Many people here in The Netherlands are going back to their jobs and schools. A perfect time to take what you thought about this holiday and put it in a mindmap.
Your mindmap can be a wonderful tool to actually SEE what you do and have and who you are. I would suggest you create a mindmap that shows you… well… YOU!
As you know, it is always easier to move in a certain direction (towards your goal) when you know what you can do and where you are right now.
The mindmap created with your information will give you exactly that. You will have an overview of yourself.
The great thing about this is that you will be able to look at yourself and your options from a distance. It is a little bit less personal. You can brainstorm alone or with others about possible actions and create a plan of action.
How to do this
First of all, you create a new mindmap that shows you:
- your goals
- your strengths (internal), e.g. knowledge, skills
- your weaknesses (internal) e.g. habits, moods
- your positive influencers (people, items which help you)
- your negative influencers (people, items which hold you back)
Add all of the above to your mindmap. I would suggest you don’t create a radial map. This outline creates too much distance between the different branches. Just go for the outline to the right (for instance).
I use the outline shown in the image.
My goals are in the middle, above and below are strengths and weaknesses. The middle three are your internal objects.
The ones at the top and bottom are your external influencers. I grouped the positive ones and the negative ones because they usually enhance each other. For example, when you are a negative-cup-is-half-empty person and you have to deal with a lot of negative people, this is no good. The best thing to do is to remove one of them (usually the external factor 
).
Now you analyze your map content. Answer for instance the following questions:
- How do your strengths and positive influencers support you in reaching your goal?
- How do the weaknesses and negative influencers hold you back?
- What is possible to work on and get done?
- What do you have to do to move closer towards your goal or perhaps even achieve it?
- How can you combine strengths and negative influencers?
- How can you combine weaknesses and positive influencers?
- What will you focus on, your strengths or are you going to improve your weaknesses?
- How much time do you have to work on your goals?
- What are the most important goals?
- Can you eliminate negative influencers?
- Can you USE your weaknesses?
- How will you be able to position yourself for creating more success in your life?
These are just a few questions.
The moment you answered them, you can start to plan your new year (until the next summer holiday for instance, of just until the Christmas break ).
It will be very interesting to have other people look at your map and ask them about their thoughts about this person and their possibilities. You might even ask others to create the map for you (add strengths and weaknesses for example). At first, you might want to decide on your goals yourself.
What I normally do is create a time-line of my results. Yes, that’s right, not a mindmap. There is more in life than mind mapping !
I simply add a dot on the left hand side on the line. On the right hand side, I position my goal.
In between are all the tasks and actions I have to do/take in order to get to my goal. I know this may sound a little bit too simplistic… but it works!
Remember, it isn’t the big, fancy, impressive, difficult tools that bring you the best solutions. Most of the time you can simply use a piece of paper and a pen and just write down what you will do and where you are going.
One of the biggest reasons people won’t succeed is because they are afraid to try something new, believe it won’t work or they assume they will fail…
By simply drawing a small project time-line, you will make it more clear for yourself and your brain loves the image of you succeeding in only a few steps!
Let me know what you created and did with the map and time-line!
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