The first suggestion author Michael J. Gelb makes is to start a journal. Da Vinci kept journals. He noted down everything from words to animals to plants to… Anything he was interested in. He wrote down new-to-him words and their definitions. His journals include drawings. Basically, it was a way for him to reinforce what he was learning and to be able to look at it later. It was also a good way to keep from losing ideas.
The second suggestion Gelb makes is to write down 100 questions that are important to you. This should be done quickly and in one sitting. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar -- just get the questions down. He has some other exercises that work around these 100 questions, so it is important to do the exercise correctly. Themes may develop. You may see what questions get asked more than once and what subjects occupy your mind.
I have included my 100 questions below. But write yours down first. You might find it illuminating.
100 questions that are important to me:
2. How do I make more money without sacrificing my principles?
3. How do I get more readers?
4. How can I get my friends and family to share, comment and like my posts?
5. How can I get people to subscribe to my Patreon?
6. How do I sell more books?
7. How can I write more?
8. Where can I publish and get paid for my short stories?
9. Why isn’t there such a thing as a publishing co-op?
10. Could I run a publishing co-op?
11. What can I stop doing so I can do more of what I enjoy doing?
12. How do I increase efficiency in life, so I can be more inefficient when I need to be?
13. How can I communicate more effectively?
14. How can I let go of things in my past?
15. How can I forgive current perceived slights?
16. Will comicon be an answer?
17. How can I bring people into a project and know they will be reliable?
18. How can accept people for what they can’t do rather than for what they can?
19. What will the future hold for my family and me?
20. Can a machine think?
21. How can I engage greater creativity?
22. How can I accomplish more?
23. How can I garner monetary value from what I do?
24. How do I improve my page views?
25. At what point do I quit and move onto something else?
26. Is writing the right profession for me?
27. Should I be looking at another profession?
28. When do we know that it is time to quit?
29. If everyone can be rich, how come so few people are?
30. How can I help people become more creative?
31. How can I help people become more empathetic?
32. How can I be more understanding?
33. How can I become more empathetic?
34. Is there a way to change the system so that everyone has enough?
35. How can we bring to Earth the idea of “from each according to his or her ability, to each according to his or her need?”
36. What exactly do people miss when they read the Bible?
37. How do people dismiss the teachings of Christ but still accept him as Lord and Savior?
38. Where is it I want to go?
39. How can we hold companies accountable for their policies and their words when their actions do not match what they purport to want to do or value?
40. What does it take to be successful?
41. What is my definition of success?
42. If I could live anywhere, where would I want to be?
43. How do I find a bigger virtual support community?
44. How can I help my friends find their success?
45. When I use the word “friends”, who do I mean?
46. How do I let go of hurts from the past?
47. How do I stop dwelling on the times that I feel I have been wronged?
48. Is there something that I am missing in how I behave that makes life more difficult?
49. Can I give in to the system?
50. If there is a God, what the hell?
51. How do I get more people to read “A Christmas Carol?”
52. Everybody knows that Gordon Gecco and the Wolf of Wall Street were bad people, right?
53. How do people revile characters like unredeemed Scrooge and then go out and do exactly what he would do if he had never been haunted?
54. How do I get a deeper understanding of human nature?
55. Do I want a deeper understanding of human nature?
56. How do I tell better stories?
57. What story am I trying to tell?
58. Do stories matter anymore, except as a profit driven exercise?
59. Do my stories matter?
60. If I were able to write any one story, what would it be that I would want to write?
61. Who do I want to write like?
62. What can Lewis Carroll teach me about storytelling?
63. The people who succeeded were the ones who didn’t give up, but what’s to say that the people who did give up would’ve succeeded?
64. How do I relieve stress?
65. What options do I need to add to my life to make it better?
66. Can exercise really improve my productivity?
67. Will exercise take away too much time from writing?
68. How can I achieve a better work life balance?
69. How can I do less and get more?
70. What should I really depend upon from other people?
71. Is there another activity that I need to engage in that will help everyone I know, who wants help, succeed?
72. How hard is it to like, comment and share?
73. What does it cost people to like, comment and share?
74. Do I want to get my YouTube up to 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of views?
75. If not, why do I keep ruminating about my YouTube subscribers and hours?
76. What happen to the democracy of the net?
77. If cream rises to the top, how come Van Gogh died a pauper?
78. Are written stories relevant?
79. When will I be comfortable with the lifestyle I created?
80. How do I squeeze more into the time that I have?
81. How do I refill my creative well?
82. How do I stop worrying and learn to love the bomb?
83. If those California cows are happy, why do I always see them wallowing in the mud when I drive through California?
84. Do almond farmers really believe they are growing food for America?
85. What happen to honesty?
86. What happen to telling people the truth?
87. How do we deal with liars at the highest level of society?
88. How do we get rid of racism?
89. If we can’t get rid of it, how do we expose it so that society can become less racist?
90. Why does losing privilege feel like losing rights?
91. How can I be a better husband?
92. How can I be a better ally?
93. How can I say “no” to work when I need the money, but I also need to spend time with my family?
94. How do we solve the distribution problem?
95. At what point can I say I am a success?
96. Will I really sell a million books?
97. Is a million books even a good goal?
98. How can I make sure to write enough books to have a shot at making it?
99. How can I deal with unanswerable or trap questions?
100. How do I keep my baser ideas and thoughts from coming to the for?
101. How do I keep people from pressing my buttons?
102. How do I stop looking at “posts,” “tweets” and “trends” involving politics?
103. What do I really want to do with my life?
104. How do I integrate that with family?
105. How do I listen without trying to solve?
106. How can I provide feedback without providing solutions?