• Home
  • About Sherry
  • Work with Sherry
    • Job Search Club
    • Job Search Power Hour
    • Women in Technology leadership programme
    • Corporate workshops
    • BOOK A CONVERSATION
  • Success stories
  • Resources
    • Get career confidence tips every week
    • FREE online class – how to make 2021 your best year yet
    • DOWNLOADS
    • • Job Search with Ease in a Pandemic eBook
    • • FREE The Ultimate Job Interview Checklist
    • • FREE LinkedIn Content Plan
    • ONLINE COURSES
  • The Book
    • About the book
    • Sample chapter and reading
    • About the author
    • Media
    • Interview with the author
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Contact Sherry

The Confident Mother

Helping ambitious women in technology manage their career with confidence and purpose

2nd November 2015

The sticky note brainstorming tool

Eight weeks left until the end of the year … have you achieved your goals for 2015?

When I work with clients, often they’re unclear about what they want. It’s hard to have the confidence to take the next steps if you don’t know exactly where you want to go.

Get clarity on your vision, and you WILL have the confidence you need to take the right actions. Unless you take action, a vision is but a dream. Sometimes it’s hard to get clear on your vision and what you want. I’m going to share three questions that you can ask yourself to find the clarity you need to feel confident.

Before you start, get a piece of plain paper and a pen. Next put on some loud dance music and dance away for 5 minutes, then sit down and ask yourself:

  • What do I want?
  • What do I really want?
  • What’s the absolute bottom line?

If what you come up with seems impossible, too big, too overwhelming, it helps to break it down into smaller steps. Try the Sticky Note Brainstorm tool that I use with clients:

brainstorm

  1. Find a clear space on the wall or a large expanse of desk.
  2. Get a pack of post-it notes.
  3. On 3 separate post-it notes, write the start date (could be today), the goal (i.e. what you want to achieve), and the completion date (i.e. when you want to achieve – don’t worry for now if the date seems unrealistic).
  4. Put the start date on the far left of the space, and the goal and completion date on the far right.
  5. Set a timer for 15 minutes and brainstorm – braindump – all the different actions you could take. Write each one on a separate post-it and put on the wall. Don’t edit or judge the options – just write them down.
  6. Final stage, set the timer again for 15 minutes and prioritise the different actions or steps and move them around.
  7. You have the beginnings of an effective action plan.

It all begins with the vision. When you have clarity on what you want, you will find the confidence to take action.

If you know what it is you want to achieve by the end of the year and then break it down into smaller more achievable steps, you will have the confidence you need to take action.

Was going back to work part of your plan for this year? If so, and you haven’t done it yet, you’ll love my 15 Days Back to Work Essentials challenge – tick off those ‘must-do’ essentials. Every day for 15 days, an email with the next task, each one designed to take 15 minutes or less. Sign up here.

Back to Work Essentials

 

Article by Sherry Bevan / Career break, Working mums 4 Comments

Comments

  1. Tracey says

    3rd November 2015 at 11:34 am

    Love your Post It Brainstorm 🙂

    You really can’t beat clarity to guide you to where you want to go.

    I also can’t believe there are only 8 weeks left of 2015.

    Tracey

    Reply
    • Sherry Bevan says

      3rd November 2015 at 12:15 pm

      Thank you Tracey – plan your 8 weeks well!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. What can you get done in 4 weeks? « Birds on the Blog says:
    17th June 2016 at 9:39 am

    […] Or grab yourself a pack of sticky notes, and brainstorm using the Sticky Note method. […]

    Reply
  2. How successful women get more done in 24 hours « Birds on the Blog says:
    9th September 2016 at 9:01 am

    […] or underestimate how long a project will take. Break down bigger projects into smaller tasks. The Sticky Note method is great for brainstorming all the different […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Subscribe to Blog

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

Looking for something?

Categories

Archives

Recent posts

  • 12 of the most revealing self-reflection questions
  • 6 powerful reasons to join a leadership programme
  • How to prepare for a job interview on video
  • How to write a cover letter that makes you stand out
  • How to get a new job on LinkedIn after redundancy

Copyright © 2021 · The Confident Mother · Website design by Helen Taranowski Design