One Easy Way to Perform Better Today

Today let's talk about a super simple...yet equally powerful way to being a high performer.

One key practice of high performers is getting ideas out of their heads and...

​WRITING THEM DOWN!

I know what you're thinking...duh, Dr. Chris.

But great minds ask great questions.

As Micheal Gelb describes in his book How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, people like da Vinci have an open, questioning frame of mind...

A childlike sense of wonder and insatiable curiosity that allows them to broaden their universe and create awe-inspiring things. 

How do they do it?

BY KEEPING A JOURNAL or NOTEBOOK

Leonardo da Vinci carried a notebook with him at all times so that he could jot down ideas, questions, observations, botany, art impressions, and even jokes.
 
If he didn't write down those ideas immediately, the odds of remembering them would vanish.

Yet...

"Busy lives and job responsibilities tend to drive us toward hard conclusions and measurable results, but the exploratory, free flowing, unfinished, nonjudgmental practice of keeping a Da Vincian notebook encourages freedom of thought and expansion of perspective.

In the manner of maestro, don’t worry about the order and logical flow, just record.

Fill your notebook with questions, observations, contemplations, notes, pictures, drawings etc covering as many topics as you can." writes Michael Gelb.


Everywhere I go, I carry either my journal, a paper and pen or my smart phone (I have a note section titled "brainstorms").

I literally have a closet full of notes in my office (see picture above).

WHY?

Well.... I'm a tiny bit weird... And great teachers know that experience is the source of wisdom.

A quick side note...

...When everything I owned burned in a forest fire where I lived outside of Joshua Tree, CA in 2006, my most precious valuables that burned were not my bike or clothes or climbing gear. It was the poems, notes and memories I wrote. In fact, it took me a couple years to start writing again. 

So... you got a good idea?

Of course you do! 

How are you capturing them?

If you want to learn more great ideas of high performers, check out this video podcast interview I did last night with Somatic and Performance Psychologist Dr. Richard Oelberger. 

And... don't forget to grab something to take notes ;o)