The Unification Epicenter of True Lightworkers
4.1 Step 2: Determine what you really want
So what do you really WANT?
In the last chapter, you identified which life aspects were most important to you and you prepared a ‘big-picture’ statement for each one. Revisit these so they are fresh in your mind, by closing your eyes and picturing what your life would be like if you achieved your big-picture.
The next step in the process is to come up with your wish-list for each of these life aspects. This is the chance for you to let loose by picturing your perfect life, and putting down in writing what that perfect life would look like. Now, to do this we are going to use a tool called a ‘Mind-Map’ to get to the heart of all your dreams and desires.
“Not another tool!”, I hear you say. Don’t worry – you’ll really enjoy this one.
Mind Mapping is a concept developed by psychologist Tony Buzan and has developed into a popular tool for helping us think ‘laterally’ – it’s essentially a type of brainstorming. If you prefer, you can use the traditional brainstorming approach to create your wish-list by jotting down as many random dreams and wishes for each life-aspect as possible, thinking up wild, zany, off-the-wall ideas and connections.
The limitations of traditional brainstorming are in its structure. By default, the output from brainstorming is a set of top-to-bottom and left-to-right lists on a page or over several pages. This automatically creates a bias in your mind that the item on the top of the list is the most important, when this is not necessarily the case. The brainstormed lists also don’t reflect the inevitable and complex connections that exist between the various life aspects, so an item that appears in your list under ‘career’ may also appear under your list for ‘personal’. Without a link, the relative importance of this item on the list may be lost.
The concept of Mind Mapping is based on a central idea written in the center of a page, then related ideas are added on branches that radiate from this central idea. Because of this structure, it requires all ideas to be connected to the centre and allows connection to one another, providing opportunity for convergent thinking, fitting ideas together, as well as thinking up new ideas. And by focussing on key ideas written down in your own words, and then looking for branches and connections between the ideas, you are mapping your thoughts and ideas in a way that will help you understand and remember the information.
The importance to goal setting is that by using the Mind Mapping concept, you can cover all of your life aspects on the same page instead of traditional brainstorming where you’ll end up with a separate list for each life aspect you want to consider. And since we all know that life aspects are heavily connected, using a Mind Map gives you a considerable advantage.
How to do a Mind Map
So let’s just get started – you’ll see how easy it is when you give it ago. All you need is a large piece of clean paper. Make sure there are no lines on it (as that will impose a ‘structure’ on your thinking, which we don’t want) or if there are lines, turn the paper so that the lines are vertical.
Now in the center of the page, draw a circle and write in it in capital letters something like “My Life”. This is the key thought for the Mind Map. Now, draw lines radiating out from this circle and at the end of each one of lines, write the name of a life aspect you want to consider. Leave lots of space so you can start to fill it in. Your Mind-Map Skeleton or starting point should look something like this [but with your own life aspect preferences] :
Figure 4 - Mind Map Skeleton
From here it’s just a matter of jotting down whatever comes into your mind for each of the life aspects – this is the brainstorming bit! The thoughts and ideas you need to get down in this Mind Map for each life aspect are:
The things you don’t like about your life as it is; The things you like about your life;
What you want to happen/ have;
What you don’t want to happen/ have.
The ‘gap’ between your current life and your ‘perfect’ life
As you jot down all your thoughts, you will see some common threads – connect these with lines and arrows (use colour so it’s easy to follow). You may want to reflect back to the section on personality profiling and Maslow’s motivational needs to give you some mental triggers. Do these indicate a need or desire to add to your Mind Map?
Keep the following points in mind when creating a Mind Map:
Don’t think too much about structure as you’re preparing the map – just let it flow as you work through the process
Work through it quickly to keep up the flow of ideas Keep the points brief – you can expand them later When you get a new idea, add a new branch line
Use sketches, images and pictures (if you can) – it makes it easier to remember and more personal, but make sure it doesn’t slow down the brainstorming flow. ClipArt is great for this!
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Activity 4.1…
Give it a go! Draw your Mind Map now!
Make sure you incorporate the 5 life aspects you ranked as most important from the previous chapter, and for each aspect consider:
The things you don’t like about your life as it is; The things you like about your life;
What you want to happen/ have;
What you don’t want to happen/ have.
The ‘gap’ between your current life and your ‘perfect’ life.
Once you’ve got it all down, stand back and take a look. What’s missing? What are the recurring ideas? Where are the connections between life aspects? Are there any other life aspects that are more or less apparent after this process?
Repeat this Mind Mapping process for the other 5 less-important life aspects to see if there are any thoughts and ideas that you didn’t originally appreciate as being important to you.
Well wasn’t that fun! I really like this stage of the goal setting process as it’s an opportunity to reflect on where your life is and better still, get excited about the things you want to do and where you want to take your life. That’s the whole point of effective goal setting – by making it personal, it really IS interesting and you should get a real buzz just thinking about the endless opportunities that await.
It’s important to keep your Mind Map handy – after all, it is a map of your inner most thoughts and desires. Keep it in a prominent spot – next to your ‘key message’ list and ‘big-picture’ list would be a good location – and refer to it regularly.
