Mind Mapping

My friend Kevin has been posting a series of great stuff based on the book Making Ideas Happen and I thought I would share the method to my madness on how I create Action Plans for all my brilliant ideas. (Brilliant might be stretching it a bit.)

It starts with Mind Mapping. This is something I picked up from a training class through work several years ago. This has suited me for just about every aspect of my life: Work ideas, school ideas, novel plots, etc. I call it a cross between a pin wheel and a spider web. In the center is the crux of the issue. Each fork out represents major ideas with their associated pros/cons/action plans or whatever the situation calls for.

I will need to be making some major life choices with a drop due date of August 2012. This mind map consist of three main choices I have while I finish up my PhD. They are: Full time instructor, "Real Job" + adjunct professor, or contract work + adjunct professor. I think if you click on the photo you can see the branches below each of those choices.


(Most often, I do all of this, and I make spreadsheets to analytically weigh pros & cons listed under each pinwheel, but in the end, the final decision is based on gut instinct. Sorry, no lessons on how to do that. )

Once I choose a decision I make a project calendar for the full time frame. In this case, I chose being a full time instructor. (This is not a declaration of my future. I'm merely using this example for demonstration purposes.) There is the primary goal one - obtaining PhD, primary goal two - becoming full time instructor, and secondary goals. (click on the image for a larger image.)
Now that I have this master plan laid out, I can make a weekly/monthly calendar. The sample below was extracted from the beginning of this year while I was finishing my MBA and starting the Masters of Research. And yes, I did schedule in my T.V. time. I love T.V.This calendar then gets printed out and posted on my fridge. However, reading through Kevin's blog I realize that I probably should commit to more actionable items. Might speed the process of accomplishment along a bit more.