Mind Map Your Life

Are you jogging along in a state of confusion?

I have a few suggestions for you.  First, read David Allen’s book Getting Things Done, and implement the process he outlines.  See thoughts on this topic here, here, and here.

Next, Mind Map your life.  This means get a whiteboard and dry erase markers.  (I have my own markers and do my mind-mapping at the local library on their whiteboard).

Just draw your name at the center of the diagram.  And start mapping out with lines and bubbles what you are focused on, what is important to you, where you want to go.

What is sharp and what is hazy in your mind map?

Now, erase the first version you wrote, and write out a mind map of your life that reflects how you want things to look.  This doesn’t need to be complicated, or beautiful, or perfect.  Just get something on the board.  Include some color!

Ok.  Now chill.  Walk away from it.  Take a picture of it on your phone if you want.

Then, revisit this in a few days.  Make another mind map.  Diagram how you want your life to look.

Make a habit of mind mapping.

You can use software like Coggle.It if you want (it’s free for the basic version which works pretty well), or just write the mind map in your journal entry, or–as suggested above–use a whiteboard at home or at your library.  I personally don’t use software.  I either draw the maps in my journal or up on a whiteboard at the library.

I tend not to get too attached to whatever I produce.  For me, mind maps are more about clarifying thinking, developing vision, and projecting that vision onto something tangible (a piece of paper or whiteboard) rather than creating any specific ultimate “finished” mind map.  But that’s up to you…

There is something about looking at your life from the 60 thousand foot level–and doing it free-form without a lot of thought and overthinking–that is quite fun, liberating, helpful, and focusing.

So don’t overthink this.  Don’t try to make it perfect.  Just let it flow from marker tip to whiteboard–again and again, never expecting perfection.  See where your own unanalytical creativity takes you…