Do you find yourself at the end of the day barely able to lift a pencil to scratch out your to do list for tomorrow? And, if you are anything like me – a restless and obsessive believer in doing just a few thousand more things before going to bed, you are angsting because you might have forgotten to do something really important.
You have written a great story, but you haven’t found a way to tell it. You have a bunch of great ideas, but you can’t connect them. You know you could be doing more to move the needle forward, but there isn’t enough time to do it. I wrote a post about this a while ago about this because so many people seem to feel this way.
Walt Disney used to draw mind maps to visually plot out his thinking. By putting things down on paper, you make them real. You can instantly see how to connect your actions to get to a goal and how all of your objectives are related to each other. Most importantly, you can see the weak spots and where you need to focus.
Instant Vision
Have you ever wondered what your dreams look like? Sketch out what needs to be part of that dream and connect them with lines of action. You may be quite surprised to see what what you envision in your mind.
The Ultimate Strategy
Success in another time might have looked like an assembly line operation. One person stuffs the widget in a box. The next person slaps a label on it so that the next person can stamp it and another person can toss it in the truck. If one step of the operation was missing, the whole process would get stuck but you would know exactly where the problem was.
But now things move so quickly and in so many different directions that you can’t keep up with everything you could be doing. I lose a lot of sleep over this.
Drawing a map helps me. What do I draw? I draw an experience I would like to deliver – an artist event, a book launch, a knitting circle, a conference workshop. I draw how I need to set that up. I draw what success looks like, what Wow! looks like. Seeing the flow of a project shows me what I need to be doing and when.
Like getting a restful night’s sleep clutching my mindmap.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/bigduke6/3525375127/” title=”Walt Disney Mind Map by Peter-Duke, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3392/3525375127_092ae0c6b6.jpg” width=”500″ height=”437″ alt=”Walt Disney Mind Map” /></a>
Some of you may be the first child, like me, the one with the dents on your head. Or you may be the middle child, caught between everything. The third child is the clean up batter who has to knock in all of the players on base.
No pressure.
Welcome to the Year of the Poodle!
Sky is the wise third child of our family. I wonder if it is because he lost all of his front teeth running amok in a library at the age of three and found it easier to listen than to speak. He has an alter kop (Yiddish for wisdom) in a skinny thirteen year old body.
Here’s a recent conversation between Sky and his older brother Remy:
Sky: If I don’t fast for holidays like Yom Kippur will I turn into a Catholic?
Remy: God doesn’t do stuff like that. You are whatever you are unless you screw up or forget to go to your bar mitzvah. Don’t worry about it. You are what you’re supposed to be.
Sky: What are you?
Remy: Right now I’m kind of hungry but I guess you could say I’m a philosophy major. I wanted to sign up for a class on comparative religions, like Hinduism which looks pretty cool, but those lectures are way too early. Can’t do early morning classes.
Sky: I’m going to be taking care of you forever, aren’t I?
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
Can You Really Interest Your Son in Painting the Kitchen?
Listen, any chance I get to hang out with my boys, Remy and Sky, I jump for. Painting our kitchen doesn’t seem like the most obvious place to do this but I thought it would be a kind of quirky place to have a little fun.
Feed Your Talent
This is the secret to my success. I can get Remy and Sky to do almost anything if I feed them first. Yes, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I made them both a Manly Man Breakfast this morning and when they were finally full and happy I asked them to help me pick out colors for the kitchen. They never saw it coming!
Do Dramatic Readings
Ask your son to pick out colors? Are you insane? Of course you’re not nor would you ever think of such a thing! How do you tackle that tactfully?
Get Pumped About It
Facebook it! Mikki, my daughter, loved seeing Remy get into this project and shared it with her friends. The fate of my kitchen is now in the hands of my kids and we are having a great time together figuring it out.
Here’s a video for you to enjoy!
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes for artful living, please check out:
You can’t have perfect hair when its sleeting outside.
Those two things just don’t coexist in the same universe. Neither do our playlists, Remy’s and mine. Well, maybe a song or two but that’s something we try not to mention too often.
Do you remember being absolutely embarrassed to death by your parents?
“Mom, puhleeeese stop the car now, NOW! I can walk the rest of the way -”
“But we haven’t even left yet.”
“MOMMMMM! Can you just drive away? Don’t turn around, don’t look at me, don’t act like you just made my lunch.”
“Oh, you’ll love the sandwich! It’s your favorite – “
SLAM!
Does this sound familiar to you? You probably know what a long crawl it is back to the edge of being barely acceptable. I keep forgetting how exhausting it is to plummet into sheer uselessness and to be someone to be endured until adolescence disappears.
Somehow, we gasped our way to twenty with Remy and it is a new era. We have conversations, we enjoy being around each other. Today he came with me to help out in my office. He had a big smile on his face and got along with everyone.
When Seth asked him how his day went, Remy grinned. ”It’s all good.”
Wow! I felt like, well, cool. Not mad cool or stupid cool or whatever they say that means really really cool.
I felt cool. Happy cool.
Here’s how you can be cool too
Feed the kid. Before we left, I made sure to get Remy a breakfast box from Boardwalk Bagel that had a toasted bagel, scrambled eggs, bacon and french fries. By the time we got to my office, he was happy and full.
Let him pick the the music. You may not like what your kid likes. You probably won’t. But you will score points simply by agreeing to listen.
Listen. Don’t be judgmental. Be an ear. A big smiling genuinely interested ear.
These tips will get you started on your journey to coolness, for many like me, a lifelong effort. If you feel you fall short of this lofty goal, don’t be discouraged. You may not be cool but you will be loved for trying.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes for artful living, please check out:
Time to take a good look at yourself and say, “Oh my God, where do I begin?”
You didn’t get to living, feeling or looking the way you do now overnight. No, darling. You indulged, splurged, luxuriated and procrastinated your way to today. And all of that takes up a lot of your time.
But you know what? I have a wonderful secret to share with you since I, too, need to do something besides write those silly New Year resolutions.
All of us have a list of big life transforming goals like – learn Portuguese, read all of Charles Dickens, lose twenty pounds forever. These are things that will take a long time to do. Hours, days, years. Chunks of time that are not so easy to find.
But you can change the world in five minutes. How?
Look at your list of small things that make a big difference
take a picture of the sunrise and send it to a friend (too early for you? how about a sunset?)
put every pair of your favorite shoes that need some TLC in a bag for the shoemaker
research a new foundation
do two simple yoga stretches
call your mom
look in your medicine cabinet and toss out anything that is expired
pair up your knitting needles
sew on a button
put coupons in your wallet
eat a crunchy apple
All of the above and more can be done in five minutes and give you a spark of accomplishment throughout your day.
Get more Wow!
If you want style notes and more for people who change the world, please check out:
– Forward the link to someone you think would be interested
– Link to a post on Twitter (follow me @hylkrakauer)
– Put a link to the blog in your Facebook status update
Thanks so much! I really appreciate your help.
Word of mouth is the best way to share, don’t you agree?
Sky walked into the kitchen where he knew there was always something to eat. However, if you had to open a jar or take something out a bag, Remy would probably starve. Food had to appear on a plate ready to eat and right under his nose. Sky made himself a bowl of cereal with milk and tossed some strawberries on top. He hesitated slightly before sitting down at the dining table.
photo by Peter-Duke
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