Ask questions? Yes, but make sure they are the right ones.

1. motivation
2. inspiration
3. dedication
4. fascination
5. preparation
6. execution
7. solicitation
8. anticipation
9. aggregation
10. expectation
11. gestation
12. orchestration
13. juxtaposition
14. predication
15. qualification
16. relaxation
17. supposition
18. maximization
19. simulation
20. exaltation
21. ramification
22. justification
23. direction
24. elation
25. restoration

What *ation would you add to the list? What makes for success at your work?

Software Mind Mapping

The year began slowly, as I explored the available software. The first software application I discovered was FreeMind. This open-source product was a good place to start, but its weaknesses left me wanting more. Next was ConceptDraw’s MindMap 4, which was a big improvement over the no-cost FreeMind. Then I installed MindJet’s MindManager 6 and things were looking brighter. Of course, it wasn’t long before the new, updated versions were released.

Web-Based Mind Mapping

Online mind mapping came to the forefront in 2007, also. MindMeister, Mindomo, Mind42, Bubbl.us, and comapping came online to a receptive audience, eager to try the features and promises of web-based mapping, with visions of Gmail-like images dancing in their heads.

Many people found great satisfaction in these web-based mapping tools, in particular the real-time collaboration feature. I was excited about them too, but ultimately was disappointed in their limited functions.

New and Improved

Fearing the loss of potential customers, desktop mind mapping companies fought back with new and improved versions of their software.

ConceptDraw released MindMap 5, fixing many of the issues I had with version 4. A vastly improved product, I used MindMap 5 exclusively for several months, having only a few issues with the operation of the product.

Then MindManager Pro 7 came out. This release by MindJet took the already industry leading mind mapping software well past the competition and straight into my computer.  MindManager Pro 7′s new ribbon interface took some getting used to, but the advanced features were the big selling point. The bar had been raised.

Other Desktop Tools

Other than the products mentioned above, I have looked at and/or tried the following software applications over the course of 2007. Most are niche products, but several are worthy of more exploration.

Cmap
Personal Brain
3D Topiscape
NovaMind
Compendium
Thoughtex
xMind for Mac users
MindGenius
MindVisualizer
iMindMap

Even though there are other applications, these represent the ones I spent some time looking at. 

Motivation on the Run resources

If you’re interested in reading more of my thoughts about mind mapping through 2007, here are links to different articles on Motivation on the Run.

I might have chronicled the journey better,  which will be a part of the goal for 2008, but learning about mind mapping has been a productive adventure and I now use MindManager Pro 7 daily. In fact it’s hard to remember doing without mind mapping as part of the daily routine.

January 2007

Tony Buzan and Mind Mapping
Mind Mapping—A 2007 Goal

February 2007

Weekend Light Mind Mapping
Mind Mapping Moves Mainstream and Online

March 2007

Three We-Based Mind Mapping Tools Reviewed

April 2007

So You Want to be a Mind Mapper
Presenting Mind Mapping to the ABWA

May 2007

MindMeister Goes Live
Interview with MindJet Lisa Arthur
Software that minds your business
10 Reasons to Love MindManager

June 2007

Selecting Mind Mapping Software

August 2007

CondeptDraw’s MINDMAP 5 Professional

October 2007

Make a Life-map of Achievements

2008 Goals

The goal in this area for 2008 is Wikis. Like mind mapping before, I’ve seen and used wikis a little, but I want to get a better understanding. As part of the goal, I will document the process better, if for nothing else than my future information.

With Wikipedia as the granddaddy of all wikis, it is the driving force in learning how to put the knowledge of my brain into a collection of thoughts and memories, easily searchable and editable. In a way, that’s a scary thought, but by the end of 2008 I’ll see where the trip leads.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and is preparing for a safe New Year.

The personal mission statement should be easy to remember, easy to recite, and easy to measure.

Followers of this site know I wrote about the search for a life personal mission statement in a 4-part series (there was a 1.5 article too) beginning here in September 2006. I never finished the series because I never felt I had a good handle on the whole mission statement thing.

I realize that sounds strange, but the suggestions from the resources I used left me feeling high and dry. I would put together a statement using the tools I found and read them without proper emotion. I couldn’t get attached to anything I wrote. I probably should have written a closing post at the time containing that information, but didn’t. My bad!

