Michelle LaBrosse

Could something as simple as a mind map help you manage something as complex as a project?

What's a mind map? I'll save you a trip to Wikipedia and tell you that it says, "A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problems, making decisions, and writing."

The end of the year is often jam-packed at both work and home, and New Year's resolutions either fall by the wayside or get restricted to the same ones every year - lose weight, exercise more and get healthier. While these are certainly important goals, getting a better job or keeping the one you have is right up there. With that in mind, it might be smart to get a jump on some New Year's resolutions for your career that might just help make your annual performance report a little brighter.

1. Think ROI

Artwork: Chip TaylorRemember the good old days, when all you needed was a phone number and maybe a street address to get in touch with someone? Slowly, new fields were added to our contacts lists: fax numbers, cell phone numbers, e-mail addresses, instant messaging IDs, URLs. And on top of all that we've added LinkedIn and Facebook accounts and connections through Twitter, Tumblr and more.

Communication and the tools to do it are forever evolving, and at an alarming rate. While it may feel overwhelming at times, all these ways to connect represent a tremendous opportunity for building communities to help us find and share information faster and more easily.