More than 10 years ago I read an article in a magazine about the unexpected exercises that professional athletes do. I don’t know why I read it since I really don’t care about professional sports. Maybe I was stuck in a doctor’s waiting room or something. Either way, one of them stuck with me. Apparently, tennis players practice focusing their eyes on things far away and then things very close. Back and forth. This makes sense considering that tennis ball moves from far away to very close quite quickly1. This was something of a revelation to 10 years younger Kevin. The idea that tennis players would try to get better at tennis by doing something other than playing tennis was new and almost bizarre to me.
For reasons that are as much a mystery to me as why I was reading the article, I began doing this while I was sitting at traffic lights. I’m not sure what I expected to happen. I didn’t play tennis then and I still don’t. Needless to say, it did nothing for my non-existent tennis game. In fact, it only succeeded in giving me a mild headache.
Remembering this recently made me think of Notebooking (most things make me think of Notebooking). I realized that Notebooking can help someone get better at other things2.
Notebooking is an exercise in quick thinking and fast wit
When you Notebook, you spend time each day engaging in creation. Creating content, but not just any old content. Most Notebooking is essentially creating humor, wit, insight and fulfilling aspirations on a daily basis. The more you do it the better you get. The better you get the faster and easier these things will come to you.
We’ve all been in conversations where someone comes up with a joke so fast that we’ve been floored (even fast puns can be impressive!). If you’re human, you’ve probably felt a twinge of jealousy as well. That little voice in the back of your mind that says, “I wish I could’ve come up with that.” That’s a natural reaction. Luckily, there is something you can do to be the one who comes up with the fast joke or insightful remark. Luckier still, you are already doing it!
Good news! You can!
Every time you write something funny in your notebook, you’re practicing your style of humor. When you then write some meaningful prose about anything, you’re training yourself to be insightful. This switching between topics yet still creating quality content is the goal of Notebooking. When you do this, you’re also training yourself to be quick witted without even trying!
Any time you look at one of the items on your Content List (or any of the writing prompts we’ve posted) and begin writing straight away, you are getting better at being that quick witted, interesting jokester.
Habitual Notebooking is like building a switch in your mind that allows you to be “on point” whenever you want! Eventually, you’ll be in a conversation and you will bust out some quick witted joke or insightful comment or question without even trying. Or even noticing, honestly.
And won’t it be nice to have other people to be jealous of your wit?