Mind Mapping – Thinking and Organizing Creatively

Mind Map’s mastermind, Tony Buzan, developed the concept of Mind Mapping out of frustration for the ineffective traditional note-taking which was difficult create and review. Jotting down speaker’s words line by line or even summarizing keywords are done linearly and chronologically, meaning that notes relating to the speaker’s point X somewhere on page numbered Y can be on another page numbered Z. At the end of the lecture, we might not even remember the connection among related ideas. I have years of collection of useless college notes to backup this claim.
With Mind Mapping, a big-picture snapshot of your thinking process, your brainstorming session or your summary of a topic is laid out on one single piece of paper. Key points and important ideas are recorded in a way that show their ordered and connection to one another. The seen diagram is a summary of Michael Faraday.

I have applied this Mind Mapping technique to brainstorm my travel, to prioritize tasks for flat moving and to learn the grammar of a foreign language in addition to taking notes of horribly boring technical and procedural presentations at work. My work productivity increases as rehashing my knowledge and looking up forgotten points take only minutes.

I currently use are Concept Draw Mindmap, Mindjet Map Manager and free-version web-app MindMeister.

/>> See more samples of mind-map diagrams and view a list of mind-mapping software.

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Dress Like a Pro

It takes only sports-specific clothing and confident body language to cause an opponent’s resolve to waver, according to a study in the journal Psychology of Sports and Exercise.

Three weeks ago, I tried out Karate at a friend’s club. Having no uniform, I wore a T-shirt and a horribly long and loose pair of sweat pants. I could not kick nor move properly because the damn pants kept getting on my feet no matter how tightly I tried to fold it above my heel. I felt so embarrased in this piece of clothing that I was not entirely focused on practicing the move, instead I let myself wander to “Don’t look at my feet…Where should I go and buy nice sport clothing?” Fortunately, this was only a casual practice. It would have been a disaster if I had to spar with someone while thinking about the next sporting shop at Wencelas Square.

It’s true that if we suck at our games, an impressive Wilson and Nike styled clothing closet will not save us from embarrassing defeats. However, if we and our opponents are on the same level, maybe a professinonal brand sportswear will boost our confidence, and this is all we need to win.

My squash tournament is coming in two weeks. Let see if a pro sportswear is going to save me.

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Formula for Success – Very Brief

Successful Outcome = Perseverance + Passion + Creativity + Talent + Luck

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7 Dimensions of Goals

["Success Intelligence" by Robert Holden]

2 Ways to Take Notes and Which One Brings Better Results

It seems that the yellow notepad continues to haunt you even long after you depart miles away from school. I hated taking notes because I just could not take good notes. My typical note would start out neatly with pretty hand-writing all lined up, then quickly deteriorated to worm-like creatures crawling either downhill or uphill.

I could barely read my notes later and, at the time, too disorganized to file them. However, if I can overcome gazillion nuisances in life, I should at least try to tame this ugly note-taking habit. So should you.

There are two ways to take notes, and master only one of them will not only simplify your yellow pad but also your life–the part of life which depends heavily on these silly notes.

1. Jot down everything - You attempt to write down every thing as if you will pay dearly if you don’t. For you, note-taking is a matching game, word-for-word, between the apathetic speaker’s tongue and your lifeless notepad.
2. Outline key points – Because you want to save trees, you write as little as you can. Moreover, you’re not head-over-heel in love with the speaker’s words so you only scribble just keywords, important phrase and brief summaries.

Pros and cons

1. Jot down everything
   • Pros: You have all information given by the speaker; whether you recognize your hand-writing or understand these information later is another matter. Where and when do you need to master this note-taking method? I can’t think of any except for one situation: to succeed with your study in most Asian academies where precise memorization is essentials.
   • Cons: You cannot possibly write down all information. You will get lost in this jungle comprised of your thought process and the speaker’s verbal “abuse.”
2. Outline key points
   • Pros: This method is preferred over the other as it allows you to digest the speaker’s message, enabling greater comprehension.
   • Cons: Since you do not always fully understand the big picture of the issue, you might not be able to accurately evaluate the message and correctly include all necessary information.

So next time you sit in a class room, seminar or a conference, you’ll get far more just by simplifying your notes.

4 Different Types of Listening to Be Aware of

Have you noticed that you don’t receive process and react to all messages passed on to you the same way? Many messages basically enter one ear and go out the other while some demand your utmost attention and critical ability. Improve the skill to identify the difference of these message can benefit your both personally and professionally.

