When trying to put together your plan for success, it’s often helpful to write down all the major factors: the goal, the steps to achieve the goal, the time and resources available, the time and resources needed to achieve the goal, etc. This is the basic concept behind a business plan and why they are considered practically essential to building a successful business.

However, when it comes to personal planning and integrating the time and resources necessary for your business to succeed into your already busy personal life, sometimes it helps to be a little more creative with your planning. While simply writing down your goals may be suitable for some people, for others a visual or graphical representation may be more helpful. This is where the concept of mind maps can help you work out the details of your personal planning.

In general, the notion of using maps and other graphical image-based systems to view and analyze thoughts and ideas is nothing new. The technique has been used since Roman Greece, where one in order to philosophize mapped the thoughts of the ancient philosopher Aristotle. Today, Tony Buzan, a prominent British psychology writer, claims to have invented the concept. Regardless of where it came from, the fact remains that it has helped many people resolve their thoughts on many diverse topics, from personal planning to retrieving lost memories. For many people, being able to physically visualize their thought processes has been incredibly helpful.

If you’ve been having trouble with your own personal planning, perhaps you should experiment with the idea of ​​mind maps. Today there are many books and software packages that can be used to help you do this. There are also a number of online mind mapping options that are available for free or for very little money. These services are used by people trying to develop their own ideas, as well as organizations that want to provide an online “brainstorming” system that allows large numbers of people to actively participate in the development of an idea, concept, or plan. of action.

If this suggestion sounds like something you think is worth trying, maybe you should start with Mind Meister (mindmeister.com). This online mind mapping service has a limited free version that can be used without obligation, as well as a thirty-day money-back guarantee for its unlimited paid options. Using the free option can give you an idea of ​​how mind mapping works and you can see if it is useful for you. If so, you may want to subscribe to an unlimited version. There are also other resources that are similar, including Freemind (a free Java download, freemind.sourceforge.net) and MindManager (mindjet.com).

If you’ve been having trouble getting your personal planning in order and positioning yourself for success, these tools can help. At the very least, they are worth exploring. You may find that this is what you needed.