This One Silly Notebook Will Unlock 50% More of Your Hidden Potential
I uncovered this gem by accident
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.
I’ve got something. Just for you… I want to invite you inside the fence.
When you build a tribe around your best work, even if you’re starting-out, you’ve got an instant audience when you’re ready to fly. No matter what kind of work you create. I want you inside the fence, but you’ve got to move fast, so I can shut the gate behind you.
When you’re ready to start (or improve) your email list I’ve got something for you…
I built a five day email welcome sequence challenge for you. I hand-crafted the whole thing, by hand… with my hands. It took me months to build this challenge. I call this project One Welcome Workweek.
The right welcome sequence will cover all your living expenses — automatically.
Over the next five days, as you work through the challenge, I’ll show you exactly how to build a welcome sequence that not only builds trust and engagement, but sells your best work while you sleep — automatically — so you have more time to do the work that matters most. Plus, you’ll increase your deliverability with the major email servers — all with one automated sequence you can write in a week.
Join the five-day One Welcome Workweek Challenge Here.
This isn’t your grandmother’s ‘nurture sequence.’ That old way of thinking doesn’t work anymore. Your email welcome sequence can work a lot harder for you.
If you want to grow your creative business you need email before you lose that valuable reader’s attention. A social media account isn’t enough. Start your list before you need one. Once you need a list it’s almost too late.
Guarantee your seat in the One Welcome Workweek Challenge.
We’re waiting for you.
Join the One Welcome Workweek Challenge Here.
August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is blue-collar course-creator, marketing coach, and author from Michigan, USA. As an email marketing expert for writers and creators with 20+ years experience, August helps indies make work that sells and sell more work they make. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August spends time with his beautiful wife and handsome son, makes things with his bare hands, carries a pocket knife, and shaves his head with a safety razor.