In the last chapter, you identified which life aspects were most important to you and you prepared a ‘big-picture’ statement for each one. Revisit these so they are fresh in your mind, by closing your eyes and picturing what your life would be like if you achieved your big-picture.
The next step in the process is to come up with your wish-list for each of these life aspects. This is the chance for you to let loose by picturing your perfect life, and putting down in writing what that perfect life would look like. Now, to do this we are going to use a tool called a ‘Mind-Map’ to get to the heart of all your dreams and desires.
“Not another tool!”, I hear you say. Don’t worry – you’ll really enjoy this one.
Mind Mapping is a concept developed by psychologist Tony Buzan and has developed into a popular tool for helping us think ‘laterally’ – it’s essentially a type of brainstorming. If you prefer, you can use the traditional brainstorming approach to create your wish-list by jotting down as many random dreams and wishes for each life-aspect as possible, thinking up wild, zany, off-the-wall ideas and connections.
The limitations of traditional brainstorming are in its structure. By default, the output from brainstorming is a set of top-to-bottom and left-to-right lists on a page or over several pages. This automatically creates a bias in your mind that the item on the top of the list is the most important, when this is not necessarily the case. The brainstormed lists also don’t reflect the inevitable and complex connections that exist between the various life aspects, so an item that appears in your list under ‘career’ may also appear under your list for ‘personal’. Without a link, the relative importance of this item on the list may be lost.
The concept of Mind Mapping is based on a central idea written in the center of a page, then related ideas are added on branches that radiate from this central idea. Because of this structure, it requires all ideas to be connected to the centre and allows connection to one another, providing opportunity for convergent thinking, fitting ideas together, as well as thinking up new ideas. And by focussing on key ideas written down in your own words, and then looking for branches and connections between the ideas, you are mapping your thoughts and ideas in a way that will help you understand and remember the information.
The importance to goal setting is that by using the Mind Mapping concept, you can cover all of your life aspects on the same page instead of traditional brainstorming where you’ll end up with a separate list for each life aspect you want to consider. And since we all know that life aspects are heavily connected, using a Mind Map gives you a considerable advantage.
How to do a Mind Map
So let’s just get started – you’ll see how easy it is when you give it ago. All you need is a large piece of clean paper. Make sure there are no lines on it (as that will impose a ‘structure’ on your thinking, which we don’t want) or if there are lines, turn the paper so that the lines are vertical.
Now in the center of the page, draw a circle and write in it in capital letters something like “My Life”. This is the key thought for the Mind Map. Now, draw lines radiating out from this circle and at the end of each one of lines, write the name of a life aspect you want to consider. Leave lots of space so you can start to fill it in. Your Mind-Map Skeleton or starting point should look something like this [but with your own life aspect preferences] :
Figure 4 - Mind Map Skeleton
From here it’s just a matter of jotting down whatever comes into your mind for each of the life aspects – this is the brainstorming bit! The thoughts and ideas you need to get down in this Mind Map for each life aspect are:
The things you don’t like about your life as it is; The things you like about your life;
What you want to happen/ have;
What you don’t want to happen/ have.
The ‘gap’ between your current life and your ‘perfect’ life
As you jot down all your thoughts, you will see some common threads – connect these with lines and arrows (use colour so it’s easy to follow). You may want to reflect back to the section on personality profiling and Maslow’s motivational needs to give you some mental triggers. Do these indicate a need or desire to add to your Mind Map?
Keep the following points in mind when creating a Mind Map:
Don’t think too much about structure as you’re preparing the map – just let it flow as you work through the process
Work through it quickly to keep up the flow of ideas Keep the points brief – you can expand them later When you get a new idea, add a new branch line
Use sketches, images and pictures (if you can) – it makes it easier to remember and more personal, but make sure it doesn’t slow down the brainstorming flow. ClipArt is great for this!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activity 4.1…
Give it a go! Draw your Mind Map now!
Make sure you incorporate the 5 life aspects you ranked as most important from the previous chapter, and for each aspect consider:
The things you don’t like about your life as it is; The things you like about your life;
What you want to happen/ have;
What you don’t want to happen/ have.
The ‘gap’ between your current life and your ‘perfect’ life.
Once you’ve got it all down, stand back and take a look. What’s missing? What are the recurring ideas? Where are the connections between life aspects? Are there any other life aspects that are more or less apparent after this process?
Repeat this Mind Mapping process for the other 5 less-important life aspects to see if there are any thoughts and ideas that you didn’t originally appreciate as being important to you.
Well wasn’t that fun! I really like this stage of the goal setting process as it’s an opportunity to reflect on where your life is and better still, get excited about the things you want to do and where you want to take your life. That’s the whole point of effective goal setting – by making it personal, it really IS interesting and you should get a real buzz just thinking about the endless opportunities that await.
It’s important to keep your Mind Map handy – after all, it is a map of your inner most thoughts and desires. Keep it in a prominent spot – next to your ‘key message’ list and ‘big-picture’ list would be a good location – and refer to it regularly.
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