As an artist I have been in denial of the left side of my brain for years. Even my grandmother was an enabler with Christmas gifts such as How to Draw from the Right Side of the Brain. The cycle continued and my teachers in grade school knew I was more interested in which sticker I would place next to my name than what the actual assignment was. And to be honest, not much has changed. I still fill in my calendar with multicolored pens and smiley faces, and I still add the occasional sticker. However I have come to accept that at times it is important to suppress my inner artist and embrace my rational side. I’ve found that by marrying my creativity and my rational thought I can accomplish so much more. Using my right brain I can see where I want to go and with my left I see how to get there.
In order to figure out how all of the different projects in my life connect and how in the world I am supposed to get it all done, I make a map! Multiple maps in fact… Each morning I settle into my desk and open up my magical map of all the possible solutions to the day to day issues I face. My magical map has a beautiful background with vibrant colors and images to placate my artistic side; while being able to drag and drop as I please keeps everything organized for my rational side. I have even created a map appropriately named “Hadley’s World” which is exactly what it sounds like… absolutely everything involved in my world. There are branches that correspond to all of my goals in all of the different facets of my life, from health goals to career goals, all the way to personal goals. The map even takes it a step further by breaking each category down to 1, 5, and 10 years. When I look at my world I can see a representation of where I see my life, and by creating progress markers and deadlines, I can map out what exactly I need to be doing now to make it happen.
To see my map of whole brain thinking go to Maps for That and check it out.
Seeing everything as a whole and being able to visualize my future is a whole brain task. I have to admit that if I went wholly with the right brain’s version of the future that it would involve almost too many twists and turns for my liking. However combining the two creates the harmony I believe Goldilocks felt when she had her porridge and sleeping accommodations just right. By adding a dash of the creative to the intellectual, and using MindManager to get there, I know I will be successful at what I do and will enjoy mapping it out along the way.