The personal mission statement should be easy to remember, easy to recite, and easy to measure. I think Corporate Missions Statements should also meet that criteria, but most I’ve read don’t. The last CMS I saw hanging on a wall was a challenge to read with no possibility of easy recitation. It was about four paragraphs long, filled with general platitudes. “We will be the best … do the most … scream the loudest …” I bet no employee or manager could recite the CMS without referring to the poster on the wall.

A year later, I feel I have grasped the concept and have developed my Personal Mission Statement is. Are you ready?

Having fun, serving people!

A mission statement I can remember, say to myself when needed, and capturing what is truly essential in a PMS. Goals, short, mid, and long range can fit inside this statement, setting the mood for not only today, but the rest of life.

Having fun, serving people!

It’s a PMS that changes meanings with a change in punctuation. With the comma, it contains two complimenting statements, and without the comma, a statement of life.

Having fun, serving people!

Having fun serving people!

Two personal mission statements in one. That speaks to me in a lot of ways. I GET IT! It guides actions and thoughts, attitude and service, myself and others.

Having fun

Having fun doesn’t mean laughing at everything that passes my way. No rather, quoting King Soloman in Ecclesiastes 3:22

And I have seen that nothing is better than that a man should be happy in his activities, for this is his reward …

Life is too short to hate what you must do every day, whether it’s your job or your boss. This has limitations, but with wisdom, I believe the concept is true. Notice also, it doesn’t offer any guarantees, but simply states that “nothing is better” for a man. We can continue to trudge along in misery, or choose to have the attitude of happiness.

This may not mean quitting a job, simply changing an attitude. Choosing to be happy results in happiness, as we’ve all witnessed. The opposite is also true … choosing to be whiney and miserable, also allows you to succeed.

I think it was Henry Ford that said, “whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you are right.” Our mental attitude can be a strong motivator or a strong de-motivator. It’s our choice to make.

Serving people!

Serving people is my main purpose, behind serving God. When I can help someone, it allows for the first part of the PMS to be true. When I am actively doing something for people, I am having fun … it’s just that simple.

This covers my wife, friends, customers, bosses, co-workers, etc. There is no limit to who I should serve, each in their own way. Think about it. It takes everyone into account.

The opposite is also true. When I am selfish and concerned only with myself, I am not happy. I see others struggle with this same problem, focusing so much on self, thinking it will bring happiness, and of course, it doesn’t.

Having fun, serving people!

Having fun serving people!

What do you think?

Her article titled, Common Reputation Management Issues and How to Address Them, covers the material in depth. She discusses online tracking, online rebutals, and other methods to manage your reputation.

Reading Linda’s article makes me to believe we are on the same page with the management issue. If you remember from the podcast, I said you can’t manage your reputation because of its definition. Your reputation is what someone else thinks about you, which can be out of your control. What you can do is influence your reputation by offering a positive choice, which is exactly what Linda advises.

This is typical of Steve, giving more than you expect, then exceeding even that by a few levels. Steve is the author of two books, The Radical Leap, and The Radical Edge, which you can pick up at Amazon.

Here is a brief documentary on Steve that will show you a little about his leadership philosophy.

In the first, by Carmine Gallo, seven secrets are revealed to make you a better leader. Carmine is working on a new book titled Fire Them Up. For the book, he interviewed a lot of leaders on how they inspire and lead. Judging from the article, the book will become a must read.

The Seven Secrets of Inspiring Leaders
American business professionals are uninspired. Only 10% of employees look forward to going to work and most point to a lack of leadership as the reason why, according to a recent Maritz Research poll. But it doesn’t have to be that way. All business leaders have the power to inspire, motivate, and positively influence the people in their professional lives.

For the past year, I have been interviewing renowned leaders, entrepreneurs, and educators who have an extraordinary ability to sell their vision, values, and themselves. I was researching their communications secrets for my new book, Fire Them Up. What I found were seven techniques that you can easily adopt in your own professional communications with your employees, clients, and investors.

Liz Ryan’s article titled, 10 Tips for Networkers, is a keeper, too. She cuts to the chase without mincing words uses great analogies to illustrate her points. If you think you’re a good networker and don’t seem to have a great time at different events, don’t let Liz hurt your feelings. Listen and learn to get better.

