During the last month, I’ve been taking a speed reading training course from a Dutch speed reader guru. His name is Wout Plevier. Whenever you have the chance of taking one of his training courses… do so! He is a wonderful trainer and he has a great personality.
When people think about mind mapping, they think of drawing overviews of information with lots of pictures and colors. Yes, these are the drawings you only think children create, right?
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I’ve been wondering what time of the year we most enjoy pictures and images that make us feel good and stimulate our ‘visual thinking’.
Yes, I know that the summer time is a great time to enjoy but… I think it is not the best visual mapping and visual thinking time of the year.
After meeting with my team of wise people, we concluded that December is the best visual mapping and thinking time of the year.
Here’s why:
That is why I believe December should be International Visual Mapping and Visual Thinking Month. This month is the perfect time to look back to what we experienced and did and look forward to what we want to accomplish next year.
There are many, many visual triggers around us that help us think more visual.
We, visual thinkers and mind mappers around the world, deserve this special time of the year because it is the most visual time of the year.
That is why:
Spread the word.
Let your co-workers, friends, family and everybody else know that mind mapping, concept mapping and all other forms of visual mapping deserve special attention in this dark time of the year.
Enjoy this last month of the year. Enjoy your own Visual Mapping Month!
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…. don’t care).
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I’m sure you heard before of the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule (or principle).
This principle tells us that 20% of what we do accounts for 80% of our outcome. This is of course an average number. There are numbers that tell us there is an 70/30 60/40 or a 99/1 ratio. The interesting thing is that in nature the majority of these ratios is unevenly divided. Balance tends to lean towards 100/0 in stead of 50/50.
Today, I want to make you more aware of this powerful principle in mind mapping.
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These last couple of months, I received many mindmaps from people. The interesting question I received from most people is how they could improve their mindmaps.
Usually, the mindmaps can be improved easily. You are talking about words and colors used, alignment of branches, images shown in the map… those kind of things.
Asking someone else to have a look at your own personal mindmap is often difficult. After all, we are talking about a personal piece of work. This is probably not something you want to share with others.
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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!