How Do You Think? An Idea for Thinking BIG

How do you think? That is, when you are pondering an issue or solving a problem, what’s your process?

Pad of paper and a pen?

iPad and an unnecessarily expensive electronic pencil?

Do you choose to talk it out?

Maybe you prefer to take a more collaborative route, sharing your ideas via email or one of the newer cloud-based solutions such as Miro or Slack (doing voiceovers for a Millennial management app called Bunch has introduced me to all kinds of new options).

Whatever works for you.

Personally, my sales career — from a CRM standpoint — went from pad of paper to Palm Pilot to Evernote to something else and then something else then something else and then back to the pad of paper.

Unless I need to think big, that is. When that happens, I choose to write big. It helps me to solve big.

I am a visual learner. Seeing my thoughts is incredibly helpful. My office has plenty of wall space but no whiteboard. That changed recently when I bought some white film that sticks to the wall and can be used to write on with dry erase markers. Got it on Amazon, by the way.

Writing thoughts out in this manner might seem like an odd theme for a Short Attention Span Sales tip, however I encourage you to try it before you dismiss it.

Try this: Instead of being linear with your thinking by making a list or using bullet points, write the problem/question/challenge in the middle of the whiteboard. Then, as you work to think it through and create solutions, write them around the outside. Connect thoughts with lines. Get everything out of your head and then put the project aside and take a break. Later, after your mind has had a chance to process (studies show the brain does not stop thinking about a problem, thus the “It came to me in the middle of the night!” phenomenon), return to tackle it again later.

If a whiteboard is not in your future, here’s another suggestion: use copy paper and a sharpie or magic marker. Write your thoughts big, again putting the problem/question/challenge in the middle with other thoughts all around it.

Creative thinkers are not better than us. They do, however, have a better process when they need to think creatively. Paper or electronic, pen or dry erase marker, if you need to solve big, you need to think big.

You need to write big.

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