Thursday, April 12, 2007
How To use Life Mapping
What is Life Mapping? A short guide to help you get what you want...
Who are you? What do you want to be? Where do you want to go? When do you want to be there? Why do you desire to go there and do that?
These are the questions of life that we all ask ourselves. Things that we want to do, to be, to see, to acquire. To do these things we must know what we want from our life, what we desire to accomplish, what we will be when we grow up. (Even if your 50, you still want to be something, don't you?)
To get from one place to another you need a map, especially if you have never been there before. A map helps you see the big picture and tells you how your journey is progressing. You know where you are and where you want to go. The map also gives you information like routes, rest areas, cities or towns, and may tell you about the best way to get to where you are going.
To get to where you want to be in life you need a map. Having a map will help you become successful. Success is more than just economic gains, titles, and degrees. Success is who you become. Planning for success is easy; you simply map out all the aspects of your life.
To make your life map you need to define the following details: origin, destination, vehicle, backpack, landmarks, and route. Let's get started:
Origin: Who are you? You must have a starting point. Your origin is who you are right now.
Most people when asked to introduce themselves would say, "Hi, I'm so and so and I am a few-years old, senior high school student."
This does not tell you about who she is; it only tells you her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic, professional, cultural, and civil status. Moreover, you can also reflect on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses.
Upon introspection, our fictitious female realized that she was highly motivated, generous, service-oriented, but impatient. Her inclination was in the biological-medical field. Furthermore, she believed that life must serve a purpose and that animals deserve respect and have rights.
Destination: A vision of who you want to be. "Who do want to be?" this is your vision. Now it is important that you know yourself so that you have a clear idea of who you want to be; and the things you want to change whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and targets for the future would also be unclear. Your destination should cover all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.
Continuing the example story, our fictitious female learned after she defined her beliefs, values, and principles in life, that she wanted to have a life dedicated to serving animals and their habitats.
Vehicle: A vehicle is the means by which you can reach your destination. This one is a critical step so pay attention. Your vehicle is Your Mission. . . It can be analogized that your mission is not just your vocation in life, but what you will do with those skills. To a great extent, your mission would depend on what you know about yourself.
Continuing the example story, our fictitious female decided that she was suited to become a doctor, and that she wanted to become one. Her chosen vocation was a veterinary doctor. Describing her vision-mission fully: it was to live a life dedicated to serving her fellow creatures as a veterinarian in areas that normally do not have such services.
Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and attitude. When you pack a travel bag you include things like food, drinks, medicines, and other travelling necessities. Applying this same concept to your life map, you know to bring with you certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These determine your competence and help you in attaining your vision. So therefore you simply assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present, and what you need to gain along the way. Then set goals to learn those skills and acquire the knowledge. This two part assessment will give you insights on your landmarks or measures of success. You will know you are progressing as you reach individual goals.
Continuing the example story; our fictitious female realized that she needed to gain professional knowledge and skills in veterinary science so that she could become a doctor. She also knew that she was a bit impatient with people so she realized that this was something else she wanted to change.
Landmarks and Route: S.M.A.R.T. objectives. Landmarks confirm if you are on the right track while the route determines the difficulty and travel time. So you therefore, also need to have landmarks and a route in planning out your life. These landmarks are your measures of success.
To help you determine these landmarks use the S. M.A.R.T. Plan: First these measures must be Specific; they must be Measurable; they must be Attainable; they must be realistic; and lastly able to be accomplished in a certain amount of Time. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks such as earning a master's degree and a doctorate degree within a period of three years, since the minimum number of years to complete a master's degree is two years.
Continuing the example story; Our fictitious female identified the following landmarks in her life map: completing a bachelor's degree in biology by the age of 21; completing medical degree by the age of 23; finishing her residency in a large city by 25; start her own traveling practice by 28; have a well funded response agency that can save animals anywhere in the world on 24 hour notice by the age of 35.
Anticipate Turns, Detours, and Potholes: The purpose of your life map is to help you determine when and where to go and what to do. To help you minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. You have to realize that oftentimes our plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes; we must anticipate them and adjust accordingly. By having a map you keep going in the direction you have started but it may take a little while longer.
Continuing the example story; our fictitious female did not have a scholarship and so had to work her way through college, so she did not attain her degree until age 23 and her doctor degree by 25. She still continued with her plan because she had a life map.
So now it is up to you. What do you desire from life? Evaluate where you are and where you want to be and when you want to be there. It is not too late, start now!
Be Blessed.
Manifesting Course
A New and Better Universe
Dream On
Who are you? What do you want to be? Where do you want to go? When do you want to be there? Why do you desire to go there and do that?
