Monday Memo #12
Make a sketch.
The Monday memo is food for thought to fuel your week.
Hi everyone,
Today I’d like to talk to you about sketching.
A sketch is the first step in getting an idea out of your head and into the world. A sketch can be a drawing, but it can also be an idea that you act out with other people. A sketch is an idea’s first foray into real life. When you first sketch an idea, you have to begin before you know what you’re sketching. So the first sketch of anything is usually a bit of a mess.
That’s because an idea and a sketch are two different things, and they live in two different worlds. Ideas live in the world of the mind, and sketches live in the world of actions and things. When you practice sketching, you are practicing the art of making ideas real, giving them form, and the potential for action.
Maybe your first sketch is a drawing, or drawings, attempts to capture the essence of something. Sketching can also be something you do with your body, by acting things out with others in a playful, informal way. Sketching is a way to open a conversation with yourself and others, a dialogue between the idea as it exists in your head and how it might look in the world of things.
A sketch is casual, informal, unfinished. And a sketch is comfortable with its incompleteness, it’s not-knowingness. It has a big job to do — capture the essence of something — and that is enough. A sketch is unpretentious. Playful. It does not put on airs.
Because a sketch has form and substance, it is shareable in ways that ideas are not. You can show a drawing to friends and colleagues. You can act out an idea with them. You can role-play a situation. It’s a kind of thinking that embraces the unfinished and exploratory nature of thinking about possibilities.
Exercise.
So here’s your exercise for the week: Make a sketch.
Think of an idea whose possibilities you want to explore. An idea that deserves to get out of your head and into the world. And start sketching it out. Scribble on paper. Play with it. Act it out with some friends. Give your idea some form and life, give it a chance to come out and play for a bit, to explore the world.
Updates:
This Wednesday, a brave group of possibilitarians is gathering to sketch out our idea of a school. The School of the Possible. They will be sketching a course catalog, a curriculum. You’re invited to participate in the sketching process, to explore possible courses and learning ideas.
This Wednesday is our fifth Collaboratory of 2024, and our first Open House. If you join us, you will learn more about some ideas we are sketching out, some courses that we are developing, and you will have a chance to meet and talk to the people who are leading those explorations. You’ll be part of the sketch!
The Open House Collaboratory is Wednesday, March 6th, from 9-10:30 AM Pacific (Noon-1:30 PM Eastern, 5-6:30 PM GMT). This Collaboratory is free and open to all, members and non-members, but you will need to register in order to join. Once you have registered you will see a link to add this to your calendar.
Register here for the Open House Collaboratory.
Our Friday Campfire calls are also free to join, anyone is welcome, and we talk about things that are fueling our creative energy and inspiring us. The energy is infectious. Even if you’re stuck, or don’t feel like you have anything interesting to add, if you have the time, join anyway. I promise you’ll enjoy it.
Instructions to join the Friday Campfire and/or add it to your calendar.
Collaboratories are held on the first and third Wednesdays of every month. They are free for members. Members also get access to recordings of previous collaboratories and the full email archive. Become a member by upgrading your subscription.
As of this week we have 54 members. The first 100 members will lock in the $20/month, $200/year rate.
If you’re already a member, thank you. You’re making this possible.