The post-it note exercise

The Post-It Note Exercise

How often do you approach planning in a linear way? You open your laptop, take out your notebook or create a new excel spreadsheet, when all you really need is a big piece of paper and lots of coloured post-it notes!

If you’re writing a book, planning an event, designing a webinar, crafting your marketing strategy, or creating a signature system, then you need to know this tip.

If you want to generate new ideas and engage the creative side in your brain, then do this now.

I warn you, it isn’t rocket science, but this is an important tip that will help you in your business and one that I use myself and with my clients.

In last week’s module in the Your Book is the Hook training, I shared this technique and this is the Post-it note exercise.

Although I am a pretty left-brained person – logical, process driven and planning orientated – there are times when I love to be creative. One such experience was when I was planning my first book and I’ll often use this technique to develop events, webinars and books.

This is what you need to do:

Simply give yourself the gift of a large chunk of time, get a big piece of paper (A1 size is ideal) and define the outcome you want to achieve, e.g. the outline plan for your book.

Then brainstorm your ideas on this topic, write them onto individual post-it notes and stick them on your paper.

What you’ll find is that you develop solid themes, and then add your ideas under the relevant topic. How does that sound?

You can move your ideas around, create a more logical structure, and brainstorm further.

Then you can develop a more detailed plan based on your concepts and ideas.

If you’re not yet convinced…

This is why the post it note exercise works:

• Different parts of your brain are activated when you write by hand, which can enhance your brainstorming process
• You can move around your ideas into themes or concepts, under headings or topics
• You can identify gaps in your knowledge and areas where you may need to do some more research
• You can avoid duplications in your finished work through exploring your thoughts on paper
• You can break down your bigger vision into bite-sized chunks, which makes it easier to start and finish
• You’re creating a visual representation of your proposed finished product, which is exciting by itself!
• You can then create a more detailed plan to bring your project together

When you have to create a new plan, strategy or product in your business, what are you going to do first?!

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And if you’ve done this yourself, then feel free to tell me about your experiences in the comments box.