How to Brainstorm with a Pocket Notebook

Have you ever had an idea that you wanted to brainstorm or mind map and you weren't sure how to get started? Perhaps that pending thought is I hate my job and I want to quit. I want to change my career. I want to start a business. I want to do something different. Well, today I'm going to show you how to use a pocket notebook to do a quick brainstorm or mind map to get all those thoughts and ideas that are stuck and jumbled in your brain out and into the paper. This is easy to do and it only takes a few minutes. In this example, I'm going to be using Fieldnotes new 1943 edition notebooks. You can see they're set up vertically instead of horizontally, but you could use them either way. You get a three packets, these three colors here in one pack. And I thought the example we could use today for this mind mapping or brainstorming example is to use the idea of wanting to change your career. Lots of people either hate their job or they want to switch things up. So what I do is I put the idea that I'm brainstorming or mind mapping right in the middle. Then I might draw a line up here and say, okay, well, if I'm looking to change my career, ask yourself, what is your passions, skills, and experience? Then you could come up here and draw three circles. What is my passions? I'll just put a P. Skills and what is my experience? Cause maybe where these all intersect right here in the middle, you'll find a clue. So as you think about your own passion, it could be things like golf or sports, outdoors, just write down whatever comes to mind that you're passionate about. Technology, maybe you're good with iPhones, computers, spreadsheets, whatever. And then with experience, you could say, well, I have experience managing for customer service and the skills that I have are mechanical, fixing problems, and maybe you're a people person. And as you think through this, maybe you draw another line and you say, what makes me unique? And you think, well, I don't hate people. I just hate my job. I like to serve people. And again, all these are just an example just to show you this process. And if you're serving people, ask yourself, how do I help people? What do people come to you for advice for, for problems to fix, and list out a few answers. Also, you need to know like how much money do I need to make if I change my career? Perhaps you need 80,000 a year. Then you're thinking, well, it's all about who you know. So who do I know? List three people. This is basically your network. Or how about this? What if instead of getting a job, you say, well, what if I just started my own business? Have you had an idea for a business? Let me know in the comments. If you think of something as you're writing all this and listing things out, you could do something like a YouTube search for different ideas, like fixing problems. You like technology, maybe you think, well, I'd like to look into project management. If you get stuck getting started, maybe what you could do is draw a line out here and put text three people. Text three people that you know, love, or trust and ask them straight up, what do you think that I'm good at? And they may say, well, you're good at fixing things. You're a good communicator. You're good with projects. So I've got text, business, passion, skills, experience. How do I help people? How much money do you have to make? Who's in your network? And as you're thinking of a career or business, think of what about when you were a kid? What did you wanna do when you were a kid? You think, well, I liked cars. I wanted to be a pilot. I loved boats and I loved building. And as you're brain dumping and brainstorming and mind mapping, things are gonna pop into your head. You know, like you're gonna see these, how do I help people? Oh yeah, well, I've done dog sitting before to help people out from church or whatever. Write down dog sitting. Cause now you've got another business idea, right? What if you did pet sitting? Easy startup, low cost. And then draw a line. And next ask yourself, what problems have I overcome? You may have a solution to someone's problem. You've overcome addiction, marriage issues, learning a hobby that you can teach to others. When I first got sober back in the day, my hobby was leather working. So think about what problems that you've overcome in your own life that someone else would be desperate to know how you overcame the issue. And then also ask yourself, what gets me excited? What would you do for free? Or if you had a whole day to do nothing, what would you research? Or what do you love to talk about with other friends, colleagues? And there you have it, just a simple way to map out a thought. Cause you may be sitting in a cubicle right now thinking I cannot be here one more day, but what can I do? And you could do this with anything. You could do this with, I wanna start a garden and just start drawing out lines like, okay, well, what would I need? And what seeds would I plant? What time of year do I plant? Just start something in the middle and then go out from there. Then like with this notebook, for example, once you get ideas, like let's say you, this was your notebook brainstorm and you said, you know what, I'm going to focus on starting a pet sitting business. So you write it there at the top and then you think, well, what do I need to get started? What's the cost? Who do I know that has pets? How can I advertise? I would need a Facebook page. I would need a website, supplies. With a website, I would also need a domain. How much would I charge? What would the schedule look like? Would I do it one time a day, two times a day, three times a day, and so on and so forth. So if you've had an idea that you wanted to mind map or brainstorm, I hope that this little example helps you. It can be as messy or as clean as you want it to be. The idea is to just get the ideas out of your head and into a notebook. Good luck with your mind mapping and brainstorming. Let me know in the comments what thoughts or ideas that you're putting on your notebook. If you need a filled notes, I've got a coupon code below that'll get you 10% off. I also have a free resource that I've made for you called Pocket-Sized Productivity. It's a free guide on how to use a pocket notebook to start journaling. I've got five free setups that you can use to track your week and things like that. So make sure you grab that, it's free. As always, remember to make a change or tomorrow will look like today. And if you liked this video, you might like this video next. Thanks for watching and I will see you on the next one.