What's Your 20?

Hey folks,

I was finding it hard to come up with a blog topic today because I am digging deep, taking massive action and focusing on the 20% of my efforts that will (hopefully) get me 80% of my results. I have already talked about both free writing and I believe a bit about mind mapping. These are the two main techniques I use to understand where I'm at, what I want to accomplish and how to go about it.

The process is pretty simple. I sit down and free write for 5 minutes or so (just to get my creative energy flowing). Then I write my most important focus in the center of a piece of paper. I draw an oval around my focus word and then let the words that follow flow from me rather than forcing myself to write down words. When I am finished my mind map, I usually have a decent understanding of the various steps I need to take.

Once I have my list of actions, I just sit with my list for a bit and contemplate what I've come up with. I usually come up with 20 or more action oriented steps, so there is a lot to work with. Most times, the least productive 5-7 steps are obvious, so I take them off my list. This leaves me with 13-15 steps which is still too much for one block of time. So I continue narrowing it down until I have 1-3 of the most important tasks written down.

Because I am a creative person, I usually do up a quick sketch that represents what I am about to accomplish. An external observer might think that creating a drawing has nothing to do with the tasks I need to complete and therefore, if they were in charge, my sketch and possibly even my free writing might be scratched off of my process to-do-list.

If there is one thing I know about myself it's this; if I don't prepare my mind for a productive journey in a way that feeds my soul, I will do busy work and get nothing of importance accomplished. If, however, I trust my creative process and do what works for me, I am capable of getting a seemingly insurmountable list of tasks done. I must admit that I have not been following my process as often since I joined WA. I'm not sure why but it is my intention to increase my productivity, so I will begin doing this daily.

I am always pleasantly surprised by how much I am able to get done with the right approach. So now that I shared my process, I would love to hear yours. If you don't have a process that works for you, I recommend developing one.

"What we call creative work, ought not to be called work at all, because it isn't. I imagine that Thomas Edison never did a day's work in his last fifty years." - Stephen Leacock

I hope you are having a wildly productive day!

In community

"Since new developments are the products of a creative mind, we must therefore stimulate and encourage that type of mind in every way possible."