Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A Technique for Organizing Thoughts

Do you ever have trouble pulling your thoughts together? It happens to me every now and then when I am stressed, in a chaotic environment or under a tight deadline. Sometimes all three of those things happen at once and I am really in trouble. Either I cannot recall the information I need or I have a lot of other unrelated information intruding into my thoughts making it impossible for me to put together anything coherent.

When that happens I have a tried and true method that helps me organize my thoughts so I can complete an article, formulate an argument or make a major decision. Maybe it will work for you too.

I get a large pack of 3”x5” index cards and a pen. I sit quietly for a few minutes and think bout the subject that I want to organize. I don’t try to do that in any logical way, but just think of the subject in general. If I were deciding on buying a computer, I would just think about computers for a minute. Then I would begin writing on the index cards, one idea or feature on each card. They might read “laptop”, “memory”, “cost”, “software”, “Vista”, “Apple”, “networking”, and anything else that came to mind. If, in the middle of this exercise, I think, “I forgot to pick up the dry cleaning.” or “I can’t be late for my six-thirty meeting tomorrow.” I write “dry cleaning” on one card and “six-thirty meeting” on another. I keep writing the cards until I am out of ideas and thoughts about computers.

I separate the cards that deal with computers from the cards that have other thoughts. Then I put the computer cards into categories that make sense to me. Some examples of categories might be auxiliary equipment, software, operating systems, and features. Using the categories, I decide what is the most important thing about computers and prioritize the categories. Now I am ready to look at the order I have created from my random thoughts. When I do this I always see a pattern that allows me to determine if I have enough information to continue with the project or if I need to do further research. When I obtain further information, I jot it on a category card and add it to the pile. The finished cards give me an outline to organize my thoughts and make my decision.

The remaining cards with extraneous thoughts can be used to make a to-do list, give yourself a good laugh, or they can simply be recycled.

The next time you need a little extra help organizing your thoughts give this technique a try.


Beverly & Kristen
www.KeyTransitions.net

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