November 14, 2006

Mind Mapping: Right Brain Work Ahead — Enter At Your Own Risk

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 1:35 pm

Let’s Get Visual

Finding Ideas Outside of the Box logo 2

You wake to a song on the radio, an oldie that takes you back to where you heard it. That was at a summer concert on the freshly mown lawn. You can almost smell the grass again. You see the faces of the friends you were with, especially your steady date. Bits of conversation from that night come back to you. You start to laugh at a joke you thought you’d completely forgotten.

Almost all of the work that made that experience happen was your right brain making associations. The song you heard was associated to the event and each detail that radiated out from it, until you had a picture of the event.

Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping — The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain’s Untapped Potential — is a way of taking that kind of relational thinking out of your head and putting it where we can see it.

You might already know how to do it. Chances are you know a kid who can. Grade schools have been teaching how to organize and map ideas this way for a couple of decades. In school this technique is called clustering, idea mapping, concept mapping, or idea webs. They’re part of the curriculum as early as age 7.

When to Use a Mind Map

Mind maps are useful for clearing your mind of the thoughts around an idea. A mind map is best used for capturing an idea and its parts while it’s happening. They work well for most people because they allow for information to be structured in the same way as our brains relay it: I made the mind map below as I was conceiving the basic services for the Perfect Virtual Manager (PVM).

This map represents the thinking at stage 1. It shows the groups PVM would serve and the basic services each might use. The map helped me define the service and became a visual to talk and write from when I was discussing the idea with others. Now the fledgling concept shown here is far more complex.

Perfect Virtual Manager Map

One look at the mind map and folks have the “big picture” of what kind of service I’m offering. It gives them a solid grounding through a visual. What began as a way for me to work with my thoughts has produced a useful tool for sharing the first stage of the offering.

Mind mapping is particularly good for situations in which you want to share somewhat structured ideas with a client, but you don’t want them to look so finished that the client has no room for input.

Here are some resources for mind mapping. You don’t really need software to do it. I find a pencil works well too.

Have you mapped your mind lately?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
Inside Out Thinking: Catching Ideas Coming In and Going Out
10 Reasons Creative Folks Make Us Crazy
Don’t Hunt IDEAS — Be an Idea Magnet

Share This


Filed under Successful Blog |



C'mon. Let's talk!

22 Comments to “Mind Mapping: Right Brain Work Ahead — Enter At Your Own Risk”

  1. November 14th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
    Mike said

    I’ve not rtaken to the software tools, but I’m sure I can find at least 3 hand-drawn mind maps on my desk right now. Thank you, Tony Buzan! They really are the perfect tool for organizing your thoughts on a subject.

  2. November 14th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Yeah Mike,
    The software is quite expensive for something a pencil can do. Did you really not ever bump into these in school?

  3. November 14th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
    Mike said

    I first heard of mind maps about 5 years ago after randomly grabbing a Tony Buzan book off the library shelf. Before that it was outlining or storyboarding. Reading the book was a series of those smack-self-in-the-head why-didnt-I-think-of-that moments!

    I probably didn’t see them in school because I graduated in 1982. [Yes, I am a fossil] But old dogs know when a good new trick comes along, so now I’m an avid mind-mapper.

  4. November 14th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
    Kent Blumberg said

    Here’s a 295-word primer on mindmapping, with a couple of other links:

    http://kentblumberg.typepad.com/kent_blumberg/2006/06/how_to_mindmap.html

  5. November 14th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hey, Mike,
    They been schools since you wwere a little kid. Interesting. Probably more a case that your teachers didn’t get how to use them right. Many folks don’t. :)

  6. November 14th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Kent,
    Thanks for the link. That’s a great one!
    Looks like you use mind maps too. :)

  7. November 14th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
    Mike said

    I just got back from Nashville, havingmet with one of my corporate blog clients and he wants me to do a mind map for his people, to outline the avenues I want them to take when they compile data for me.

    Without this primer and resource, I’d have been googlin’ in the dark.

    Thanks for the direction.

