Jodi?s ten-year vision focused very much on the type of restaurant he would like to work in ? will it be big or small; what sort of cuisine; what sort of clientele; urban or rural; and so on. He has always been an outgoing, sociable type so does not foresee any need to focus on the other elements; if he has to move away from his current circle of friends he is sure he will make new ones wherever he goes and the old ones will visit.
Shauna knows that ultimately she will need to get a job to boost the family finances but she cannot really focus on that now. Her main vision at this stage is of being a self-confident person, able to hold her own in conversation; to hold opinions about things that are important to her but not afraid to debate other points of view; to have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances with whom she feels comfortable to engage in such discussions. A real fairy godmother present would be to have the nerve to stand up in front of an audience to give a talk. She knows this is important in a lot of jobs these days.
Yeah, my turning point came when my daughter and son started school, especially my daughter because, between having my daughter and my youngest son, I had a gap. So when she started school I went back to further studies, it kind of turned me around and made me realise that this was what I wanted to do. I wanted to further my education. I wanted to improve my goals in life, my prospects for getting a job.
Now use your thinking from the last two activities to produce a mind map for your life in ten years? time. Write ‘Me in ten years? in the central circle on the paper and put your key ideas along the branches coming out of the centre. Build up your mind map. Remember that you can be as artistic and creative as you wish. Enjoy this opportunity to include some wonderful ideas about your future.
Did creating this mind map help you to come up with new ideas about where you want to be, doing what and with whom? We hope this reinforced some of your earlier learning about the usefulness of mind mapping. Having a structure in mind is also useful in other aspects of learning. It has been suggested that mind maps do encourage creativity and show that planning is best when it can build on new and interesting ideas.
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