Planning and goal setting

I want to leave the discussion of permaculture for a moment and discuss planning and goal setting. I particular, I want to mention mind mapping. Mind mapping is a way of organizing your thoughts about a subject, in a way that shows all of the interactions among the different elements.

Permaculture, as an interdisciplinary subject, seems a prime candidate for this technique.

  During the past year I’ve had the opportunity to review two books on this subject. Both were by Toni Krasnic. One was Concise Learning and the second was Mind Mapping for Kids. You can see my reviews at www.amazon.com under the name vallere. You can access Toni’s website at www.conciselearning.com

Both these books show ways of organizing your thoughts to see how they relate to each other, as well as ways to research and learn new material.

While Concise Learning is hardcover, Mind Mapping for Kids is only available as an ebook. This has the advantage of imbedded hyperlinks to other sites that expand on the subject.

I was through one of these links that I came across www.IQMatrix.com. This site operated by Adam Sicinski, has a wealth of information on mind mapping. There is even a free ebook to download.




One problem with Adam’s mind maps are they are so elaborate that it may discourage you from doing your own. Don’t be intimidated! Think of a stick figure drawing versus a Picasso. Both convey the idea. One is just fancier than the other. Create your maps according to your ability. It’s the content that counts.

I signed up for Adam’s newsletter and this led to a review of Goalscape, a goal setting software program. www.goalscape.com . Isn’t it great how surfing the web can lead from one great site to another?

Goalscape is different from mind mapping, but I think it can be equally effective. There is a video on the site that shows it in action.

You can get a version of mind mapping software for free or you can pay for a more powerful version. There is only a trial version of Goalscape or the paid version.

I am currently using a free version of mind mapping. I’m taking notes of limits to my diagrams and options for printing and sharing and when the time comes that I feel comfortable, I will get a full feature program. Goalscape is on my wish list, but will have to wait until other priorities are settled.

Does this topic have anything to do with our discussion of permaculture? I think these techniques can help us to organize our plans and define future directions for our activities. I’m a visual person, so this helps me see the connection between my various thought activities and possibly reprioritize them to achieve my goals.

Have you ever used a mind map or Goalscape? If so, would you share your insights with us?