There are 4 different types of messages.

1. Casual – This type of message requires the least amount of effort from your part. Examples of casual message can be from an every-day greeting, chit chat, and small talk to random conversation you pick up from the environment.
2. Sympathetic – In this situation, the speaker simply looks for a supporting shoulder to express his feeling and vent his problem. He might not expect you to offer any opinion, so don’t be overtly critical or better yet, be a passive listener.
3. Advice seeking – While the first two require very little effort from you as a listener, the third form of communication requires you to be more active while listening. You should evaluate the message thoroughly, consider options and look at many sides of the points in order to give the speaker a sound advice.
4. Comprehensive – Depend on the importance of the issue, “comprehensive” message demands your full attention and critical skills to receive, comprehend, evaluate and process the information.

Unsure of What To Do in Life? Observe a Painter

I visited a friend, Tom, last night to have my pictures taken for a working visa application. He took three batches of pictures and messed around on Irfanview, Windows Paint and Adobe Photoshop CS2 for another half a hour to finish the photo processing. I joked that he should start a part-time gig taking photos in the neighborhood for extra money or just for fun. Better yet, he should have promotion such as “Saturday Half-price or Exclusive 2-hour Free on Friday Evening Only” to attract females and hopefully score a date.

Tom has recently bought a painting tablet and wanted to show me how to use it. I doodled for a few minutes, producing pitiful lines and figures on the canvas and quickly got bored. Tom took over and showed off his arts. It was then that I asked him to sketch some logos and illustrations for my blogs and a series of children stories I was working on. I told him a concept and he was quick at work. In 15 minutes, I started seeing the picture forming. A few more painting and erasing, and he was done with his first assignment. I asked him to draw another sketch, another sketch and another; my amazement never ceased. I kept shaking my head and continued groaning “Why do I suck so badly?”

Then it really dawned on me in that single moment that we had to do whatever it is we’re truly and naturally good at. Otherwise, life will be one unnecessary challenge after another. Yes, we can try and learn new things for fun, but if we’re not naturally good at them, we can deliver only mediocre if not horrible results. I might take drawing and designing classes in my free time, but I will be stupid to consider painter or graphics designer as my career options and compete with people like Tom. What takes him only 15 minutes will surely cost week of my time to come up with an idea, search for free clip art and fix them in photo-editing apps. (See! And it’s not even original.)

Next time when you struggle to decide what you want to do in your life, do one simple task. Watch a painter, observe his focus and flow and see how easy it is for him to produce a work of art. If you choose to do something against your natural talents, be warned that you will have to compete with this master and many more.

Life will not be fun.

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Video: Children see, Children do

There is not much to say as the video has said it all, loud and clear. I am a believer of making the world a better place through children’s education. We’ve whined and bitched too much about many shitty things adults do, their inability to change and open to new things. Instead, we should focus more on building a strong foundation for kids because unless adults are nature’s windfall accidents, they–at one point in time—were kids.

77 ways to beat burnout

In the past, I had a tendency to burn myself out completely. I had a huge problem with taking small breaks here and there and removed myself from working or school environment even when those environments became detrimental to my well-beings. Guess, people have to grow and learn the hard way. It was horrible the burnout feeling as I knew not what the heck was wrong with me. Plus, I had an Asian upbringing which emphasized on being persistence and not quitting in any circumstances. But I never learned when to quit. Once I did, sometimes I quitted a bit early.

I think we should learn to recognize the signs of burning out or, better yet, to prevent burning out at all cost.

Here is 77 ways to avoid them. I checked myself in many of those items.

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What will I do today?

This quote has come to mind lately whenever I hear individuals say what they were 'going to do' or 'wishing they could do'. These people always have lots of reasons why they don't live the life they say they would prefer. In the end, they're just talking (the easier thing to do).

It's not my position to be somebody else's personal Yoda. But in my mind, when I hear these people yearning for their theoretical lives, I'm thinking, 'Do or do not. There is no try.'

Either you're pursuing the life you wish for, or you are not. Either you have a project or two that means something to you or you don't. Our world would be a whole lot more fulfilled if we each agreed to let our actions do our talking for us."

from lifestylism

Well said! I think that when we use the word "trying", we become less motivated and less serious because by trying, we don't have to complete it.