Have you ever found yourself staring at a list of your goals, carefully written out in neat bullet points and feeling utterly stuck and uninspired? Somehow these aspirations, well thought out as they are, just can’t seem to take off from the paper that they are written on. They have feet of clay!
Is it time to find a different way to “see” your words?
Psychologist, author and educational consultant, Tony Buzan, popularized (and trademarked) the term “Mind Map” as a novel way to memorize and recall information; brainstorm new ideas; and build creative connections between concepts.
When at school he noticed that many of the most successful students took notes that were messy, filled with annotations, images and comments. This intrigued him and he was furthered inspired by the “doodling” techniques used by Leonardo da Vinci and Einstein to explore and flesh out their ideas.
Although, there continues to be debate about the scientific underpinnings of “Mind mapping”, it is a widely disseminated and popular technique for processing and delving into information, concepts and aspirations. Envision “mind mapping” as an opportunity to get out of a rut, stimulate your imagination, gain fresh perspective and come up with novel solutions.
Follow these key steps to begin building a mind map:
Identify a central idea that you want to pursue.
Add branches, which represent key themes – use a single word for each branch. (Think creatively about the branches- short, long, straight, curved, thin, wide.)
Add keywords to each branch.
Color code the branches.
Include images.
The mind map below (Listen Mind Map), created by talented and prolific mind mapper Paul Foreman (http://www.mindmapinspiration.com) illustrates these key steps:
It is likely that at some point you have “doodled” your ideas on paper. Why not have some fun trying this technique to help you discover a new way of “seeing”, thinking and moving forward!!
Mind Map Mastery by Tony Buzan
