RETURN OF THE FOOLSCAP METHOD
Wednesday, August 21st, 2013
Posted in Writing Wednesdays | 21 Comments »
THE FOOLSCAP METHOD
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011
Posted in Do The Work Wednesdays, Writing Wednesdays | 28 Comments »
The Foolscap Method
Full disclosure up front: “The Foolscap Method” is not my
idea. In fact it is not even the idea of the person to whom I attribute it.
Steven Pressfield is the New York Times bestselling author of The legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire and The Lion’s Gate as well as co-publisher
of Black Irish Books. He writes of
the Foolscap Method in his blog on www.stevenpressfield.com and in his book The Authentic Swing.
So what is the…Method? In short, it is a simplified way to
illustrate a strategy or idea from start to finish in a single context. In
other words, it is the big picture.
So what is Foolscap …? Foolscap is and 8 ½ by 14 inch,
lined, yellow legal pad. Foolscap was once a paper products company that
produced the most well known line of legal pads in America and, so like
Kleenex, the legal pad became branded.
I must apologize at this point in the article if you were
expecting something more elaborate or exciting but there it is: The Foolscap
Method is a draft plan on a single, legal-sized, sheet of paper. Lined and
simple. However simplicity belies effectiveness.
Quoting Steven Pressfield, quoting Norm Stahl (who deserves
origination credit): “God made a single sheet of foolscap exactly the right
length to hold the outline of an entire novel.”
“What is the Foolscap Method about? Basically, it’s a way to
kick your own [bum], either at the very start of a project or when you’re six
months into something and you’re so lost you can’t remember where you started
or where you’re trying to go,” says Pressfield.
Think of it as a draft of a business plan, it is your
tentative plan. Start at the end, what you want to accomplish, your goal. Make
a note of where you are now at the top of the page and work to fill in the
middle. Do it all on a single 14 inch sheet. It’ll be ugly, incomplete, and
full of scribbles, doodles and cross-outs. But, and a big one, it’ll get you
started – it will initiate movement. It will help develop context.
“The Foolscap Method is a way to get a big project started—a
novel, a Ph.D. dissertation, a new business. It’s a trick, but a very wise and
astute one. It’s not just a technique for organizing one’s thoughts, it’s a way
to outfox Resistance [Pressfield’s personification of procrastination] … Outline
the sucker. Break it down to its fundamentals. Identify its theme. Do it on one
page. Do it without preciousness. Do it now.”
I have always used a variation of this method, even before
Steven Pressfield put a name to it. I still use it. From my days of Army
planning I developed a group version of it that I call “The Imagination Board.”
The Imagination Board is naught more than a large white board and a fist full
of multi-colored dry-erase markers. When I ran the ROTC department at
Northeastern State University in Oklahoma I even build a 16 foot conference table
with two whiteboard sheets to teach the senior Cadets planning.
I invite you to use the Foolscap Method to start your plan
and bring it to me to discover some of the tools we can use to make it a
reality. Or come to my office and I will help you start a Foolscap and bring
your entrepreneurial dream to life. Further, if you have a great idea for
Arlington stop in and let me know – I’ll add it to the Foolscap I am using for
economic development planning.
My office is located in Norgaard Insurance on Main Street
and I have 20 square feet of Imagination Board waiting. Stop by and we will see
if the Foolscap works as well for you as it has for me.
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