Learning In Permanent Marker

Three months ago the idea came to me while I was driving to work one day. It was a crazy idea. Completely insane…but what if?!

So I did what anyone with a crazy dream big, leap off a cliff idea has does. I texted my friend and asked her if she wanted to be a part of this crazy idea…and like any good believe in crazy dream big ideas too friend does, she said heck yeah!!!

My idea was to pitch the Illinois Computing Educators (ICE) to live sketchnote the keynotes for their upcoming 2017 conference. I typed up the email and I hit the send button (then I tried not to fall of my chair or hyperventilate at what I had just done).

A few days passed and the reply email came back. The conference replied that they would love…they said YES… to having me and my friend …(I have to pause and completely go off track for a moment. I promise I will come back. I say friend because that is what she has become but she is also has become my creative, passionate sketchnoter, crazy idea loving and my sketchnoting/creative muse. She is the kind of person that when you connect with them in life you grab on tight and never let go) …they said YES to me and my friend live sketchnoting the keynote. Oh wait… not just one keynote but all three of them!

Months passed the conference finally neared. Holy wow! It was really going to happen! I was really going to live sketchnote the keynotes and in front of people…hundreds and hundreds of people. What was I thinking?! (For some reading this, those who know my journey, this may not seem like a big deal. Some may even think, seriously your really freaking out about this Carrie? You doodle and sketchnote all the time. You have been doing it for years. Here’s a secret…Up until two weeks before the conference I had only ever live sketchnoted only in pen one time. Up until this point, I have always only been a draw in pencil first and then traced over my sketchnotes in pen later sketchnoter. For me, the idea of just drawing in just pen never felt within my abilities. It scared me).

As the conference date neared I had a choice (yes, yes, I know I got my own self into this): I could embrace, full on hug the life out of my fear or back down and let the moment pass. So I did what I have learned to do when I come face to face with fear and the lies and doubt it whispers to me. I took a deep breath and went for it. I was all in. For two weeks leading up to the conference I drew. I drew and drew and drew. I embraced the fear and told off the whispers and I drew some more.. and then I drew again in only pen!

The conference date arrived. A new calm came over me. I felt more ready than I had felt for anything before. As each keynote spoke I soaked up their energy. I let their ideas and words fill me with inspiration, touch my heart and inspire my sketchnotes. And with each passing word, with each new part of each sketchnote, with each pen stroke, I was flooded with my own feelings and my own lessons that sketchnoting in pen decided to teach me…

Mistakes will happen. They’ve always been permanent. You can cross them out, work through them, add to them and recreate them and keep moving forward or let them stop us

There is great power in sharing what you are truly passionate about

Never underestimate the power of sharing what your passionate about to start great conversations

Going big, dreaming big is really really is worth it

Doubt will hold you back for your greatness. You will never think you are ready enough and you are always more ready
than you think you are.

Stop waiting and dive in. If you want something ask. The worse thing is they will say no. They could say YES!

Don’t doubt fears wisdom. Embrace it and own it. Learn to love it. Fear is often just the beginning of something great.

Perfection is unobtainable. Being the best and most incredible you totally is!

Being all in is a very freeing feeling

Be you and own the hell out of it! Your skills and your style are your skills and your style,own them. Be proud of them. Screw comparing yourself to others. Instead, learn from others, seek knowledge from others and use it to make you and your craft better but be you and no one else (sorry for the bold language…this lesson was a super hard one for me and it gets me fired up)

Most of all, I learned that this was never really about me live sketchnoting. It was always about teaching me and reminding me of these lessons. It was about changing me and changing my teaching FOREVER. It was about one simple object and the power of one simple act…the moment I made a decision that scared me. The moment I decided to draw in permanent marker.

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As I finish this post I have been flooded with the words that bring wisdom to my own journey (isn’t that wonderful how these interwebs work). Words that speak to me and this experience and I think will speak to you too…