Visual Mojo : How to capture thinking, convey information and collaborate using visuals

The world has experienced a 'visual revolution' over the past decade.

We see more hand-drawn fonts in the font list on our computers, more hand-crafted signage in stores and more hand-created imagery in the media.

It's no surprise then that hand-drawn visuals are more engaging as they ignite the mirror neurons in our brains, firing up our interest and attention. If you worry you can't draw, I assure you it's less about the drawing and more about working out what you're trying to communicate.

We all need greater clarity among the crazy.

I wrote 'Visual Mojo: How to capture thinking, convey information and collaborate using visuals' in 2013 and it's even more relevant today. 'Visual Mojo' is a workshop in a book with space to draw and write in the book. I know we were 'in trouble' if we wrote in books when we were younger, but I want you to break some rules!

'Visual Mojo' will build your visual skills, your confidence, creativity ... and most of all the impact your communication has.

Q: Do you ever use hand-drawn visuals in your work?

Everything doesn't have to be amazing!

Everything doesn’t have to be a-m-a-z-i-n-g. Writing a blog, preparing a report, delivering a presentation? Tidying the cupboard, cleaning your desk, working out what to wear today? Watch out folks! We pile an incredible pressure on ourselves in today’s crazy world, trying to make the quality of what we do amazing.

But do you know what? Everything doesn’t have to be amazing.

Some things yes, but everything, nope. So cut it out. Cut out the stuff that you’re putting extra effort into trying to make it ‘amazing’ because you could be on a path to never-never land that doesn’t deliver an amazing feeling or the hoped-for amazing results.

Rather, set a standard that you’re going for and then when you’ve reached it, you’re done.

Oh, and save your amazings for weddings, birthdays, celebrations, holidays, experiences, special things, time with people … whatever the things are that are really, truly important to you in this life of yours.

>>Are you trying to make something a little too amazing right now... when 'good enough' would be good enough?

It's not binary

I’ve posted recently on productivity, quality and getting out of your own way.

My new book ’ish - The problem with our pursuit for perfection and the life changing practice of good enough’ is out now.

A fear I’ve heard is: if we 'ish' anything it will mean the ‘crapification’ of everything. People will care less, do less and not bother about anything anymore.

But woah there, wait a moment; ish isn't that binary, on/off, black/white. 'ish' means somewhat, approximately and it's not for every situation.

'To ish or not to ish’ is one of the book's chapters. Some things are suitable to be good enough or 'ish', others not.

You see, perfectionism is a problem, a growing global addiction causing depression, anxiety, overthinking, burnout, insomnia and other health issues. It’s worth finding ways to tackle our unhealthy pursuit for perfect that shows up in our daily thinking, behaviours, tasks, activities and projects.

Join me as we find new ways to think and work that don't require our pursuit for perfection but rather help us go for things that are fit for purpose.

Follow the law of forced efficiency

The incredibly successful Brian Tracy, who authored plenty of books and inspired many to greater things in their life, certainly inspired me in the earlier days of running my business.

I spied one of his books on the shelf of a local bookstore, I jumped at it and thought, ‘this will do; I won't have to read 100 books, I'll just read this one. It will be good enough.’ The book? ‘The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success.’ And the Law I love love love? It's # 15: The Law of Forced Efficiency.

It reads ‘The more things you have to do in a limited period of time, the more you will be forced to work on your most important tasks.’ It's just another way of saying ‘there is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important things.

As you take on more, you'll be forced to act with ‘maximum efficiency’. He continues: ‘If you are successful, you will almost always have too much to do and too little time.’ So ask: what is the most valuable use of my time right now?

And for you? What is the most valuable use of your time right now? I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Hey, didn’t you write and release that book last year, Lynne?

Hey, didn’t you write and release that book last year, Lynne? I’ve mentioned recently that my book ‘ish: The Problem with our Pursuit for Perfection and the Life-Changing Practice of Good Enough’ is out!

People have asked, 'But didn’t you release it last year? What’s with it being out now? Again?'

The book is about perfectionism and the increasing problem it presents in the world today. One of the ways we can tackle perfectionism I think, is to work in:

- increments (smaller packets or chunks of work, rather than trying to work on the w-h-o-l-e of a project) and,

- iterations (improving on things over time, as we release new or updated versions). This works well for reports, presentations, websites, blogs … yes, and books.

I released a couple of iterations of the book last year and got feedback and insights from people who’d read it. They let me know what they thought. Now I’m up to the 5th iteration.

Each version improving on the previous one. And it’s time to stop; it’s done. We can always, always work some more on our projects and make them better. But work in increments and iterations and you’ll get feedback to make things good enough to go 'live'.

Look again. What's good enough to go live?