Blake Miner's Blog

This is simply a brain dump.  I'm sleepy, and I want to type out some of the thoughts currently in my head. "Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet."  This is so remarkably true, and today I'm making it a mantra.  I believe that luck is merely an illusion that we perceive, but it truly when we have prepared ourselves for the right opportunity... and then a great opportunity comes along.  Many great opportunities pass us by every day.  Once we begin to recognize them and prepare for them, then we start to experience the thrill of luck. Interestingly, as described in "Good to Great", Mr. James Collins talks about how "Level 5" leaders often attribute their great success to luck .  That's a humble way of saying, "I planned on taking advantage of every opportunity ."   Hmmm...

Alright y'all.  I am starting to fall in love with the idea of "Concept maps."  Look it up: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_map .  Note how concept maps are better than mind maps: "Concept mapping can be contrasted with the similar idea of mind mapping , which is often restricted to radial hierarchies and tree structures ."  Humans simply don't think hierarchically most of the time.  In fact, it's often frustrating to limit thought in such a way.  I've finally found a concept map program that I like: http://cayra.net/ .  My sales pitch follows... keep in mind that this took a lot of time (30 secs) copying and pasting to compile this... so take the time to read it! Cayra is a free desktop application that lets you represent tasks , ideas , concepts and other items in a graphic, well-structured way. Cayra is based on such visualization techniques, as Mind Mapping and Concept Mapping and allows you to conveniently work with big maps. Cayr