In today’s 50 km race, Sweden finally snagged the gold in the cross country skiing world championships, after two straight weeks of silver medals. 

After, winner Johan Olsson said “It feels pretty good to be the world champion.” It was the biggest race of his life and he executed flawlessly. Good job, bro.

The reason I am telling you this is because whenever I get the chance to see a master in action, I am absolutely delighted. There’s something awe-inspiring about it. How many thousands of hours of practice went into that one glorious moment of being the first across the finish line?

Also, even though I honestly don’t like a whole lot of things about Sweden, I can’t help but feel a sense of national pride. Yeah, I know, entirely silly. I just happened to be born here -- his success had nothing to do with me. But I’m happy for the guy, so there’s that.

Mind Mapping Experiment

Now, what I really wanted to talk about today is mind mapping.

What a way to segue into a topic, huh... Anyway, last night I got reminded of the awesome power of using mind maps.

I have known about them since, I think, second grade. I started using them on occasion a few years ago when I wrote a lot of articles and such. I’ve used them for outlining products, blog posts, videos, books, even sales presentations.

I have always gotten great results from using them, but never really gotten in the habit of using them consistently.

The reason they work so well is because they work in the same way our brains do. It is the most natural way to “think on paper.”

I would urge you to try it for at least 30 days or so.

Substitute mind mapping in place of...

• Journaling -- yeah, I know - I’m big on journaling things down word for word. And when something really needs serious thinking about, I will still write it out. However, if I just need to brain-dump and clear my head, mind mapping is much faster. If something needs further exploring, you can write it out.
  
• Note-taking -- books, seminars, recordings, etc. Faster, more intuitive, and you will remember more of it.
  
• Outlining things -- products, articles, blog posts, books, presentations, seminars, to-do lists, etc.
  
• Get creative?

Finally, my favorite web application is, hands down Workflowy.

I agree, weird name. And it isn’t exactly mind mapping, but it mimics how the brain works in a similar way. Try it out, it’s free.

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Today’s writing music: None. Silence. Gentle tapping of an outdated Apple keyboard. Slurping of coffee.

Breakfast reading: Ogilvy on Advertising (still one of the best books on marketing ever, and deserves to be read often)

Bonus plug: Bet you thought I wouldn’t plug my book today. Well, I won’t. But now you’re thinking about it... (*evil smirk*)

Anyway, I am testing a new cover and title. Same book, just looks different. You can find the link in the sidebar.