This One Silly Notebook Will Unlock 50% More of Your Hidden Potential

[Doha]

This One Silly Notebook Will Unlock 50% More of Your Hidden Potential

I uncovered this gem by accident
August Birch

I'm a content junkie. I read 100 books a year. I watch hundreds of hours of YouTube videos and thousands of hours of audio. Most of what goes in doesn't stick. I do other things while I consume much of this content.
...but sometimes you get a lightning bolt.
This story is one of those. Now I share it with you. This is the story of one silly notebook.
As a fairly far-introvert (no idea what to call it... severe, left of center... who knows), I live in my head a lot. I juggle ideas constantly. I've got 50 balls in the air. I drop them a lot. Thoughts come and go. Sometimes I capture the best ones.

But the endless thinking is distracting from life.
It's hard to be fully-present when you're always thinking. Hell, as I write this, I've got Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer in my ears (on double-speed). I know I have a content problem, but the more I stuff-in the more fantastic ideas that come out. Even if I only absorb 10% of the stuff I consume.
I don't recommend what I do. I do it so you don't have to. I consume an insane amount of stuff, so I can stay fresh and innovative.

...but I didn't know about the notebook.
I love paper notebooks. While I use my phone a lot, if I need to work through an idea, the first place I turn, is paper. I've got notebooks everywhere. Every time I go to a store, the first place I visit is the office supply section.

This notebook isn't any notebook.
Some call it a distraction journal. I found it watching a YouTube video on productivity... or something. I don't remember. I got distracted.

I named my notebook the 'Squirrel Notebook' (for obvious reasons).
I've got a squirrel's attention span. It doesn't take much to grab my attention and yank me from my working mind.
The idea is that you keep the Squirrel Notebook on your lap as you consume content. There are no rules for the notebook. No format. This isn't some bullet journal with all the bells and a whistle. This is a date and whatever comes to mind.
The conscious mind — the present, listening one, is the weak part of our brain.
The subconscious — that secret, bigger part, is the workhorse of our brain. The Squirrel Notebook helps us access this idea-generating part of the brain.

As you consume content (read, watch, listen), your mind will occasionally wander. If you've got my mind there's more wander than attention-payment. Every time you get a little wander, tune-in instead of tune-out. If you get an idea that might be worth something, write it down. If you forgot something on the grocery list, write it. If you have a new story idea, write it.

    = Draw little pictures
    = Use arrows and codes if you want
    = Scribble the idea as fast as you can and return to your content

I've found by using my Squirrel Notebook as an idea dustpan, it allows me to get all those distracted thoughts from my melon, so I can return-focus to the content at hand.

By allowing myself the moment of distraction I'm more-focused.
AND I get to keep all those ideas for later, instead of trying to juggle them in my head.
This week alone, my Squirrel Notebook helped me uncover a few game-changing ideas for my publishing business.
I'm willing to bet the same will happen for you.
If you're into notebooks like me, you probably dictate certain purposes for each. You can't take a certain note in a book designed for a different purpose. Not so with the Squirrel Notebook. It's a catch-all.
I date the spine so I have some idea of the idea-span, should I need it later, but beyond that, the Squirrel Notebook is a free-for-all.
What happens to the good ideas?
You curate later.
If you want to develop an idea further, you can move it to the proper location. Or, you can allow the idea to marinate a few months. The best ideas return.
Try the Squirrel Notebook.
You've got my permission to write anything you want. While I can't guarantee you'll get exactly 50% more hidden potential, you might get 200% more.