Vanda North

• Are the piles on your desk getting taller?
• Do you now have several in-trays?
• Can you find stacks of unruly bundles hidden in corners?
• Do you feel overwhelmed? overworked? tired? worried?
• Don't know where to start?
• Is everything urgent?
• Are faxes, e-mails and bulletins bulging your computer's memory and your brain cells?
• Are you constantly being interrupted?

If you have answered 'Yes' to even one of these, read on ... help is at hand.

Tony Buzan has created a brilliantly simple yet highly efficient process for studying called MMOST - the Mind Map Organic Study Technique. I would like to suggest the same process can be used to get on top of your work, with just the same superb results and feelings of satisfaction - interested?

In order to take best advantage of your note-taking opportunities, it is important for you to organise your approach in a way that allows you to build up a clearly structured Mind Map as your note-taking progresses. MMOST is the optimum way for you to do this. There are eight basic steps:

1. Very quickly browse or look through the entire book or article, getting a general feel for the way it is organised. 2. Work out the length of time to be spent studying and determine the amount of material to be covered in that time. 3. Mind Map what you already know in that subject area in order to establish associative mental 'grappling hooks'. 4. Define your aims and objectives for this study session and complete a different Mind Map of all the questions that need to be answered. 5. Take an overview of the text, looking at the table of contents, major headings, results, conclusions, summaries, major illustrations or graphs, and any other important elements which catch your eye. This process will give you the central image and main branches (or Basic Ordering Ideas) of your new polycategoric Mind Map of the text. Many students report that they have often completed 90 percent of their learning task by the time they finish the overview stage. By focusing on the overall structure and major elements of the text, the author's essential ordering impetus rapidly becomes clear and can easily be Mind Mapped. 6. Now move on to the preview, looking at all the material not covered in the overview, particularly the beginnings and ends of paragraphs, sections and chapters, where the essential information tends to be concentrated. Add to your Mind Map. 7. The next stage is the inview, in which you fill in the bulk of the learning puzzle, still skipping over any major problem areas. Having familiarised yourself with the rest of the text, you should now find it much easier to understand these passages and bulk out your Mind Map. 8. Finally there is the review stage, in which you go back over the difficult areas you skipped in the earlier stages and look back over the text to answer any remaining questions or fulfil any remaining objectives. At this point you should complete your Mind Map notes.

The process can be likened to building up a jigsaw puzzle, beginning by looking at the complete picture on the box, then putting in the corners and outside edges, and gradually filling in the middle until you have a complete replica.

(see Mind Map)

Let's put MMOST to work for your business:


Preparation stage

1. Browse (This should take no longer than 45 minutes.)

• Think what may be the Basic Ordering Idea headings that your work will happily fall into. For example I use the following:
  
  
  • Phone calls
  
  
  • Letters
  
  
  • Meetings
  
  
  • Projects
  
  
  • Think
  
  
  • Miscellaneous


• I make symbols for each and draw them on separate sheets of paper, so that I can easily group the papers as I sort them.
• Then I quickly look through all the bundles, piles, stacks and trays. (If you like music as you work, choose a fast paced piece to keep your speed up.)
• Do not get involved with any papers, just a quick look at each piece of paper only once.
• Place the paper on one of the Basic Ordering Ideas sections.
• Make this fun, dance as you do it! Look with surprise, anticipation, interest and most of all detachment as you fly through the papers.
• If you find something you think you can throw away, put it by - not in - the waste paper basket.
• Take a short break. This is a very intensive process. You may feel better, just because you now know what is actually there. You may also feel a little more overwhelmed, but only the first time that you do this, because thereafter you will know that you are on the way to that fabulous feeling of a really productive day, with the right things accomplished at the right time.

• Begin your Mind Map with a branch for your company, department, or personal vision.
• Next a branch with your particular focus in relation to the vision.
• Followed by a brief summary of the present situation.
• In relation to the three previous branches, which would be considered important issues?
• What things are wearing the urgent tag at this time? - Do this primarily from memory, though it is quite alright to have a look through your sections. You are still in an overview mode; however you are now considering all of the content of your papers in relation to the context of what is really important.
• Another branch is pending. These are things that are either far off and so do not need to be handled now, however you want to keep them in the back of your mind, or are low level items that you may either like : -) to do, or not : -( !
• A final branch for this Mind Map is goals. Here thinking about the next week and month, consider what you will feel very pleased to have completed in light of the important issues that get you towards your vision.

• This can be added as a branch on the previous Mind Map, or put on to the end of some of your action branches.
• You are only making a generalisation at this time as you will work more specifically on timing after the start of the application stage.
• Now you deserve another break. While you are resting your brain is automatically considering, sorting, integrating and assessing all the things to do.
• Getting back in touch with your vision and purpose is always invigorating as there is much energy stored there. This can sometimes be lost in the everyday content. Context puts the content in place. You are probably already feeling much better.

Application stage

5. Browse with Sorting (This stage may take up to an hour. You may wish to take a short break mid-way.)

• Initiate the Three D's: do, ditch, delegate
• Go through each of your sections and create three piles:



Is there anything that you can get rid of (letters, old information, filing, past dated data)? Is there anything that could be delegated? Someone may be happy for a new responsibility or learning, or it may fit into something they are doing anyway, or really love to do. What remains, is to be done!


• Divide the 'to be done' section into the important and urgent sub-sets.
• Place the important in order in relation to the vision accomplishment, or if something requires only a relatively small amount of work to complete, then it may be high in the ranking for the satisfaction of completion.
• Go through the urgent and assess very carefully. In this age of faxes and e-mail, it seems every piece of paper comes across the desk with urgent stamped on it, just the same as crying 'wolf'. I find that I now do not believe it. I ask all who work with me only to use the term when it really is.

