Start Mind-Mapping Your Business Success Raising the Barr Weekly Memo: Issue 167

This week’s reflection point: Today’s newsletter comes to you from Los Angeles, where I’m presenting at Alan Weiss’s Million Dollar Consulting® Convention. Surrounded by thought leaders, I’ve spent the morning exchanging ideas with my fellow presenters. I just had breakfast with my good friend Bruce Turkel, a branding expert, who shared with me an incredibly intriguing concept: Crafting and presenting your keynote presentation by leveraging mind maps.

While most of us take notes or write lists, Bruce often draws a visual mind map to guide presentations, plan speeches, and visualize work. With just a glance at a picture, he knows what he needs to do or say. Bruce even showed me the mind map he created for the presentation he’s giving tomorrow at the convention. It was a vivid, pictorial representation of his entire speech.

Bruce’s mind map reminds me of my own recommendations to our clients and the importance of leveraging visual communication to business success. I’ve always been a firm believer in the power of visuals—on my website, it even says, “If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a website is worth a million.” Visuals can often communicate a message much more powerfully and eloquently than words ever could.

That’s why so many people post beautiful images to accompany their blogs, or use stunning graphic design to grab more attention. It simply works. In fact, humans have a remarkable ability to remember pictures. Research shows that we remember visual images much easier and better than words.

Having a visual image of your business success—your very own mind map—is vital to your success. When you travel to a foreign country, you don’t just hop on a plane and go. First, you create an itinerary and plan out all the top sights you want to see. In the same way, you should literally draw out your plan for business success. Don’t just write vague goals; illustrate them in full color and bring them to life.

Your visualizations will need to be organic, changing as you constantly reinvent yourself throughout your career. But start today with what’s in front of you right now. What will lead you toward your ultimate success in business? Create a mind map of success to show you how to get there, and where you want to go.

With permission from Bruce, here’s the inspiring mind map for his presentation tomorrow:

This week’s tip: Start mind-mapping your success today, creating a visual plan not just for this quarter or this year, but for your entire business journey. What’s in front of you right now that can lead to your ultimate success? Map it out and watch the inspiration grow.