The power of Mind Maps®
Mind Mapping is an extremely powerful tool, whether you are Brainstorming, Learning, Organising or Communicating - B.L.O.C as I like to say. Have a look at my view on a mind map describing mind maps:
Tony Buzan, creator of Mind Maps®
I was first introduced to Mind Mapping when I met Tony back in 1995 during the World Memory Championships. It didn't take long to see the potential in this technique, not just from a memory point of view but for unleashing your creativty, solving problems and generally creating artistic structure from anarchy. Before I talk more about Mind Mapping and its uses have a listen to the man himself, Tony Buzan.
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Putting Mind Maps into Practice
Brainstorming
The ability to be creative is one of the most important skills you can possess. Since a Mind map reflects your thoughts it makes it the perfect tool for capturing ideas. Each branch on a Mind map should represent an individual thought, each on of those thoughts should spark off another thought.
Think of a type of book, what springs to mind...fantasy, comedy, crime, romance. Think of fantasy...Rowling, Pratchett. Think of Rowling...Potter, Pratchett...Discworld.
While brainstorming these ideas capture them on your mind map. So the above might look something like this:
Brainstorming Steps
The following steps work either on your own or when working in groups
- Give yourself a time-limit (5-10 minutes)
- Draw the subject in the center of a peice of paper, or if using iMindMap select a central image
- Start the clock
- Say whatever pops into your head out loud (do not edit!!), even if it is ridiculous
- Write down all your thoughts on your mind map
- Get clarity on your mind map. If you have drawn your map on paper you may want to do it again adding or deleting thoughts as necessary. If you have used iMindMap then simply move, add or delete branches (thoughts)
A good brainstorming session should give clarity about your idea or goal.
Learn
If you have read our improve your memory section you will understand that by combining both left and right brain skills we can improve how we remember and learn information. A Mind Map can be an excellent tool in aiding this learning process, it helps create an understanding of a subject, gives us the big picture and stimulates all of our cortical skills to help us remember.
Of course a Mind Map you create yourself will always be more memorable than one created for you because when you are creating you are thinking through the process, capturing your ideas and thoughts and taking a mental journey.
Organise
Lot's of people enjoy writing lists and lists can be great, they have structure they give us an order and a process to work through, the downside is that lists aren't very memorable, on top of this they can become dull and boring; the more you have the more cluttered your brain can start to feel. Mind maps enjoy the structure and organisation lists can bring with the freedom of being able to associate the information and get a feeling of the big picture. You can create connections between different items on your map. Ultimately with a Mind Map comes a crisp clarity of information.
Communicate
One of the most powerful benefits a Mind Map brings is the ability to communicate your ideas effectively. It can free you up to really focus on the points you want to make and the subject at hand, enabling you to give dynamic and exciting presentations. If you have a complex idea to get across you can do this very quickly with a mind map and now with the latest mind map software - iMindMap you can also link documents, stats, websites and imagery into your maps and bring it all together in an extremely concise manner.
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