10 Tips for Networkers
If you want to impress your friends with a fancy new word you’ve learned, here’s a good one: retronym.

Dictionary.com defines it as “a term, as acoustic guitar, coined in modification of the original referent that was used alone, as guitar, to distinguish it from a later contrastive development, as electric guitar.”

I bring this up in a workplace-advice column only because I’ve got a new retronym to add to our vocabulary, and it’s this: “non-disgusting networking.” Yes, back in the old days we could talk about plain old networking, referring to business events after hours and industry galas where businesspeople would mingle. We could use the word networking to refer to our LinkedIn activities and other kinds of outreach that happened among professional types online. Those days are pretty much gone. Now, if we don’t want to alarm people when we talk about our networking endeavors, we have to be quick to note that we’re talking about the non-disgusting kind.

[tags]Business Week Online, networking, leadership, inspire[/tags]

Yesterday, D*I*Y posted this article about making a life-map, giving details about the process. I hadn’t thought of this idea before, so I wanted to share.

Make a Life-map of Achievements | D*I*Y Planner
Looking back at my life, I sometimes get so bogged down in the day to day activities that I forget all the good and wonderful things I have done in my life. Sometimes, I need to be reminded of my accomplishments to help get me out of a funk. That’s why I sometimes keep a list of all the accomplishments laying around. However, while playing with my mind mapping software, I came up with an alternative idea for visually keeping track of my accomplishments. I call it my Life-map of Achievements.

[tags]mind mapping[/tags]

Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen

Give me down to there hair
Shoulder length or longer
Here baby, there mama
Everywhere daddy daddy

Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair

I had a life changing experience seven years ago when I shaved off my thirty-year mustache. Samson had a life changing experience when Delilah cut off his hair, which gave him super strength. However, he regained his strength when his hair grew back. Ergo, I need to regrow my mustache to get my strength back.

Where did our obsession with hair come from? And is this focus on facial hair somehow unnatural, or is our constant removal of this naturally growing hair a wrong-headed notion? Why do we spend so much time thinking about the hair on our head or the lack thereof?

Last week The Redhead asked, “Have you thought about how our lives have changed since you shaved off your mustache?” I admitted I had not, but it started me thinking: What was our life like when I had my mustache, and how did it change after I shaved it off?

With Mustache

I grew a mustache naturally, meaning, as a teenager, I just never shaved my upper lip. For the first few years, no one noticed I had a mustache, but I knew it was there (It’s a man thing). Gradually it thicken and darken over the years, which pleased me to no end.

Our lives with the mustache followed a natural progression of jobs and houses. Here is the overview of thirty years with the mustache:

• 11 different company jobs
• 3 businesses started
• 8 houses lived in
• 4 of 8 houses we owned
• Income increase every year

Without Mustache

I held a sales job for a national office machine company, and after eighteen months accepted a promotion to Sales Manager in the largest sales territory in the Southwest Region. The company had a “no facial hair” policy, but my mustache and I had slipped under the radar in a remote territory without much supervision. The promotion would bring me into the spotlight, so I decided to shave the mustache before moving to Houston.

Long story short: I left that company thirteen months later in pure frustration, taking my clean shaven face with me. Here is what the seven years since then have looked like without the mustache.

• 2 different company jobs
• 1 business started
• 7 houses lived in
• 0 houses owned
• Income decreases every year

As you might conclude, The Redhead is getting a bit frosty about the housing situation. In the last seven years, we’ve lived in one less house than in the previous thirty years. That’s unacceptable and needs to change. The income is another story, but we’re working to rectify that issue.

The Mustache is Back

The mustache is back!

[tags]mustache, facial hair, Samson, Delilah[/tags]

Here is a brief sampling from the twenty-five.

Kent Blumberg: 25 Truths About Time

1. Time is a limited resource – you can’t make more of it. But, you have more time than you need if you use it wisely.
2. You choose how to spend your time.
3. Time is elastic – you can stretch it or compress it.
4. Do what matters to you.
5. Eliminate shoulds and coulds.

And it just gets better.

[tags]Kent Blumberg, time, time-management[/tags]