Mapping out what matters most

A few days ago I picked up an incredibly useful book on Amazon called, Problem Solving 101 - A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe. Price: $ 14.52 hardcover

This book was creatively written and illustrated for young children as well as adult learners about how to work towards the meaningful things in my life using very elementary thought processes.

I've never been too big on dissecting my precious life goals using cold systematic graphing and mapping. Nevertheless, Ken's book was just too charming, fun and non-intimidating with light-hearted stories of John the octopus kid and Kiwi the aspiring soccer girl. I thought I'd at least give it one try.



30 committed minutes later...
here's what one of my mind maps looked like:

Please don't mind the convict-like handwriting.

Basically what this book did for me was gently encourage me to sit my restless butt down to draw out a simple and logical plan of what I wanted to be and how I would get there within the 2-year span I allowed myself.

I normally would run 10 feet away from these exercises but after mapping out my career goals, I think this kind of footwork is just too important to ignore if you have any ounce of ambition in your life - which you should.

The key to getting something out of this is that you absolutely HAVE to put what you learn into practice. Don't read the book without a notepad and pencil/pen in hand.

For $14.52, this 110-paged book that I finished in one sitting transfigured my seemingly gigantic life goals into small manageable bite sizes.

That's priceless value for a fraction of the price.