Have you ever tried sketchnoting with a puppy on your lap? Well, I have. It wasn’t easy but my drive to finish at least one sketchnotes from Chapter 1 of George Couros’ book The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity was the driving force to press forward inspite of the cuteness that just wanted to snuggle.

I finished The Innovator’s Mindset yesterday evening and I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was a bit forlorn. I loved being immersed in how to create, hone, and honor an Innovator’s Mindset. George Couros (@gcouros) has the gift of writing because the whole book was like sitting down next to a good friend and having an insightful conversation about education. I found myself answering his questions…adding my own thoughts…even nodding and smiling along as he explained how to cultivate an Innovator’s Mindset into my professional practice.

As I began reading, I found myself highlighting what seemed like every other sentence – his pearls of wisdom are THAT good – which made me think, “How am I ever going to narrow all of this down into one comprehensive sketchnotes?” But then I thought, “Why limit myself to just one sketchnotes?” There are so many good things to keep in mind and best practices to instill into my daily routine that the learning would be lost if I tried to shove everything into just one sketchnotes. So, what I’ve decided is that I’ll create a sketchnotes for each chapter…highlighting George’s pearls of wisdom along with my own understanding of what constitutes an Innovator’s Mindset as a reflection piece for myself.

Now I’m on summer vacation…enjoying the beauty and relaxation that goes along with #lakelife so it might take me awhile to get all of the sketchnotes done. But there’s no rush…in fact, I truly believe that one cannot rush creativity or the creative process. So I plan to thoroughly enjoy the freedom to take things (all things) one.day.at.a.time.

I managed to finish two sketchnotes this morning (with the puppy on my lap the ENTIRE time). I don’t claim to be an artist, I’m really more of a doodler…but here is my understanding as gleaned from The Innovator’s Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity. Enjoy!

Introduction

Chapter 1: What Innovation Is and Isn’t