Every choice has more to it than you might initially recognize.
You might be facing an important decision and feeling pulled in several directions.
You might know what you want but find yourself hesitating.
You might be noticing a familiar pattern in your life, wondering why you keep making certain choices.
Or you might be looking back at a choice you made years ago, curious about what it set in motion.
Choice Mapping gives you a way to explore these experiences with curiosity rather than judgment. Through thoughtful questions, you begin to see the different parts of your choice together.
As you step back and look at what you’ve captured, you may recognize connections, assumptions, or possibilities that were difficult to see when everything was swirling around in your head.
Use three Choice Mapping tools to look at a present choice, trace what unfolded from a past choice, and explore the people and connections involved.
Look more closely at a choice that matters.
An Exploration Map helps you examine a choice you’re considering, making or trying to understand differently.
Through thoughtful questions, you explore why it matters, what fears might get in your way, how you want to show up, what’s possible, and what actions you might take.
Discover what a choice set in motion.
An Unfolding Map helps you trace what happened after a choice was made.
Explore the people, experiences, opportunities, and unexpected developments that followed, noticing how one thing led to another.
You may discover connections you hadn’t recognized and appreciate the larger story still unfolding.
Explore the influence of people in your life.
A People Map helps you trace the relationships, introductions, experiences, and possibilities that came into your life through another person.
Sometimes someone whose role seemed small at the time has influenced much more than you realized.
It’s a way to recognize how interconnected our lives really are.
One of the things that continues to fascinate me about Choice Mapping is how much we can discover when we look closely at a single choice.
Sometimes you recognize that the choice you thought you were making isn’t the only one that matters. You may notice an assumption you’ve been treating as fact, see how another person’s expectations have influenced you, or realize that what you want has changed.
You might discover a possibility you hadn’t considered. And when you look back, you may recognize connections and consequences you couldn’t have anticipated at the time.
A map doesn’t tell you what to choose. It helps you see more clearly, so you can participate more intentionally in what happens next.
CHOICE MAPPING IN ACTION
What can we discover about someone’s life when we look closely at the choices they’ve made?
Inspired by Michelle Obama’s memoir, Becoming, I began exploring five of her intentional choices, looking at what led her to them, what they required of her, and what unfolded afterward.
Through Exploration and Unfolding Maps, I discovered patterns and connections in her story that I hadn’t recognized simply by reading it.
FEATURED IN CHOICE, THE MAGAZINE OF PROFESSIONAL COACHING
Discover how to use Choice Mapping as a framework for guiding client conversations. Through a real coaching example, I share the five core questions, how to capture your client’s insights visually, and how to follow the threads that reveal what may be underneath their initial choice.
The best way to understand Choice Mapping is to experience it.
In my free interactive workshop, you’ll explore a choice of your own and begin creating your first map.
No experience needed.
Read seven articles about Choice Mapping, from how it began and what makes it different to creating your first map and discovering what’s possible.
Learn to create and use Choice Maps through structured lessons and hands-on practice.
Explore the process for yourself and, where appropriate, with others.
In private coaching, we’ll explore a choice that matters to you through thoughtful conversation and, when helpful, Choice Mapping.
Discover what you may not be seeing on your own.
