Visual Note Making - 12 hot tips

Visual Note Making - 12 hot tips

• 1.
  GLENN CAPELLI’S 12HOT TIPS FOR CAPMAPS VISUAL NOTETAKING SYSTEM #1 THERE ARE NO RULES Capmaps are not about making ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ notepages. Words, pictures, symbols and colours can be used in any combination. Whatever helps you capture and remember information best is ‘right’. #2 WE ARE ALL ARTISTS Remember if you can draw a dot, a line, a squiggle and write your name, you have all the drawing skills you need to Capmap. #3 PRACTICE MAKES PROGRESS Just because you don’t do it ‘perfectly’ at first, doesn’t mean you stop doing it. It isn’t about success and failure – it’s about learning. Taking pride in your work can help erode dangerous ideas of ‘perfection’. #4 START ANYWHERE – JUST START It doesn’t matter where you start or finish on the page or what direction you take. Some topics will work best travelling left to right, others in quadrants, sometimes a central mind map is useful, or you might try columns down or across the page. Use your imagination, what you like best will work best for you. Don’t worry if you don’t fill up the whole page. #5 SET THE EXAMPLE If you’re not a great artist and draw anyway you give everyone else permission to have a go – there’s no better gift for a youngster or peer than being an example of endeavour. #6 COPYING IS NOT A CRIME You don’t have to invent everything from scratch. Get into the habit of ‘looking’. When you read the newspaper or magazines, look for symbols, shapes, writing styles and simple line drawings, particularly in the comics, puzzles, entertainment and advertising pages. Notice billboards, window displays, even packaging of supermarket items. There are ideas everywhere. Copy or cut out anything that ‘stands-out’ and build up your own Capmaps library. You’ll find it useful if you’re looking for something specific or just inspiration. Copying ideas (with respect) from other notetakers is also a great strategy for building your Capmaps repertoire. #7 BIN THE INNER CRITIC Nothing undermines your confidence more than the nagging voice of the inner critic saying ‘this is stupid’ ‘you can’t do it’ ‘that looks terrible’. Practice shutting out the critical voices that paralyse you – even great artists started somewhere – we’re all on our Kaizen road. #8 THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A MISTAKE If your notes don’t look ‘right’, keep going – most people stop when their notes don’t look ‘good’. Persistence can turn nothing into something – keep drawing, you can always turn a ‘mistake’ into a plate of spaghetti, a ball of wool, a bowl of noodles or a lumpy pancake! #9 DRAW TWICE AS FAST People will think you could have done better if you’d taken more time! Working quickly also helps some people to lose the ‘deliberateness’ of drawing. #10 DRAW TWICE AS BIG Most people think if they can’t draw ‘well’ they should draw small, apologetically and cautiously. A big loose drawing builds confidence. #11 MAKE YOUR OWN MEANING Capmaps are a personal notetaking system – they doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else. You might already be using your own ‘shorthand’ system, build it up with new pictures and symbols. The beauty of Capmaps is that the process of transferring information from one mode to another requires you to think about and understand the information in order to represent it as visual notes. With Capmaps you can’t just copy down information by rote without really learning it. #12 BE CREATIVE – EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU’RE NOT! Imagination and contemplation often take a back seat in today’s fast paced, techno driven world. Capmaps help restore the balance by drawing out our neglected creative spirit through an integrated process of left and right brain activity. CAPMAPS ARE CREATIVE ARTISTIC NOTETAKING YOU CAN DO IT • LEARN AND ENJOY!! FOR MORE INFORMATION, DVDS AND RESOURCES ABOUT CAPMAPS GO TO www.glenncapelli.com