Two index card doodles. Why do I love doing abstract doodles so much? After all, as a #visualpractitioner, I get to draw as part of my work—isn’t that enough? Well, no. No, it’s not. 🖍
Here’s the thing: even—and perhaps *especially*—if your creative thing is your job, it is absolutely essential that you *also* have dedicated “creative sandbox” time, wholly disconnected from commerce and obligation, where you are 💯% free to explore and experiment, and not worry IN THE LEAST about the outcome.
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In other words, dedicated pure PLAYTIME. 🖍
This time MUST be held sacred. The second commerce or obligation enters, it changes your relationship to your creativity, however subtly. Over time, it can poison it. Even shut you down completely.
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Your creative sandbox time doesn’t have to be big. “Think tiny & daily” is Guidepost #4 of my book, The Creative Sandbox Way™, and the tinier the better, really, because the goal is simply to get you to DO SOMETHING, and we all know the hardest part is simply getting STARTED. So making your time commitment TINY is much more likely to lead to success than a big chunk of time you’re liable to put off!
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For me, abstract improvisational art feels like pure play. And because I’m not trying to match some platonic ideal in my head, it confuses my gremlins. I can focus on being in the moment and having FUN, rather than getting mired in perfectionism (a big trap for me!)
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What feels like pure play to you?
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#doodle #dailydoodle #dailycreative #dailyart #imperfectionism #letitbecrappy #artistsofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #doodlesofinstagram #tinyart #abstractart #doodleart #creativesandboxway #creativeplay #pigmamicron

Another page from my conference notebook. I see this and remember all the things I *didn’t* capture, memories which will no doubt fade away to nothing with time, but because I took notes, I will at least remember pieces of the day. 😊
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#visualfacilitation #graphicfacilitation #visualnotes #graphicrecording #sketchnotes #sketchnote #sketchnoting #sketchnotearmy #graphicrecorder #visualthinking #neulandmarkers #pigmamicron #moleskine #vizthink #ain2019 #thejazzloft

In my 2 weeks away, I went to 2 conferences: first the International Forum of Visual Practitioners, where I was surrounded by graphic recorders of such amazing skill and talent that my gremlins went into overdrive, trying to convince me I should quit on the spot. “Who are you trying to fool?” “You can’t take visual notes to save your life!” “You’re nowhere near as good as they are, and you never will be—why don’t you just spare yourself the humiliation?”
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Etc. ad nauseum!
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5 days later I was at the Applied Improvisation Network world conference in NY, taking sketchnotes in my private notebook (like this page spread, from a pre-conference workshop, or “Learning Journey,” at the Jazz Loft in Stony Brook). 🖍
That’s right: even though my gremlins tried their darnedest to convince me to STOP, because I don’t live up to my heroes’ level, I didn’t take direction from my gremlins! I kept right on going.
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And here’s the really interesting part: when I shared pics of my sketchnotes in the Facebook group for the AIN conference, people went NUTS over them! They didn’t tell me where they could improve—they told me how much they LOVED them!
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So I went from the first conference, where (thanks to the Comparison Trap) I felt like a total loser, to the second conference, where people raved about how amazing my sketchnotes are!
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Talk about a paradigm shift!
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My skills did not change in the 5 days in between. The only change is the perception of the people viewing them. 🖍
To paraphrase a calligraphy teacher of mine, Peter Thornton, “Other people see your work for what it IS. You see your work for what it ISN’T.”
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When I compare my work with my heroes’, all I can see is how mine doesn’t measure up. But when I share my work with “non-experts,” they see all the things they think is cool about it! And if let myself be open to it, that helps me see those things, too. 😊
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Can you allow yourself to see your work for what it IS, instead of what it ISN’T? What is LIKABLE and COOL and INTERESTING and VALUABLE about your work, instead of focusing on where it doesn’t measure up to your hoped-for ideal? How might that change your relationship to your art?
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I rather like how this page spread cake out, too. 😊
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#ain2019 #visualfacilitation #graphicfacilitation #visualnotes #graphicrecording #sketchnotes #sketchnote #sketchnoting #sketchnotearmy #graphicrecorder #visualthinking #neulandmarkers #pigmamicron #moleskine @pablosurgames @rcclimate

I’m back from 2 weeks in NYC and environs, at 2 AMAZING conferences, where I took lots of #sketchnotes. This is one of my favorite pages from my notebook. .
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#visualfacilitation #graphicfacilitation #visualnotes #graphicrecording #sketchnote #sketchnoting #sketchnotearmy #graphicrecorder #visualthinking #neulandmarkers #pigmamicron #moleskine