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Mind Mapping: Who Should Use It and Why

I have an awesome “tool” to tell you about that anyone reading this can benefit from using.  This process is fun, will save you time, and will help you retain information.

It’s called mind mapping.

Mind mapping is a process for brainstorming and organizing your ideas.

Wikipedia defines it like this:

A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information. A mind map is often created around a single concept, drawn as an image in the center of a blank landscape page, to which associated representations of ideas such as images, words and parts of words are added. Major ideas are connected directly to the central concept, and other ideas branch out from those.

I frequently use mind mapping to prepare blog posts.  I write the main idea or topic in the center of a page in a notebook and start “throwing” out ideas on the paper all around it.  The key is to write without over-thinking—just let the ideas flow.  This process will allow you to get all your ideas on the page and then you can go back and edit.

Here is the simple mind map I drew up for this blog post:

Mind Mapping Map for blog

WHO CAN BENEFIT FROM MIND MAPPING?

The question should be “who can’t” benefit from mind mapping?

Writers.  As I mentioned, I use mind mapping for brainstorming my blog posts.  Writers also use this process for organizing and brainstorming ideas for their books.  I am going to be writing an e-book in the future and I have already mind mapped all the chapters.  I will later mind map ideas around each individual chapter.  I’m telling you, this is a fantastic way to organize your thoughts!

Teachers.  First of all—God bless and thank you to all you teachers out there!  Mind mapping can be an excellent tool for lesson planning.  It can also be a tool to teach your students to use for note taking and studying.  See next entry…

Students.  Mind mapping is a great tool to capture the “main ideas” during lectures or presentations.  Students will also find it helpful to use this tool during study and review time; writing out all you know in an organized fashion like this is great for kinesthetic and visual learners.

Parents.  The possibilities are endless for this group: meal planning, grocery shopping, choosing schools, back to school shopping, birthday party planning, summer vacation planning, etc.

Vacations Planners.  That’s you!  Next time you plan a vacation, sit down with a piece of paper, write your destination in the middle and draw spokes out with all your dreams, ideas, and to-dos for your trip.  (I’m using Italy as an example in the “how-to” section below.)

Party Planners.  Whether it’s a party for a 2 year old or a 50 year old, the process of mind mapping will draw out all kinds of ideas, many which will get nixed, but you may come up with a brilliant idea that you wouldn’t have thought of had you not completed a mind map.  Your mind map will also visually organize your grocery, decorations, and party favors list like a charm!

Gardeners.  The process of mind mapping can take a huge, overwhelming task and bring it down into manageable “chunks.”  Consider mind mapping out your next vegetable or flower garden—I think it would be fun to sketch pictures for this “map.”  If you have several areas you are working on, you may create a grand overall mind map and then create mini mind maps for each individual section.

Business People.  Whether you’re working up a rough agenda for a meeting, a strategic plan, a proposal, or a presentation, mind mapping works well for lots of business applications.  Get a flip chart out at your next planning meeting and mind map out everything discussed with your co-workers.  Getting the visual out in front of everyone will generate even more ideas than discussion alone.

Preacher or other Public Speakers.  Not only will this help you organize your message or speech, but it will provide a visual that will stick in your mind—a good thing to reference if your nerves get the best of you or you have lost your place.

Song Writers.  I’ve never written a song, but I imagine this process could be a fun, creative tool for song writers, just as it would be for a writer.  Are you a song writer?  I’d love for you to try this process and let me know how it worked out for you.

As you can see, mind mapping can be used by pretty much anyone for anything.  Grab a pen and paper and try it out.

HOW TO MIND MAP?

TOOLS:
Paper.
Pencil, pen or markers.
Sticky notes.  This is similar to the paper and pencil method, but you are writing out your words/ideas on sticky notes instead.  The advantage to this method is you can rearrange/remove/add sticky notes during the editing process.
Computer programs.  I prefer pencil and paper, but click here to see who LifeHacker.com chose as their top five mind mapping software programs.  I’d personally add Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and/or Publisher to the mix—all of which most of us have access to.

PROCESS:
Let’s use an example of planning a vacation for this exercise.  I’ve sketched out a simple mind map to go with our example and placed it right below the three steps here.

  1. Write your main idea in the center of your paper. Trip to Italy.
  2. Now, think of all the things you will need/want to do in preparation for your trip. Draw lines out from the middle idea to these subsets.  For example: Budget, places of interest to visit, packing list, home and pet care while you are away, items to purchase before the trip, transportation and accommodation bookings.
    NOTE:  It’s important in this step to just get everything out on the paper—don’t overthink and don’t edit during this step.  You can fine tune your “map” later.
  3. Voila! It’s that easy.  You’re now more organized and much closer to your trip to Italy!
  4. Now you’ve got a “to do” list all ready for your trip.  As you approach your vacation date, you may decide to create mini mind maps for each sub-section to get in greater detail if you’re a nerd like me.

Italy Mind Map

Remember when mind mapping, there are no bad ideas.  Get everything out on paper and edit later.  Have fun!

