I recently gave a talk about using ideation with visual thinking techniques to solve problems and open up new possibilities, whether that's in a corporate setting, with a small team, or even individually. Today, I wanted to share an example about how I used these tools to work through an issue for myself!

Every time I thought about my social media presence, a little voice in my head said, "what a mess!" I have 3 relatively distinct personal brands and communicate on 9 different channels, with a lot of overlap. While I generally try to keep it light online, not having a plan was stressing me out and leaving me feeling like I wasn't representing myself the way I wanted to. So, I decided to consult myself and follow my own process!

1) Be ready to change, and be ready to invest: I made peace with the fact that I would spend more time thinking about making posts, and that if I'm going to have a schedule, I should be ready to let go of my "always post on the day" rule for events.
2) To the whiteboard! When working solo, I like to do this part in VR, where I can move ideas around in 3D. I laid out my platforms, established principles of how they served me, and posted up content types I wanted to share.
3) Organize the chaos: I grouped my content types into themes and connected them with where they should be shared and cross-posted to best serve the purpose established for each channel.
4) Set up the execution plan: I pulled my new strategy into a project management tool to lay out what to talk about where and how often, resulting in a monthly schedule I can continue to tweak and refine as I use it.

So there it is, in a simple example! Going from a vague pain point, to a clearly visualized set of insights, to an actual plan, and most importantly, an outcome: I'll be communicating better and more consistently, with less stress. What pain points have been lingering in your world? I'd love to work through them with you!

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