Picked this up in Avoca store in Belfast during their recent sale. Brilliant Ideas Launch Pad by Kari Chapin who has a self-help website listing diaries and paperbacks from this author. It's priced at £10.99 but I paid less than that and used a giftcard.
I liked the A4 size and felt there would be room for plenty of writing and the odd doodle. I currently use mind mapping at each quarter to hone where I'm going with life and art though I'd probably be better mind mapping at the end of every week. This paper pad offered colourful possibilities.
Thoroughly enjoyed using Topic You Want To Explore, especially the section 'every crazy idea that comes to mind'. Strangely enough, for someone without a current passport, travel figured a lot. But the idea I chose to devise steps to executing was 'Tidy Workroom', a more Herculean task than it might sound.
I liked this style of Brain Dump. I'm making my own lifestyle planner for 2017 to save costs and this process helped break down what I needed to get and to do. The + and = section allowed me to link certain parts of the plan together to make sections of the finished product. And I used the boxes at the base of the page to create a tick-box and a section for off-shoots from the process of creating my planner.
It Would Be Great If is almost a daydreaming page that turns into a constructive-way-forward-page. I used this to define three goals about my art and writing, the latter which seems to have come to a stop since last year. Now all I have to do is to turn the goals from theory into action.
At first glance I thought this was similar to a SMART chart but realised it was about thinking creatively. Even though I make art and write I found it tough to Think Outside The Box!. The most eyeopening part was completing the CONS section. I was honest with what I wrote and realised that opening an Etsy shop was probably ill-timed and would take more energy than I currently have. But I put a star beside 'research ongoing' as I'm not throwing away the idea, just shelving it.
One Idea Leads To Another. I liked this. I plucked something out of the air - 'B&W drawings' - and went with it. A bit like an artist taking a line for a walk. I got a couple of ideas for blogs from this exercise. And at the end there was a box I couldn't fill so I wrote 'The Great Unknown'...which I feel reflects everything that's ahead of me as an artist that I can't see just yet.
The Idea Funnel is interesting. Take an idea and slowly hone it bit by bit until you end with a One-Sentence Concept, getting rid of any complicating details.
I began with 'More readers to Blog' and ended with the action 'Take 2017 and expand Blog following'. The two phrases, although sounding alike, are very different. The first is wishy washy, without substance. The second, after trying to Work Backwards, is an idea I can work with.
I didn't try using Solve A Problem as I thought here there was no method of working, just a box for describing the problem and one for describing the solution...perhaps in writing the descriptions solutions are achieved? I'd rather write in my journal.
I didn't use this Mind Map page either. I prefer the mind maps in my Passion Planner and the follow-up questions at the end of each month.
What's The Big Idea? is a sheet I might take to a meeting, to save me writing and drawing over the agenda.
The sheets are mostly useful to me though visually I prefer the cool colours rather than the burnt oranges and browns. Ideally mostly white pages with blank areas in which to doodle would suit me best. My only gripe with this pad is how the pages don't tear out cleanly. I had to use scissors to trim the ragged edges at the tops of each. Design fault, Kari.
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