The Cocktail Napkin Theory.

‘Sketchbook’ is a bit of a misnomer for what I carry around with me. I took a binder clip, and a bunch of paper that had been printed on and cut it in half. It’s not only free, but it’s a lot easier to draw on than most sketchbooks. I call this the ‘cocktail napkin effect’ because it is free; I am free to put any idea down without consequence, thereby freeing me from having to come up with the “right” idea. No pressure! I can doodle all day, and when I'm ready to refine, I break out my real sketchbook, or marker paper or what have you.



‘Keep a small book of papers with you everywhere you go so that you can write down or draw an idea when it comes to mind’

I think that was either Michelangelo or Da Vinci. Could have been both. Edison kept a notebook, as did most thinkers and tinkerers throughout time.



Ideas are as cheap as the paper you write them on. Execution is what’s important. You can crank out ideas all day, and if you don’t execute them the right way in the right instance, you’re pretty screwed.



I love my little ‘sketchbook.’ I really do. I’ve even given a few out. It’s amazing how touched people are by such a minor gesture. Maybe it really is the small kindnesses in life.


Who knew?