Mind Management:
Thought and task Organisation
Watch this video as an alternative to reading the page.
This mind management page will be of help if you are generally disorganised. The thought structuring method below has made me a more organized person. Now I get things done faster and more efficiently. The Great thing is you can apply it to pretty much anything.
The process is basically the easiest way to order your thoughts and actions. It starts with a clear and distinct end result. Then you simply keep breaking the problem down in to manageable chunks.
Ways of looking at the world: holistically versus sequentially:
It is thought dyslexic people prefer a holistic view of the world (the overview/big picture).
I believe this is one of the reasons why I found reading confusing from an early age. I tried to look at it holistically to understand how it worked; I found lots of contradictions and rules that are made to be broken. Click here to find out Why I Hate the English Language.
It is claimed non-dyslexic people generally view the world sequentially. Learning and doing things in sequence taking one thing at a time. The method below is about doing things sequentially.
Start by asking yourself questions:
The smashing thing about this mind management method is you can apply it to almost any task. The first thing is to get into the habit of asking yourself questions. Let’s say for example I’m cooking dinner for 20 people.
Obviously there is nothing hard about throwing a dinner party. It’s simply the first example that comes to mind. The idea of the party is irrelevant. It’s the process of ordering it by breaking it down which is important.
The most important part of mind management is to define the end result:
The first and most important question is what do I want the end result to be? What am I trying to achieve? I picture the end result in my mind and work backwards.
The end result of the dinner party is to feed 20 people, and make sure everyone enjoys themselves. Now I’ve got my end result defined I simply ask myself questions to break it down.
Break the end result down into manageable goals:
Good, now we can break the problem down into the needed number of main goals to achieve the end result:
1. Feeding the guests
2. The guests having a good time
Again from there I keep asking myself questions. How am I going to feed my guests? Is it going to be a buffet or a sit down meal? Well let’s say I’m going to do the full sit down meal.
Ok what about making sure everyone has a good time? Keeping it simple is generally a golden rule to success. A party needs three things for a good time music, alcohol and silliness.
Now I know what I want the next step of the mind management method is to break everything down again into tasks. I’ll make myself two task lists one for each of the main goals.
Task list 1:
Feeding the guests:
- Chicken portion: 17
- Vegetarian alternatives: 3
- Potatoes: 4 per person
- Vegetables: for 20 people
- Cook the food
- Lay the table
Task list 2:
Everyone having a good time:
- Beer and wine: Loads
- Music: Get my mate Gary to come with his karaoke machine.
- Get my collection of ‘Now that’s what I call rubbish music’ CD’s out.
Efficiency:
I now need to look at the task lists and ask myself what is the fastest and cheapest way to get this all done? For example I could get Gary to bring over his CD’s. He’s got a bigger collection of music and it will save me time while shopping.
All I need to do now is to put a number by the side of each task to show which order to do them in. The order should obviously be the quickest and easiest way to get everything done. Then I just do them one by one (sequentially).
Conclusion:
This mind management method is a simple but useful example of how to consider a task sequentially. Dyslexic people are claimed to be more holistic thinkers. However being able to think sequentially and holistically must logically be the most effective way to consider any problem.
This method helps me think one step at a time. I can also use it to link the parts of a problem together in my mind.
When using this mind management method don’t feel that you have to write everything out. Simply use it as a way of ordering your thoughts. Click here for more Learning Strategies.
