I’ve got this pile of sketchbooks that I haven’t looked at in years.
These contain notes from books I’ve read, podcasts I’ve listened to, and my own project development over the years. But here’s the thing: when you look at any of these from the outside, you have no idea what’s inside them.
This past week I decided to change that.
I recently came across a quote from Donella Meadows in her book Thinking in Systems that shifted how I think about my visual thinking work: “Remember, always, that everything you know, and everything everyone knows, is only a model. Get your model out there where it can be viewed. Invite others to challenge your assumptions and add their own. Instead of becoming a champion for one possible explanation or hypothesis or model, collect as many as possible.”
That’s what I want to do. I want to collect as many models of the world as possible, so that as I walk through life, I have lots of models to choose from when I’m trying to understand whatever situation is in front of me.
But I clearly haven’t done a great job of archiving some of the past models that I’ve collected.
So I decided to bring you along as I revisit what’s in those old Moleskine notebooks, add some helpful references to the outside of them, and rediscover ideas that might still be relevant today.
If this inspires you to start your own visual thinking practice, remember: you don’t need perfect drawing skills. You just need the willingness to make marks that help you make sense of the world around you.
What models are you collecting? What frameworks are shaping how you navigate your days? Consider sketching them out – your future self will thank you for it.
Cheers,
-Doug