Bootstrap Leadership

17The Best Thinking Tools Ever Invented

Keep a Journal

HAVE YOU WRITTEN the great American novel yet? Well, maybe that’s too ambitious; let’s bring it down a level. How about an article for a magazine or trade journal? Not enough time, got it. What about a blog on the company Web site? No? Hmm . . . how about a letter to your parents? What? OK, I get it; you don’t write anymore—at least not in the traditional sense. I know you type on a computer keyboard; you probably write 100 emails a day in addition to PowerPoint presentations, Word documents, and so forth. Maybe you crank out proposals, spreadsheets and production charts too—tools of the modern trade. But chances are you’re not doing a whole lot of writing with pen and paper. That’s too bad, ...