These are the questions of life that we all ask ourselves. Things that we want to do, to be, to see, to acquire. To do these things we must know what we want from our life, what we desire to accomplish, what we will be when we grow up. (Even if your 50, you still want to be something, don't you?)
To get from one place to another you need a map, especially if you have never been there before. A map helps you see the big picture and tells you how your journey is progressing. You know where you are and where you want to go. The map also gives you information like routes, rest areas, cities or towns, and may tell you about the best way to get to where you are going.
To get to where you want to be in life you need a map. Having a map will help you become successful. Success is more than just economic gains, titles, and degrees. Success is who you become. Planning for success is easy; you simply map out all the aspects of your life.
To make your life map you need to define the following details: origin, destination, vehicle, backpack, landmarks, and route. Let's get started:
Origin: Who are you? You must have a starting point. Your origin is who you are right now.
Most people when asked to introduce themselves would say, "Hi, I'm so and so and I am a few-years old, senior high school student."
This does not tell you about who she is; it only tells you her present preoccupation. To gain insights about yourself, you need to look closely at your beliefs, values, and principles aside from your economic, professional, cultural, and civil status. Moreover, you can also reflect on your experiences to give you insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses.
Upon introspection, our fictitious female realized that she was highly motivated, generous, service-oriented, but impatient. Her inclination was in the biological-medical field. Furthermore, she believed that life must serve a purpose and that animals deserve respect and have rights.
Destination: A vision of who you want to be. "Who do want to be?" this is your vision. Now it is important that you know yourself so that you have a clear idea of who you want to be; and the things you want to change whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know yourself, then your vision and targets for the future would also be unclear. Your destination should cover all the aspects of your being: the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.
Continuing the example story, our fictitious female learned after she defined her beliefs, values, and principles in life, that she wanted to have a life dedicated to serving animals and their habitats.
Vehicle: A vehicle is the means by which you can reach your destination. This one is a critical step so pay attention. Your vehicle is Your Mission. . . It can be analogized that your mission is not just your vocation in life, but what you will do with those skills. To a great extent, your mission would depend on what you know about yourself.
Continuing the example story, our fictitious female decided that she was suited to become a doctor, and that she wanted to become one. Her chosen vocation was a veterinary doctor. Describing her vision-mission fully: it was to live a life dedicated to serving her fellow creatures as a veterinarian in areas that normally do not have such services.
Travel Bag: Your knowledge, skills, and attitude. When you pack a travel bag you include things like food, drinks, medicines, and other travelling necessities. Applying this same concept to your life map, you know to bring with you certain knowledge, skills, and attitudes. These determine your competence and help you in attaining your vision. So therefore you simply assess what knowledge, skills, and attitudes you have at present, and what you need to gain along the way. Then set goals to learn those skills and acquire the knowledge. This two part assessment will give you insights on your landmarks or measures of success. You will know you are progressing as you reach individual goals.
Continuing the example story; our fictitious female realized that she needed to gain professional knowledge and skills in veterinary science so that she could become a doctor. She also knew that she was a bit impatient with people so she realized that this was something else she wanted to change.
Landmarks and Route: S.M.A.R.T. objectives. Landmarks confirm if you are on the right track while the route determines the difficulty and travel time. So you therefore, also need to have landmarks and a route in planning out your life. These landmarks are your measures of success.
To help you determine these landmarks use the S. M.A.R.T. Plan: First these measures must be Specific; they must be Measurable; they must be Attainable; they must be realistic; and lastly able to be accomplished in a certain amount of Time. Thus you cannot set two major landmarks such as earning a master's degree and a doctorate degree within a period of three years, since the minimum number of years to complete a master's degree is two years.
Continuing the example story; Our fictitious female identified the following landmarks in her life map: completing a bachelor's degree in biology by the age of 21; completing medical degree by the age of 23; finishing her residency in a large city by 25; start her own traveling practice by 28; have a well funded response agency that can save animals anywhere in the world on 24 hour notice by the age of 35.
Anticipate Turns, Detours, and Potholes: The purpose of your life map is to help you determine when and where to go and what to do. To help you minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make you lose your way. You have to realize that oftentimes our plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond our control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes; we must anticipate them and adjust accordingly. By having a map you keep going in the direction you have started but it may take a little while longer.
Continuing the example story; our fictitious female did not have a scholarship and so had to work her way through college, so she did not attain her degree until age 23 and her doctor degree by 25. She still continued with her plan because she had a life map.
So now it is up to you. What do you desire from life? Evaluate where you are and where you want to be and when you want to be there. It is not too late, start now!
Be Blessed.
Manifesting Course
A New and Better Universe
Dream On
http://www.staffofpower.com
