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Posted on on July 13th, 2010 in Idea Mapping, Mind Mapping | 5 Comments »

Mapping to Overcome Overwhelming

One of the powerful benefits to Idea Mapping is that it allows us to grasp ideas or concepts that seem overwhelming. This was reinforced to me after I spoke to a Career Connection gathering in Dallas TX this week. After my presentation (fun and learning for all!), a woman told me about how she had used Idea Mapping to prepare for a job interview. The hiring company’s job requirements were extensive and very detailed. The woman I spoke with wanted to make sure that she could match her experience to the job requirements, so she Idea Mapped the role. Unfortunately, she did not get the job, but she was well prepared for the interview. With her whole-brained approach to her job search and preparation, I’m sure her next job is just around the corner!

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Posted on on December 17th, 2009 in creativity, Idea Mapping, interview, Mind Mapping | 3 Comments »

‘Twas the Map Before Christmas

Holy holiday shopping batman! It’s that time already. There are some people that might be easy to shop for, but we all have someone on our list who is difficult. Here’s a whole-brained way to start working on them – Idea Map them.

Draw a central image that represents that person and start branching out everything you think of when you think of that person. Add in everything you think of without thinking about gift ideas yet; that comes later. Idea Map you can about that person. Give yourself multiple days to add to the map since you will think of more ideas over time. Each time you stop a mapping session, finish by drawing in four or five blank lines, this incompleteness will keep you thinking about it.

When you feel you have a really good map (you can never be “done”), it’s time to start adding to the map gift ideas. Add in all gift ideas that you think of without regard to costs as this can artificially limit your thinking. Add gift ideas to the ends of related branches in a different color. If an idea occurs to you in many different locations, write it in all those places and highlight it. An idea recurring may be significant. Allow yourself plenty of time (days or weeks) to add gift ideas.

During the gift ideation process you may also think of some other things about the person, make sure you also add those in. Eventually you’ll have a number of ideas – then you can start thinking about cost. If you really like an idea or two but they are out of your price range, come up with at least four (I just randomly picked that number) ideas that approximate the original but are more affordable.

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Posted on on December 9th, 2009 in creativity, gift ideas, Idea Mapping, Mind Mapping | 11 Comments »

Top 7 Reasons to Idea Map

If you’re looking for a good reason to start (or continue Idea Mapping), here are 7 of them (top ten is too passé):

7. People will now wonder what you’re doing during business meetings instead of wondering why you’re sleeping

6. Drawing pictures can be considered a part of your note-taking and not just idle doodling

5. You’ll be seen as “creative” because … you use more than one color!

4. You can flatter your boss’s boss by telling her that you are using an accelerated learning/memory tool to take notes on her presentation

3. Organizing your ideas can happen in real time (sorry, nothing witty here, just fact!)

2. You can really confuse people by telling them that you’re “I.M.ing”

1. You can write off those cool colored markers as a business expense

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Posted on on October 7th, 2009 in creativity, Idea Mapping, Mind Mapping | No Comments »

FamilyNet TV/Radio Interview

Last Friday, August 28, I had the opportunity to be a guest on FamilyNet’s TV/Radio simulcast morning show. FamilyNet is a family-friendly network and can be found on Sirius radio (channel 161) and many cable, satellite and broadcast TV carriers.

We talked about how we can tap into our own creativity. It was a fun and interactive 12-minute segment. At one point we went over a technique I commonly use in workshops and we referred to the photo I’ve attached in this blog. Give the interview a listen by going to their website or you can go to www.familynet.com, click on “Mornings Home” (Lorri and Larry) and got to “Featured Guests and Podcasts.” Click on RSS and you’ll find my interview (it hasn’t yet posted on iTunes).

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Posted on on August 31st, 2009 in creativity, Idea Mapping, Mind Mapping | 5 Comments »

Sea Shells and Show + Tell

Collecting sea shells is a lot like Idea Mapping! I just spent several days at the beach with my wife and two young sons. When we first went to the shore, my sons started grabbing all of the whole shells they could find and took them back to our room. Each day they would grab even more shells. As we got ready to come back home, they kept only the ones that were worthy of “Show and Tell.”

Idea Mapping is the same way. When you are making your first draft, include all of the ideas that occur to you. Make sure that you allow yourself “several trips to the shore.” This will give you a larger universe from which you can select your ideas that are “Show and Tell” worthy. You may find that you also need more than one evaluation sessions to trim your map. That’s good – better to have a lot of ideas to choose from than not enough! To paraphrase Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, “The best way to have a good sea shell is to have a lot of sea shells!”

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Posted on on August 24th, 2009 in creativity, Idea Mapping, Mind Mapping | 2 Comments »

Preparing for Interview Idea Map

Unfortunately, many of you reading this are interviewing for jobs. Idea Maps should be an integral part of your preparation.

Start your map with questions you have been asked in past (recent or distant) interviews. Then start adding questions you might ask of yourself. Allow yourself to be a little crazy and have some fun with questions you might be asked. Add in questions you hope the interviewer won’t ask! Finish by including questions that you want to ask interviewers.

Once you’ve got an exhaustive map of interview questions, start generating responses to those questions. Don’t write out complete sentences; write down “trigger” words. Those are words that will trigger your memory to what you want to include in your answer. Now for the key to all of this … practice your answers several times. Your answers should be a little different each time; this ensures that you are being natural and conversational.

In the coming weeks, I’m going to be interviewed on a radio show about creativity. I’ve already started my map!

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