Let me know how your mind mapping goes.  I’d love to see pictures of you work.  You can email your pictures to me here.

Wanna see some really cool, artsy mind maps?  Click here.

I appreciate you spending time with me today.

Jill xx

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Get Back On Track After Falling Off the Wagon

Do you feel like you’ve experienced a bit of whiplash with how quickly these last two months have flown by?

I sat down the other day and reviewed my written goals for the year (which I strongly urge you to do at least once per month) and realized that of the 15 goals I set back in January, I’m only following through with eight of them.  I know I should be happy with the progress of the eight, but it’s the other seven that are staring me down and making me feel bad.

Here’s the deal–and I’m talking to myself just as much as I’m talking to you: There’s no time to sit around and feel bad about what could have been.  It’s time to get back on the wagon.  We can’t change the past, but we can certainly learn from it.

I’ve got three simple steps to get us back on the right track.  There’s no time like the present, so let’s get started!

NOTE: If you wrote your original goals in a journal, I suggest you do the following exercise in that same place.  It’s helpful when you can look back and review where you’ve been and what you’ve accomplished.

First Step:  Figure out what the stumbling block has been for you to achieve or move forward with your goals.  Warning…you’re gonna have to be introspective and honest with yourself in this step.  It might even be helpful to put the superhero cape aside during this exercise.

Ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Do the goals I came up short on, scare me somehow? What fears do I experience when thinking about those goals?
  2. Are my goals unrealistic? Have I set too many goals?  Have I set crazy timelines that I can’t possibly meet with the demands my busy schedule?
  3. Have I failed to set proper systems (time management, accountability, etc) in place to help me succeed?

Second Step:  Now that you’ve defined the problem, the next step is to figure out how to fix it.  Let’s address the three questions you answered above:

  1. Fears: Break down any fears you have associated with your goals. Oftentimes, when we break things down like this into bite-sized pieces, the “scariness” falls away. Now, these bite-sized portions of your big goal become manageable mini-goals.  Now you can begin working on each mini-goal, one by one, until completion.  This really works!
  2. Unrealistic goals: Maybe you were a little ambitious, like I was, at the beginning of the year and set too many goals. If that’s the case, list out and prioritize your goals.  Maybe keep the top 3-4 and drop the others.  You can always focus on those you dropped later in the year or even next year.  If the main problem is the unrealistic deadlines you set for some of your goals, then set new dates that are more realistic to match your lifestyle.
  3. No systems in place: Say your goal was to organize your house this year, but you didn’t set up a proper system to accomplish it. Now you’re sitting here a couple months later with the same mess and even more stress about it.  Make it your goal today to set up a system that will help you achieve success.  It may be as easy as creating a weekly project checklist.  Don’t overwhelm yourself by assigning yourself too many tasks each week.  Maybe set two 30 minute time slots per week to tackle a specific area in your home.  Once you finish that area, start on the next.Just as we talked about earlier, cutting your goal up into bite-size pieces will cut back on the overwhelm and make your project manageable.  This is key…Don’t forget to keep yourself accountable by scheduling this in your calendar and set a timer to work by.  Take your goals seriously and don’t let anything interrupt the time you’ve set aside to accomplish these goals.

As I mentioned earlier, I fell off the wagon on some of my goals this year, too.  Here is how I worked through the exercise we just outlined:

I’ve narrowed it down to two trouble areas for me:

  1. Problem: Wasting too much time online.  I would start to do some research for a blog post I was working on and next thing I knew I was reading about Madonna’s daughter’s new fashion line!  And just so you know, my research had nothing to do with fashion!  It’s super easy to get sucked into the online vortex, but admitting your problem is the first step, right?
    My fix:  About a month ago I began setting a pretty strict morning schedule for myself.  The routine has been great, but after the first month, I realized I needed a little more structure to ensure my success, so I incorporated tracking each of my daily tasks in a planner and using a timer.  This has worked very well.  Daily accountability in black and white and on a countdown!By the way, I plan to write an entire post on the beauty and benefits of setting a morning routine (even for you non-morning people) with some really great tips for you to consider, so be on the lookout for that in the future.
  2. Problem: I was overly ambitious and set too many goals.
    My fix: I had to reprioritize my goals and drop some of my overambitious goals off my list.  The ones I dropped are still important to me, but I dropped them in an effort to do better in certain areas and not spread myself too thin.  I will revisit those goals in the future.

I hope working through this exercise will help you to get back on track.  It has helped me!  Now, one last thing…

Third, stay positive!  Don’t dwell on what could have been.  As long as you made an effort to understand what the obstacles to your progress were, and have set some solutions, get back on the wagon and enjoy the ride!  Pat yourself on the back for the successes you’ve already had this year.  Even if you’ve only accomplished or have improved on one goal on your list–good job!

I’d like to hear from you.  How are you doing now that we’re two months into the year?  Are you doing well with achieving your goals, or can you relate to this post?  What have you struggled with?  Please do tell…you’re helping others by sharing.

As always, thanks for spending time with me today.

Jill xx

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