Doodling While Listening

Print off an A4 copy of the doodle background (png | ppt | pdf) and hold a pen or pencil over it. Actively, but ‘mindlessly’, doodle on the sheet as you pay attention to Steve Jobs Stanford Address from 2005 (and to make notes on it if you wish) – deliberately keep the tip moving over the paper – moving on the whim of the moment. Complete this before reading on.

When the talk finishes, take a moment to deliberately believe that your unconscious has placed something meaningful in the shapes and metaphors you have created. And take a bit of time to look at the shapes, pictures, and play with the options of what that might be. Might anything in there reflect something of your attitude, purpose, dreams, value, hopes, fears?

Ask yourself the question: Is there something yearning in my subconscious that wants to speak into my plans through this emerging doodle, and if so, what might that be? And am I brave enough to step into some part of that? If the answer is, ‘I think I might want to’ please look at the blue track before your commit yourself to anything. And if it isn’t, that is fine, even expected. Commend yourself for taking a step off the track and accept that some steps won’t lead anywhere … yet. But some of them will 😉

Doodling Practice

The connection between the subconscious and the conscious can easily be suppressed in all the responsibilities we place upon ourselves. It can take some time to redevelop the link to move beyond the most salient insights and really begin to listen to all that it has to say to us. Over the next week, repeat the green track using other inspirational talks for a few minutes each day. Try different times for each day.

Remember that the goal is the insight. There is no need to feel compelled to do anything that emerges – it is not about that. Trust yourself. You have two sides to your thinking for a reason. Adventure is a conscious choice. A considered step into uncertainty, not a blind foolish rush into danger. Again, trust yourself. Examine your motives, not to confront them, merely to gain insight from them. And then make your choice. You have plenty of time. If it is important, you will come back to it.

Engaging Your Team in Doodling

If you have followed the blue track and got something from it, consider using the green track with some or all of your team. It can be a personal exercise for them, or it can be a team exercise looking at something radically different for the team over the coming 12 months.

Then, have them stick their pictures up on a (virtual) whiteboard and add sticky notes for the potential challenges and team adventures they see there. Explain that the team does not need to feel it has to act on these, but that if anyone, after some reflection, feels moved to make a proposal to the team, we can talk about it at the next team meeting.