I have been using mind maps to help me plan and organize my work and life for the last ten years. The benefits of mind mapping are nicely covered by Sean Tierney in his posting called "Why mindmapping works." Here I want to cover how to do it.
Although there is some disagreement about whether or not Tony Buzan was the developer of mind maps, he has certainly popularized the concept more than anyone else. Here's how he described it in his book "Head First" a few years ago (the following quotes from pages 29-30):
- Use a large sheet of paper.
- Gather together a selection of colored pens, ranging from fine nibbed ones to highlighters.
- Select the topic, problem or subject you want to Mind Map.
- Get any information you will need together.
- Start in the center of the paper with a large, unframed image which can symbolize the topic.
- Use dimension, expression and at least three colors when drawing the central image, in order to attract attention and aid memory.
- From the central image, radiate out key words and the most important ideas you have about the topic, each on a separate, thick line.
- Branch thinner lines off the ends of the appropriate main lines, to show supporting data (thye more important the data, the closer it should be to the central image or idea).
- Use images wherever possible.
- Use colors freely in your own special code to show people, topics, themes, associations or dates, and to make the Mind Map more beautiful and more memorable.
Here's a link to a gallery of mind maps.
See this link for even more about mind maps.
