of information our minds tune out as we go through our days is amazing.
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Step 2: After you’ve started writing what you're observing, let your mind follow the kite of curiosity. I notice that once I’ve decided to spend this period purposefully not being ‘productive’, or with any end goal in mind except to observe and write, curiosity pops up about things I normally overlook or filter out.
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Step 3: Enjoy
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Step 4: Once I’ve filled up an entire notebook, I like to review it at a later date, sometimes it’s weekly, and other times I carve out half a Saturday and go through all of the writings from that month.
As an entrepreneur, my observations often lead to questions or ideas about something missing or a product opportunity, so using the David Allen methodology - I like to add those to an idea hopper. I assume this happens with other creative fields, e.g., writers will have ideas for books, artists for art, and Ball-python aficionados for a new morph.