I love to doodle when I get stuck.
- Andrew Daub
- Mar 22
- 2 min read
Updated: Apr 23
As a leader, I’ve doodled to center my team’s experience in a certain people and culture strategy, or reimagine how to approach a business development cycle. I’ve doodled to synthesize what a new client wants and how I can best meet their needs. After bouncing off a call with my therapist or coach, I’ve doodled to capture my next steps or remind myself what Little Andrew wants Big Andrew to hear. I’ve drawn stories of check-ins, meetings, systems, challenges old and new, always mining them for trends, possibilities, lessons learned.
Usually, there are lots of circles, arrows, squiggles, and exclamation points. All put to paper in Sharpie (for dramatic emphasis), Pilot blue (for smooth comfort), or marker (for gay pizazz). Things that feel important are capitalized. Thought bubbles capture wonderings, hearts mark big feelings, and stick figures recreate whatever challenge I’m trying to worth through. Sometimes, I scratch out everything and start over, rearranging things in a new flow. I’ll pause and see what emerges - patterns, themes, feelings previously kept at bay. Sometimes, I see a central question or an important reminder surface, say a key stakeholder I’ve overlooked, an emotion that I need to acknowledge before taking action, a value that I haven’t baked into my proposed solution, an important assumption that I need to check.
Some call this a mind map, storyboarding, visualization. I just love to doodle. I feel joy in the canvas, simplicity in the sketch, clarity in how I box or sequence things, freedom in the opportunity to pivot and start anew, movement in going from something challenging to something solvable.
✏️ How do you like to get unstuck from a challenge, reflect, and get creative? Share your creative problem-solving strategies and rituals - I'd love to learn alongside you!
P.S. I’ve been busy working on a big, new thing – check it out HERE!
