People Only See What They Are Prepared To See

This quote is from Emerson. Since you and I are into visualizing our information and thoughts, we know this is a very important line.

You can only change when you know what isn’t right or what holds you back. But before you ‘know’, you have to see it.

This is why mindmaps and related visual thinking methods are so powerful. They help us to visualize our situation.

I am less and less talking to people about mindmaps. It seems that here in The Netherlands most people know about mindmaps. Many people use the system in some way or another (and the ones who don’t…. they don’t care).

What I do is much more interesting for people. I don’t tell them they should mindmap their information. I show them how they can turn information and thoughts into knowledge. How to take chaos and turn this into an overview that gives understanding and insight. How to move forward by using a visual thinking tool.

Here’s a piece of advice I would like to share with you that helped me a lot:

When you are running into the same problem over and over again, create an overview of this situation.

Simply draw or write an overview that represents this situation. What are the steps you have to take to create the desired outcome? When you see that, you found your answer for getting out of that mess…

The only thing you have to do next is have the courage to change and implement.

This is where most people back down. They know what the problem is but they hope for something better. Something that magically makes their life better and doesn’t require them to change.

What will you do?

I am confident you move forward in life and you change.

Tags: advice, change perspective, Reflection, thinking patterns