Map Yourself

I love organizing myself. It’s my favorite time-waster. Though my closets are cluttered and my work desk lacks rhyme or reason, my personal information - calendar, contacts, tasks - is impeccably maintained. I couldn’t care less about physical clutter. But, when I unload all that mental clutter into a planner system, I feel like I just laid the bricks to my very own yellow brick road.

In a recent re-organizing project with stellar time-wasting potential, I discovered Joerg Mueller’s FreeMind software. It makes those great mind-mapping drawings of circles and lines only without the confines of paper edges. I immediately had a vision of a giant web-like matrix detailing my growth as a writer. I could survey all my goals, learning strategies and revenue streams in right-brain language. Naturally, paid writing could wait while I created this virtual map detailing the roads and mountains on my journey of being a writer.

Creating a Monster

I downloaded the free software and placed the Mother circle in the center of the great white space. I titled it “Develop the Writer.” It quickly grew legs and tumors. I gave the tumors action names that began with “I” like “I am a focused writer” and “I know my craft.” Each of those had legs and smaller tumors that detailed the actions needed to live the statements.

It wasn’t long before I had created an impressive, monstrous spider. For some reason, I felt about as repulsed as I would if it were actually a mutant spider. The mind map had accomplished everything that I needed from it. What had before been a stale list of tasks had become a breathing big picture. I could see how everything I was doing fit with my goals of being a freelance writer. Yet, it turned my stomach and I didn’t know why.

It Lives

I stepped away and thought about it for a day or so. It occurred to me that the spider was only an outgrowth of a larger life. If it were a spider plant, writing would only be the little plantlet hanging on the ends of the much larger parent plant. Writing isn’t rooted in its own soil. It gets its nourishment from a larger specimen without which the writing is airless and dead. I craved a mind map that would value balance.

I renamed the Mother circle “Be Whole.” It grew a tumor titled “Develop the Writer.” I attached all the work I had done to this child tumor. Then I created other circles that branched from “Be Whole.” These include “I want to keep my family strong” and “I invite God into my Life.”

Monster Morals

When I feel I have accomplished a task or developed a habit, I put a check in its circle. Mind mapping the most important areas of my life illustrated an important mental block that I’ve been harboring. I’ve had trouble achieving my career goals because I felt that doing so would sacrifice the balance in my life. The mind map reveals that writing does not wipe out those areas I value most. It’s simply another outgrowth of who I am.