An Introduction to Mind Mapping
If you’ve ever sat down to do a project and felt completely overwhelmed by your ideas, you may have use for a mind map. This brainstorming and organizational tool is used by professionals in many walks of life to get their thoughts in order.
What is Mind Mapping?
Mind mapping is an exercise in making connections between ideas and concepts on paper. You write your central idea in the middle of the page, and then literally branch out to other ideas. You repeat the process until you’ve completely fleshed out an idea or series of ideas.
This activity can be used in a wide variety of ways. You can use a mind map to help you make a decision. You can use one for brainstorming a business idea. You can use it to help organize a novel or other written work. You can also use a mind map to solve a problem.
Mind maps show the connections between ideas so you can get a better idea of how everything fits together. They rely on your personal connections of idea to idea. One person’s mind map on a subject may be very different from another person’s on the same subject.
How to Use Mind Mapping
Mind maps are very simple in structure. You just write your main idea in the center, and then draw lines from it to other related ideas. Those ideas are also “branched” off into third tier ideas and so on and so on.
For example, you are making a decision about your next move financially. You’ll be receiving a bonus at the end of the year, and you don’t know what to do with the money. In the middle of your page, you’ll write “Bonus.”
Then around that word you’ll branch off all of the ideas for using the bonus. These could be words like “savings,” “IRA,” “vacation,” “pay off student loans,” “new electronics,” etc.
Each idea for using the bonus will have its own branches of advantages and disadvantages. Once you’re done creating the mind map, you can quickly and easily see what the problem looks like. You can make your decision based on which idea has the least disadvantages.
Some Helpful Mind Mapping tips
Mind maps don’t have a formal structure, but there are a few guidelines that will help you get the most out of the process.
Write down connections without thinking about them too much. You’re looking for your intuitive connections between concepts.
Using color, bolded words, symbols and patterns can help you keep your mind map organized.
Stick with one word or image per line. This will help your mind map stay clear and usable.
Use unlined paper and leave lots of room to grow your map. Sometimes mind maps grow over time, and it’s a good idea to leave space for future connections.
Mind Mapping Resources:
Use Both Sides of Your Brain: New Mind-Mapping Techniques by Tony Buzan, the'creator' of mind mapping.
Free Mind - Free mind mapping software.
Tony Buzan's website.
Happy mapping!
Vic Carrara
www.empowersu.com
Vic Carrara owns and writes for www.empowersu.com, a site devoted to designing better life choices. Discover some fresh choices, motivational & inspirational words, reviews and lifehacking freebies, as well as some discount offers after subscribing yourself.
Copyright 2007 - Vic Carrara. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit and send a link of where you are publishing this article to me here.
| Vic Gee says:
There's a non-commercial listing of 65 software packages that can do mind mapping at mind-mapping.org
June 18, 2007, 12:38 am |
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