Mind Mapping

In the image above, I did a simple mind mapping exercise to help me decide what to get my Dad for Christmas. It has been a question that has been plaguing me for the past few months and this mind mapping exercise helped me come to a few conclusions!  I decided that the general concept is that my dad wants to stay connected and keep in touch with my sisters and I. He is proud of us and wants to keep his family close by figurartively. The bar/pub glasses are glasses from each of our respective colleges (he has expressed interest in this a number of times) so that he can have a piece of us with him when he throws back a frosty one (just kidding).
He has expressed wanting more pictures of family and friends to hang on the walls around his bar, so I think that ties in with the desire to keep family and friends close. He also loves organization and appreciates an organized work space. I think that updating and re-writing our family's address book would be another way to tie into the idea that he would like to keep in touch with family and friends.

My dad is a US postal carrier so he is outside in the biting cold 5 or 6 days a week. A good thermal shirt would be good to keep him warm out there!

My dad also really loves music and it is something that binds my family together. He is a very big Bob Dylan afficianado and though he does not like technology, I think he would eventually get used to an ipod. I thought of this because he travels to the ocean with my Mom alot and they listen to CDs on the way down to the beach. It might be nice for them to have an Ipod so they can just coast on down to the beach house and not have to constantly change the CDs.

This mind mapping tool was a nice way for me to organize my thoughts and come to the conclusion that I did. I found common themes among presents and that will help me to decide on the final gift!