I had no clue really on where to begin. And there wasn’t many solutions being said. So I created a new mind map (Mind Manager). I added a section for each of my web sites (I had three at the time), my blogs, and other scattered things and ideas. It was a big mess. One of the biggest, worse, unorganized mind maps I had ever done in the last 15 years. Every few days I looked at it, shaking my head, still seeing the mess.

I stopped looking at it for a few weeks thinking it was hopeless, “I had no idea of what I was doing.” Then one morning, from my waking state, I could see two connections.

I went to the map, organized those and even found a few other things I was missing.

From that point on, every few days I began seeing new connections, new ways on how I needed to restructure.

By September the plan was clear. It was now organized and it all made sense.

I continued prioritizing and adding the task elements and project dates. The task list was huge but bitable.

Shortly afterwards, I had my restructuring outline and all the details for completing it.

I learned the most valuable lesson of them all through this process . . . patience. Before this my mind maps were fairly simple.

This new plan ended up becoming 12 maps interconnected.

The second most valuable lesson, just start with whatever you have, don’t judge it if it’s a mess and change it until it makes sense.

Previously, all my maps were done in one or two sittings. Long term plans were just too overwhelming. This is why it begin to really work when I broke them into different maps. Now, I feel I’ve really learned to brainstorm with maps and how important it is to let them grow.

I still struggle with the patience . . . I still want it done yesterday. That, I believe, will be a continue work in progress.