When you feel lost, think about where you're going

In this issue: setting priorities, what teaching is NOT, and why solving all your work problems shouldn't always be your top priority

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šŸ¤” INTERESTING

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."
ā€“Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

One of my biggest ā€œahaā€ moments came from the book, ā€œEssentialismā€ by Greg Mckeown.

And the insight was simple: the word priority is singular.

Priority used to mean ā€œthe one thing thatā€™s most important.ā€ 

There was no such thing as priorities (plural)!

These days, we all want to do everything, everywhere, all at once. But thatā€™s why we feel spread thinā€¦why weā€™re everywhere and nowhere!

And personally, I know I often spend far too much time focusing on areas I should never have been in the first place!

Which reminds me of another favorite warning when it comes to where to focus your time:

ā€œThere is nothing quite so useless, as doing with great efficiency, something that should not be done at all.ā€

Peter Drucker, author of The Effective Executive

šŸ“ DESIGN

Itā€™s common to get stuck when youā€™re brainstorming how to visualize an idea. Thatā€™s why I have a set of reliable frameworks.

For example, consider the following:

Inspired by the famous quote from Maya Angelou

This framework is inspired by fellow visual creator, Janis Ozolins.

Frameworks are thinking vehicles to get you from point A to point B.

And the more vehicles you know how to drive, the more likely you can travel anywhere you want to go with your messages.

If you want to learn more frameworks like this, you might be interested in the next Thinking in Visual Metaphors course.

šŸ”® ENCHANTING 

ā€œThe art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.ā€
ā€“ Mark Van Doren

This issue of Visual I.D.E.A.s is sponsored by Superside:

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šŸ§  ANALOGY

Just when you thought you figured it out.

I loved Rubikā€™s Cubes as a kid, but honestly I never fully solved one. šŸ˜†

Best I could do was solve a single side and mess up everything else in the process.

This typically is my experience when I finally get work stuff in orderā€”the rest of life turns into chaos (health, family, relationships).

P.S. My son can solve a Rubikā€™s Cube in less than 26 secondsā€¦thereā€™s a lesson in there somewhere. šŸ¤”

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