Tag: Career Planning

A Map is Worth a Thousand Words

Do you feel like you lack creativity? Are you ever stuck trying to come up with new ideas? Is your preferred learning style a visual one? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may love a great brainstorming tool called Mind Mapping®

A Mind Map® is 

  • A colourful, visual form of note taking that can be worked on by one person or a group of individuals
  • At its heart is a central idea or image
  • The idea is explored by the means of branches representing main ideas which all connect to the central image of idea

I lucky to be introduced to the concept of Mind Mapping® when I joined the Junior League where we used it to plan a community project. It helped our team to brainstorm by documenting any ideas that popped to mind to help create a place to start our planning from. It is a brainstorming tool that I continue to return to when I am looking to spark creativity.

Mind Mapping® is very practical both professionally and personally and one can utilize this brainstorming tool in the following ways:

Professional

  • Action Plans
  • Agenda
  • Business Plans
  • Disaster Planning
  • Leading a Meeting
  • Launching a New Venture
  • Lesson Plans
  • Meeting Minutes
  • Presentation Development
  • Project Plans 

Personal 

  • Event Planning
  • Holiday Shopping Plan
  • Interview Preparation
  • Resume Development
  • Study Notes
  • Travel Planning
  • Weekly Calendar

If you are interested in learning more, you may wish to visit these great resources from Tony Buzan, the inventor of Mind Mapping®.

Web:
http://www.tonybuzan.com/about/mind-mapping/
 

Books:
The Ultimate Book of Mind Maps® – Unlock your Creativity, Boost your Memory, Change your Life – Tony Buzan – 2005

Mind Maps® at Work – How to Be the Best at your Job and Still Have Time to Play – Tony Buzan – 2004

A map is worth a thousand words. Have fun and happy mapping!

Love What You Do 

Are you still trying to discover what you want to do when you grow up? Have you been contemplating a career change? Do you leave work feeling deflated and uninspired and wondering what to do next?

Try this great visual exercise to determine what you love doing, like doing, neither like or dislike and what you definitely dislike doing. All you need is a pen and a piece of paper to create your own list. If your present role contains many positive elements from your list, you may have found happiness at work. If your position contains too many items from the bottom two quadrants, it may be time to consider a move in a different direction.


Love what you do and do something you love.