Multi-thinking, a creativity strategy from Jeffrey Baumgartner

I've been thinking a lot about multi-tasking lately, mostly recognizing how detrimental it is to my productivity, peace of mind and relationships. I know that the busier I get, the more I feel the need to multi-task, and since this has been such a busy summer, well, the multi-tasking has gotten out of hand.

I really appreciated this article by Jeffrey Baumgartner, which invites us to consider "multi-thinking" instead of multi-tasking. He says that we're doing it anyway, so we might as well relax into it and capitalize on the ideas it can produce.

Similar to the idea catchers that I've written about, such as blogging and Jott, he encourages readers to keep an open notebook nearby to capture your ideas while staying on task.

Writing Prompt: Carry around a notebook with you for the day (or week), and notice any synergistic moments where you're doing something totally unrelated and it sparks an idea for your business.

Comments

[Linda Dessau]

Thanks for your comments, Grace. It's great to hear an example of how an "idea catcher" worked for you.

[Grace Marshall]

Great idea Linda,

I actually used to carry a little notebook and pen in my back pocket, at a time when my mind was particularly overstretched by sleep deprivation and post-natal hormones. Writing things down as soon as I thought of them saved me from a lot of moments of either staring vacantly trying to remember what I was doing before, or kicking myself later when I realised I'd forgotten to do something!

Thanks for the reminder,
Grace