  8. November 14th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
    Kevin OKeefe said

    Just realized MindManager had a mac version a couple weeks ago. Used it on numerous occcasions since and in process of getting license for all team members.

    Fabulous for reviewing projects with clients.

  9. November 15th, 2006 at 6:44 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hey Mike,
    I can send you all sorts of stuff, if you need some. I can also compile something for your folks who’ll be reading the map. Just let know if you want more.

  10. November 15th, 2006 at 6:46 am
    ME Strauss said

    Kevin!
    It’s great to see you!
    Yes, I agree. Mind maps are actually much stronger than powerpoint for getting a client involved in your thinking — words alone keep people stuck in their head, graphic organizers help them to visualize possibilities.

    Great point! Thank you for adding it.

  11. November 24th, 2006 at 1:23 am
    Sasha Manuel said

    I’ve been using the Mind Manager software at work and have found it pretty useful. I love how it helps me get organised. It’s great for brainstorming and planning strats. Heehee.

    But yea, using a pen and paper still comes handy. I always keep them close to my laptop. LOL.

  12. November 24th, 2006 at 6:30 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hey Sasha!
    Great to see you!

    The only problem I have with the software is the price would buy a lot of pencils and paper. :)

    I love the way the mind maps look and their great if you want share them in business settings or have them on a computer.

  13. December 7th, 2006 at 9:16 am
    Successful Blog - Compendium from OpenLearn: FREE Mindmapping Software said

    [...] Related article Mind Mapping: Right Brain Work Ahead — Enter At Your Own Risk [...]

  14. December 11th, 2006 at 7:33 am
    A successful blogger takes a look at mind mapping | ePublishingDaily.com said

    [...] So it’s good to see others extol the virtues of mind-mapping as Liz Strauss over at Successful Blog has recently done: When to use a Mind Map Mind maps are useful for clearing your mind of the thoughts around an idea. A mind map is best used for capturing an idea and its parts while it’s happening. They work well for most people because they allow for information to be structured in the same way as our brains relay it [...]

  15. December 14th, 2006 at 8:26 am
    Successful Blog - FreeMind: Mindmapping for Notes and Blog Post Ideas said

    [...] Related articles Mind Mapping: Right Brain Work Ahead — Enter At Your Own Risk Compendium from OpenLearn: FREE Mindmapping Software [...]

  16. December 16th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
    jon said

    I’m a big fan of mind-mapping. Working on a Mac I find Tinderbox by the folks at Eastgate to be invaluable.

    Tinderbox is due to be released for Windows soon. The good thing about it is that it works as an outliner and mind-mapping tool.

    It’s a superb piece of well-crafted software albeit slightly pricey.

  17. January 6th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
    Phil said

    I use mind mapping quite a lot. I do agree with one of the comments that the software can be a bit pricey. Although for the essays and reports that I do use mind maps - software is the only way - unless you want to reat work that you have already done. Mind manger is quite a good program but I much prefer Spark-Space not least because of the ability to structure the text document via the graphical map view. It also available for windows and MAC.

  18. January 6th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Phil!
    Welcome!
    Spark Space is one that I don’t know. Have you got a link?

  19. January 6th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
    Phil said

    Hi ME Strauss

    The link is http://www.spark-space.com - I believe you can download a free demo version - when I first got my demo it was a full working version that lasted 3o days. Let me know how you get along with it.

  20. January 6th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Phil,
    You can call me, Liz, everyone does. :)
    Maybe you’d like to do a review of spark space for us? If you would, shoot me an email. You can find on my “work with Liz” page.” :)

  21. October 2nd, 2007 at 3:41 pm
    Brenda Nicholson said

    I find mind maps to be a very effective tool in planning and seeing the big picture, but I dislike mind mapping software. Most of the ones that I have tried are still very linear in nature and produce something that looks more like a drawing of a circuit board. Big pieces of paper and colored markers really get the ideas flowing and spark creativity.

  22. October 2nd, 2007 at 6:48 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Brenda!
    Welcome! Mindmaps work well to get our ideas together and on paper where we can work with them. That’s where they are userful to me sometimes. I like them for presentations. :)

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

C'mon Let's Talk!