How did you think you'd used the cards?
For brainstorming and organising my own ideas.
How did you actually use them?
For brainstorming and organising the goals, vision and purpose of my Welldoing coaching clients.
How do you think the cards help your coaching clients? Is about an externalisation of things trapped inside?
Yes it helps to externalise stuff. Also good to view thoughts individually or in different clusters. By itemising the process it leads to more flexibility and the opportunity to view synergies.
Have they changed the way you do anything?
I use mind maps on the Mac and index cards to work through stuff. I now have a way of doing that which 'feels' better and looks cool.
'Feel' is a wonderful word, it encompasses both the way we use our fingers, and also our state of being. How does asking your clients to work with their hands help that inner state?
Makes the process which can get deep more playful. Takes them out of a fixed mindset into a growth mindset. Both the physical feel of the Artefact cards and the inner feel of this playful process lead to better insights and realisations.
How do you describe them to others?
Cards for untangling your mind so you can work out cool things to do.
My friend Tim observes that the cards are a great way to sort out the things you can't sift when they're all up in your head - do your clients feel that benefit?
Not so much. I use them towards the end of my initial coaching modules which are based on the GTD process (Getting Things Done by David Allen). Emptying the mind is done in the early sessions as we use A5 perforated pads for this.
That said you could use them in the style of Merlin Mann's Hipster PDA.
Any final thoughts..?
Refills. (Sure that's been said). More colours. Thinner sharpie?