Because of my medical issues that appeared last week I’m once again able to only work limited hours every day. When I go on this limited schedule I find that I must focus on only the important things on my to do list and projects. I’m finding that I have to post-pone or just not do activities that sounded good at the time.
I would like to have unlimited energy and be able to work a full day but pneumonia is one of those diseases that won’t allow me to do so. Last time I tangled with this beast was over twenty years ago and it took months before I was fully able to resume all the things I was doing before I had it. I’m hoping that this time will be different but I’m planning a reduced schedule.
A reduced schedule means that I can only give one or two people a day my full attention on either a phone conference or personal meeting. The rest of the time I have to prepare so I don’t forget anything and or put together agendas for meetings and follow through after the meeting with turning my meeting notes into mind maps.
I find that if there are many moving parts to a meeting or a project it helps to use a mind map as a method of communicating the entire project to both myself and others who are working with me.
The Clients I’m working with just don’t like to read long reports. I do find that when I turn lineal notes into a mind map the comprehension and enthusiasm about doing a full project is much larger. I’m able to lay out all of the steps and then leave the ordering of those steps to the Clients or with other members of our team. I find it a liberating experience to not have to roll the boulder up the hill by myself. Using a mind map allows me to share that burden.
This entry was going to be about having limited energy and how I manage that. Now, it’s morphed into a conversation about mind maps. I guess I’ve done both……using mind maps helps me manage my energy and keep everyone on the same page with little effort. Now that I’ve identified this it’s time to put my thoughts into actions, even with limited energy I should be able to do this.
Josh Patrick
Thank you for sharing this. Jotting down ideas can really help you facilitate thinking and brainstorming process, saving time and managing work. I use Seavus DropMind™ and I can say that using mind mapping software really helped me be more productive at work and in my personal life.