  So look at each piece:

• Is it a request from your boss? If yes, when you have sorted out the order of all your outstanding work, go to him/her show what you think is important and why, then ask where the request falls. They may know something that changes the priorities, or may reassess in the light of your clear presentation, or may just want it done anyway (they are the boss), so discuss what may be delayed. At least this way you are both making an intelligent decision.
• Ask what would be the repercussions if it were not done?
• Is it because someone else did not do what they should have in the right time and where does that rest as your responsibility?
• Discuss other strategies; e.g. less, later, others, re-use. I have so frequently found that after I went to a lot of work to meet an 'urgent' deadline, it sat unused, or wasn't really needed ...
• Ask for flexibility. I have also found that if I say I wish to help, however now is difficult, people find all sorts of ways to help, time lines can be extended or need abated.
• However, sometimes it is a golden opportunity that will move you towards your vision, and it is worth extra effort to take the initiative. Then it becomes important and urgent. The really important issue here is to be wary of the tyranny of the urgent instead of the power of the important.
• Now it is really starting to take shape. It is time for a good break, lunch and a walk to get some fresh air, or end of day with a fresh start tomorrow.

6. Preview (This includes Group Tasks, Balance Energies and Mind Map. Approximately 45 minutes - after the first time. Allow two sessions of 45 minutes initially.)

Group Tasks

• Each section (phone calls, letters, meetings, etc.) now contains four levels of action: ditch, delegate, do - urgent and do - important.
• The ditch level will have two actions:
• File those items that need to be kept, but not needed now.
• Hold other items for one week 'just in case'. If they have not been needed, then throw them away a week later.
• The delegate level will require thinking:
• How important is the task, in relation to your goals Mind Map?
• How quickly does the task need to be done, so when should it be delegated?
• How much explaining or training will be needed to pass the task on?
• Who is the best person for the task?
• When will you pass it on?

The do levels, of both the important and the urgent, that do need to be done, require:

• Group tasks, so all letters, phone calls, etc., are together. It is much easier to get into the swing if you block a time for phoning, or have a 'hold calls' while you do all your dictation, or group meetings together.
• When you do the tasks will be governed by the consideration of your Energy Balancing.
• As you order the important tasks, use the following criteria:


• gets you closer to the vision
• brings in good income
• can leverage other actions
• will facilitate others work
• will provide care and support for your team
• add your own considerations.

Balance Energies

• There are many ways you can make good use of your natural rhythms. This knowledge applied to your work day can increase the energy and work effectiveness dramatically.
• Consider your 'biorhythm': are you a morning, afternoon or night person? Plan your work accordingly. Use your best time for the most difficult or brain requiring tasks, use your down-time for repetitive or less thinking tasks.
• Balance things you prefer to do with things you do not like as much, so you get a reward when you have completed a need-to-do task.
• Mix people and non-people activities, use whichever gives you most energy or relaxation, again as a form of reward.
• Consider working flexi-hours. Often coming in an hour before, or staying an hour later, can be more productive than a whole day with interruptions
• Plan for interruptions!! This makes such a difference in your feeling towards them. Allow a certain amount of time each day for the unexpected. If it does not happen, work on a top important item.
• Stop interruptions!! Have some times when you are using the 'Quiet Please' or 'Thinking in Progress' signs - just so you can think something through. An hour spent like this can be highly productive, with the interruptions handled together in one time.

Mind Map

• With all this information now organised and prioritised make a Mind Map with the main branches your key sections.
• Activities may be given a time frame and/or show others who may need to be involved.
• Order the papers to follow the Mind Map. My office manager in the USA puts a number by the branch that links with a folder where the relevant papers are.
• Place the Mind Map in a prominent position. The Mind Map should cover either a week or a month. This means you will only need 52 or 12 to provide a complete summary of a whole year's activities.
• Tick off each item as you accomplish it. If it is a big item, Mind Map the sub-set steps that you will take and tick those.
• Delight in watching those ticks grow!
• After you are comfortable with these considerations, they will become second nature and this stage will not take long. However on the first occasion this may take a second session of 45 minutes.

7. Inview (The time taken here may be a week or a month as you have Mind Mapped.)

This is when you do the work.

• Remember to skip over the problems.
• Get on with what you can do.
• Delightedly follow your Mind Map ... Determine what you will get done on a day and do it!

8. Review (The final stage, will take up to any time remaining, or finish early!)

• Go back to your first Mind Map of Goals and see how well your actions have matched.
• Go over your Actions Mind Map and make sure all are ticked. If something could not be completed, then roll it over to the next week/month. Use a highlighter to show that is has come from the previous week.
• Make sure all the problem areas have been resolved. A good quote came from an IBM employer who is using Mind Maps to identify and solve problems, that if you work on a 'twig' of the problem, the 'branch' sometimes falls off on its own!
• File the Mind Map carefully after you have used it to create the next steps on the next Mind Map.

Note

1. As work comes in, it is now much easier to slot it in, in relation to the other activities and where it should fit.

2. As you start to feel less on top, or at least once a month anyway, go back through the process. It is much faster the second time because you have a basic structure and you have the energy and momentum from all you have already accomplished.

3. Depending on your work, it may make more sense to group section tasks according to projects. Then you would focus on one project at a time. The Mind Map would help you to keep all projects in mind and address them in a timely manner.

Celebration!

The final, and most important, stage of the MMOST process, is to celebrate! Too often we rush on to the next project or step, without considering and recognising how much we and our teams have accomplished. It is very important to make a ritual - to stop and appreciate what has been done. It also adds to the enjoyment and satisfaction of your work.

I have used this process for years and find it helps me to feel on top whenever I begin to feel snowed under, but even more makes me feel that I have accomplished the important things. That makes you feel really good at the end of a day.

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