Mind Mapping Your Journal Entries

Clustering, also called Mind Mapping, is Batman great way to save
space and time when you journal. For those of you that
aren't familiar with Mind Mapping, you can search in Google
on Superman comics words or reading one of Tony Buzans (the creator)
books. At the end I've included the ten basic rules of Mind
Mapping.

A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique that harnesses
words, images, numbers, logic, rhythm, color and spatial
skills. Unlike linear notes, it allows your mind to work
with expansion.

Mind Maps are an incredibly powerful memory tool. As I was
studying 1984 Fleer baseball cards my CPA exam, I created a very large detailed
Mind Map that covered several walls in my home office. When
I was taking the exam I could close my eyes and see the Mind
Map and go right to the answer.

We both know a picture says a thousand words. In Mind
Mapping, you can use one word to trigger a set of memories
or you can draw a picture (artistry doesn't matter) that
represents a story or memory for you.

You can use the Mind Mapping or Clustering techniques to
record a single event or a whole day of events. If you are
working on time management, you can also use a Mind Map to
track time and tasks. For this, you will want to turn the
paper landscape, add a center picture, like a clock, and use
the branches pointing the same way as the clocks hour --
noon or midnight would be straight up, one o'clock slightly
to the right of midnight, etc. The subbranches would be one
word representing your focus or task during that time.

After attending a personal development event or that evening
I like to reflect on my experience by drawing a Map from
what I recall. This is a great way to transfer my thoughts
from short term to long term memory. If I took notes I
choose one word or image that represents each though per
single branch for each area. When I remember a thought that
doesn't connects clearly, I record a trigger word of what I
do remember along with a question mark right before I turn
in for the night. By morning I have the answer or a
complete picture that build on that Map. Sometimes the
morning also brings additional ideas or fuel for thought.

By keeping your Maps or Clusters in your journal -- usually
all in one place -- you can quickly review previous Maps to
build upon. Since Maps provide a master aerial view its
easier to see how the dots connect -- the aha moments or
unmasking patterns. They stand out easier than in linear
notes.

Maps also shorten the journaling time. What might normally
take pages or an hour in linear writing now take 15 minutes.

Being creative and having fun with this technique is
important to the experience. Mapping encourages the use of
colored pencils, pens and the use of images in place of
words. My drawing skills haven't improved since third grade
yet after a few hundred lopsided airplanes I can now draw
them from several angles. But I'm still sticking with stick
people.

Ideas also count. Ideas always occur during our writing.
We're writing away, an idea pings up and we either need to
try and hold it on the edge of our mind or record it
somewhere quickly before it slips away. Start a Map on a new
page, place the idea in the center of the page, then return
to finish the writing. You will find your mind popping in
and out from one to the next as you continue writing.

You can also keep a separate Map journal. Ever few years I
remember to buy a journal for that purpose. One of my
favorite Map journals is, Note Sketch Book by Bienfang. You
can 1965 Topps baseball cards them in many places on the Net. Our local Staples
store usually carries them in stock. They are different
because the top portion of each page, about three-quarters,
is blank and ready for your Map. While the bottom portion
has lines for writing.

Of course, Maps and Clusters have many other uses -- like
brainstorming (alone or in a group), research, reading,
studying, or memorizing. Thus, learning the technique is
worthy to learn. I use them for just about everything,
including the three books I'm working now.

Basic Rules for Mind Mapping:

1. Sheet sideways.

2. Pen or computer

3. Select topic, problem or subject and purpose.

4. Start in the center of the page.

5. Use color to trigger memory. Each separate main branch
has a different color and each subbranches for that main
branch stay that branches color.

6. Branches closest to the center are thicker.

7. Each idea starts a new branch.

8. Use images to express ideas whenever possible.

9. The image or word needs to sit on the line and in print.

10.The line needs to be the same length as the image or word.

(c) Copyright, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.

Catherine Franz, a MindMapping trainer, has been Mapping since the mid-1980s. She offers two books (pdf or in print) on journaling techniques and tips at: abundancecenterStore/main.htmabundancecenterStore/main.htm.

How to Get World of Warcraft Gold For Your Land Mount

For many players in the World of Warcraft, there are two significant stages in their characters' development: level 30 and level 60. The reason is simple: it is in these levels that the player is allowed to train his riding skill and purchase a mount. Level 30 allows the player to train for apprentice riding skill and to purchase a normal mount with 60% run speed increase. Level 60 allows the player to train for artisan riding skill and to purchase an epic mount with 100% run speed increase.

Now, the problem.

Mounts aren't really cheap. Level 60 mounts Dark Knight cost you around 700 gold pieces. Though this may sound like spare change for a level 70 character, bear in mind that gold in the old world of Azeroth is pretty hard to come by. There are no repeatable dailies to complete. All the high end ingredients can only be farmed in the Outlands. And quests don't reward players with significant amounts of cash.

Level 30 mounts 1869 Peck and Snyder baseball card of course, less expensive. They will cost you around 45 gold pieces for both training and mount. Again, this may sound cheap for higher level players, but do bear in mind that most WoW gamers earn their first gold piece at around level 12 or so. At level 30, they'd be lucky to have 20 gold pieces under their names. Suddenly, gold farming guides become lucrative investments, right?

Indeed, earning World of Warcraft gold for one's land mount has always been one of the biggest challenges in this MMORPG. Earning the required amount will demand Wonder Woman skills, some cunning and a whole lot of planning.

To earn the needed gold for the level 30 mount, follow the tips below, taken from some of the best gold farming guides in the market today:

1. Train for 2 gathering professions. If you want to become a crafter, you can drop one gathering profession later on. But for now, you need to be a miner and either a herbalist or a skinner. Sell whatever you will gather. There will be a constant stream of buyers for the ingredients you'll put up for sale. Copper bars can even sell for 5g per stack in most servers.

2. Save your money. Don't spend your gold and silver coins on upgrades you will eventually change in a level or two. For levels below 30, statistical upgrades from gears can still be negligible. Unless you're a warrior or a paladin, you can still live with level 15 gears at level 30. Save up for your land mount instead.

3. Sell the uncommon and rare items you will loot. Don't use them! Again, if they will only offer marginal boosts, it would be better to sell them instead.

To earn the needed World of Warcraft gold for the level 60 mount, here are some tips which are again taken from some of the best gold farming guides today, thanks to GoldFarmingGuides.

1. Play the auction house. Buy rare and in-demand items that some players mistakenly sell for low prices, and sell them for high bids. To help you out with this technique, download an add-on called Auctioneer. This is the secret of the richest players in the game today.

2. Cloth farming. Kill the spectral spirits at Azshara for some magecloths. You'd be able to collect 20 stacks in an hour of farming, and sell each stack for as much as 4g! You can even farm the Ogres of the Searing Gorge and the Burning the oldest baseball card for some runecloth. You'd be able to collect 20 stacks in under an hour as well, and each can sell for as much as 7g in some servers.

3. Skin rare hides. If you're a skinner, you can kill some turtles along the coastlines of Dustwallow Marsh, skin each corpse, and sell the turtle skin for a whole lot of cash. You can also kill dragonkins in the Burning Steppes and skin them for dragonscales which also fetch good prices at the AH.

There are many, many more ways to earn gold. Head over to goldfarmingguidesGold Farming Guides for a review of the techniques shared by the best WoW gold farming guides that the best World of Warcraft players use.

Visit goldfarmingguidesgoldfarmingguides now!