In today's world with the incredible speed of change you have to find ways to learn quickly. One of the techniques I encountered through my training life was mind mapping. We had set up a learning centre in our office and we bought a video that explained mind mapping which sounded quite interesting. By coincidence, shortly afterwards, I happened to be sitting next to someone at a conference I was attending and I noticed that she was creating a mind map for each talk. She had a A5 size note book and pens with different colours. In one of the breaks I asked her how she came to learn mind mapping. She told me that their team had decided to learn mind mapping for a period of three months and then the use of the technique was optional. They discovered that 8 out of the 10 members of the team continued to mind map and used it for just about everything. So I started too and years later I still use it. We had the daughter of a member of staff working in our learning centre during her gap year before university. I encouraged her to start using mind mapping and she took to it in a big way. She went on to Cardiff university and used it for all her lecture notes. When it came to revision she created mind maps of mind maps and passed her degree with top marks.
The video we had in our learning zone was by Tony Buzan and here is a short video where he explains mind mapping.
Here is an explanation of how to use mind mapping.
A lot of my mind mapping has been using multi coloured pens and a sketchbook. Then I decided sometime back that I wanted a mind mapping app that I could use on my iPhone and iPad. Having looked around I decided that iThoughts gave me everything I wanted and it has served me well.
I've recorded a short video to show how I have used iThoughts to capture my personal vision as a happy retiree.
I was very fortunate to spend a good chunk of my training and coaching career developing young leaders. With the help of two amazing external trainers we developed an 'Inspirational Leadership Programme'.
Creating a personal leadership vision
On day 3 of the programme we helped leaders to develop their personal visions and it was such an inspiring part of the programme, for both participants and trainers. My personal vision, which I had to showcase/role model for the participants, started off something along the lines of 'Releasing the Potential of People'. Then (as I found that a bit boring) it evolved to 'Releasing the Magic in People' and when I decided, feeling a bit embarrassed, to declare to the 19 people in the training room, that my vision was to 'Releasing the Magic in 100,000 People'. This by default meant that to get to 100,000 people I would have to motivate an army of people to be able to achieve my vision. Shortly after I launched my ambitious vision, I was asked by Nestlé Head Office to provide the coaching content for a programme to be rolled out across the whole of Nestlé global world. The the coaching programme my team and I had developed for Nestlé Purina was to be used across the whole Nestlé world. WOW ..... I guess in some little way I did contribute to releasing the magic in over 300,000 people. After I retired in 2010 I set up my business 'Release the Magic' and ran it very successfully for 10 years, reinforcing the benefit of having a vision.
How to create your vision
I will always remember one of the trainers saying that having a vision allowed you 'to see the image of the cathedral as you mixed the cement'. You always keep in your mind what it is that you are setting out to achieve.
For guidance on how to create a personal vision I found the following web site.
Think about how your values should guide interactions with family, at work, and within your community.
Consider the best uses for your life energy based on your inner compass and values.
Identify some specific goals that you want to pursue.
Imagine the legacy of your purpose, goals, and actions.
Examine your notes to see what jumps out as most important.
Compose a paragraph that summarizes your priorities in the form of a vision statement
How great leaders inspire action
Before embarking on developing your personal vision, please watch this video from Simon Sinek, viewed by nearly 17 million people! I think he has captured the very essence of how to create a personal vision.
I will go into more detail in our future coaching sessions as I help you to create your first life vision.
The following is how I applied the golden circle to my business. How I used WHY and HOW to create a business that I loved running.
