Your very first assignment was to get a notebook. You may have discovered by now that having a notebook with you at all times can be extremely handy. Numerous successful individuals keep a notebook with them to jot down their ideas whenever they think of them. Do you keep your notebook handy? That is your assignment today.
Why? There is one very good reason: you never know when inspiration will hit. Walt Whitman was a wonderful observer, and he found many seeds of creative inspiration when he was out and about. He didn’t want to forget his best ideas by the time he returned home. Inspiration is a fleeting thing. It is front and center in your mind at one moment, and then the next minute it vanishes.
You may take a walk on a beautifully crisp blue morning and witness a hawk flying against the bright sky. The scene inspires you to write down a few lines. Those lines may become a poem, a song, or a new advertising campaign. They may even motivate you to use similar colors when you remodel your living room. Who knows?
The words Walt Whitman jotted down were beginnings. He recorded scraps of ideas and then put them together and worked on them more carefully at home. The notebook was a net to catch all of the ideas that floated to the surface. Walt Whitman did not judge the ideas he wrote down in his notebook. He knew they weren’t the final product. They were the ground into which he dropped the seed.
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Joan Didion’s mother was no dummy. Her “no whining” attitude laid the groundwork for a great American writer. Joan Didion is yet another example of using a notebook as a tool for success.
A notebook is outwardly such a simple and unassuming item—boring even. But put it in the hands of a human being, and it has unlimited possibilities. It may become the next great novel or the plans for an invention or a sketch that will later become a sculpture.
Your assignment today is to stop whining and grab your notebook. Take it outside or to a quiet corner in your home or to a coffee shop, wherever you feel comfortable. Now, spend about thirty minutes amusing yourself. Write down whatever comes to mind; draw pictures; doodle in the margins; turn it upside down if you want or write in circles instead of along the lines. Break whatever rules you think exist for writing in notebooks. You don’t have to start on the first page. You can start at the end if you want. Today is a play day.
Did you bring a pen or pencil? Maybe you should try crayons instead . . . or markers or watercolors and a paintbrush. What other object could you use as a writing utensil? This assignment is not a college thesis. Your degree does not depend on it. Who cares what kind of silliness you create? The point is to amuse yourself and no one else. Have a little fun today!
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You are not the only one with good ideas. Another way you can fill up your notebook is by writing down quotes from others that inspire you. One of the best ways to achieve success is to learn from others. John F. Kennedy collected quotes to inspire him, to remind him of significant ideas, and to help him along the road to success.
You have endless resources at your fingertips with the Internet. You can look up quotes on just about any subject. You may also pull good prose from a book you are reading or a newspaper article. Is there a colleague you admire at work? Write down some of the things they say as a way to learn from their behavior.
Sometimes the best quotes come from children. Are there any wise little ones in your life? Did they say something recently that was unusually wise or funny? Write it down. Don’t let their words be lost in the chatter that surrounds everyday life. Your assignment today is to write down three quotes in your notebook that came from someone besides you. How do those quotes make you feel? Are they inspiring? Depressing? Funny?
On Day 27 you were given a week to turn an opportunity into a reality. Have you had a chance to do that yet? If not, what are you waiting for? Get to work! You will come across hundreds of opportunities every day. Grab on to one of them. If you did it, way to go!
