This Goal Setting Tool Is Mind Manna

I discovered Tony Buzan's 'Use Your Head' book while looking in a second hand bookshop over two decades ago. It marked the start of my fascination with the concepts and potential of mind maps. I was intrigued enough by the material in the book to try out mind mapping while I was teaching high school science.

This article summarizes the goal setting lessons learned from the classroom experience.

1 - Use What Works:

Students struggling with a demanding academic workload were well used to taking lots of notes. Especially since most teachers (myself included) implicitly praised and valued the power of note taking as an essential study aid.

Naturally enough, my classes couldn't quite get what was the rationale for this mental detour! For the greenhorn mappers we were back then, mind mapping had to be introduced gradually alongside the familiar linear note taking world.

Goal Setting Lesson:

Pick a topic and explore it using mind mapping. Then add in any necessary and supporting details (on a different page) in the form of notes.

2- Feeding The Habit:

While taking mountains of notes certainly requires time and effort, it also cultivates the lazy mental habit that is mindlessly copying chunks of information from a textbook or blackboard word-for-word. Alas, my classes loved to be drip fed notes.

Goal Setting Lesson:

Take a popular goal setting book and read one chapter. Then put the book aside and simplify the chapter title as one word in the center of a sheet of paper. Next, let your imagination roam and add about five keyword concepts from the chapter sole word branches on your map.

3 - Patience:

New mind mappers often report it difficult to remember keywords from the section they recently finished reading. Relax! Making mistakes while practicing any new skill is part of the learning experience.

Goal Setting Lesson:

Begin your mind mapping journey with books you really enjoy. With regular practice, more and more ideas will bubble up from your memory banks as you concentrate on the main keyword. Remember to add them as single keywords to the map using a pencil, not a pen!

For my science classes this was never easy because many teachers and role models had drilled into them throughout their school years the 'fact' that pages and pages of notes were absolutely a requirement to pass exams.

4- One Word:

This is probably the most difficult task of all! It is much easier to write volumes than fine tune the meaning into just one word. Of course there are issues when applying the keyword method to academic areas such as mathematical equations or science formulae. Again, remember the advice in section 1) about using what works.

Goal Setting Lesson:

Pick out the optimal summary keyword and start with that, leaving the nested sub-branches and supporting linear notes to take care of the details as and when they come to you.

5 - Review:

Looks like homework! Not exactly. Many mind maps on goal setting are "under construction" and will therefore need regular review to remain up to date. A quarter of a century ago this was a real pain in the neck (and fingers!) to do using pencil and eraser - my classes especially detested it!

These days there are fantastic mind mapping software applications which can be used as a goal setting tool.

Goal Setting Lesson:

Check out the capabilities of the commercial and open source software packages as a potential goal setting tool. The commercial packages usually have a free trial period.

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