There are rules in everything—yes, even in mind mapping, which some would say is supposed to be a free-thinking concept!
However, Tony Buzan’s rules for mind maps are interpreted as guidelines by some (no prizes for guessing whether they followed the rules in their mind maps), and with good reason.
Does it really matter that your mind maps do not have a picture for their main ideas, or that you are unable to locate that darn option for changing colours in your mind mapping software?
Rules are meant to be broken. What they don’t say though is that you need to know the rules to break them. So, let’s look at the mind mapping “rules” so that we can know which ones to break!
Rule no. 1 states that you must start at the center of a blank sheet of landscape-oriented paper. This seems more intuitive and convenient, so I wonder why you might want to violate this.This is a good idea, if not a rule.
Rule no. 2 advises us to use a picture for the central idea of our mind maps. Here’s a rule many people are not too crazy about. While it might make mind mapping more interesting, and the mind maps more attractive, many percieve it is not always possible—for example, using a picture for abstract themes is tough for many. There is also the age old excuse “I can’t draw”
Rule no. 3 talks about using colours throughout the mind map. There is always the danger of a rainbow gone weird look with taking this rule too seriously. I’d just say—consider your purpose—is it a note-taking mind map, or a mind map meant to teach others something? You might want to tone down the neon green if it’s to be presented at an academic conference (unless it’s a mind mapping conference).
Rule no. 4 advises mind mappers to connect the main branches to the central image and branch out from that. Sound advice, and this seems to be one of the central distinguishing features of a mind map. If you’re going to call your creation a mind map, you’ve got to follow this one.
Rule no. 5 simply says, “Make your branches curved, organic and flowing, tapering outward.” Why will my mind maps be better if you followed this one? It’s simply because this design gently leads the eye to the branches from the central idea and other branches. This is important—remember those psychedelic colours? It also distinguishes your mind maps from flowcharts, especially with mind mapping software.
Rule no. 6 is a hotly debated one. It says, “Use one keyword per line.” Following this is getting more and more difficult, as mind mapping gets serious about its new avatar as a visual knowledge management and representation system. (Did I actually type out that phrase?). Here is not the time and place to debate the benefits of doing this, suffice to say that when doing hand drawn maps for taking notes it is VITAL to focuse on one word per line.
Rule no. 7 asks mindmappers to use images throughout their mind maps. This is great advice, but not for all. If you’ve got to take down notes at a great speed, don’t try drawing images and expect them to be works of art – stick figures will suffice. If you can, try adding images later.
Rule no. 8 is the one I like best: Develop your own personal style of mind maps. Mind maps are, in the end, about you. If lists work best for you, go for one with lists. If you can only work with green and red (each of us has his/her quirks), go ahead. Creating your personal style using mind mapping software may be a challenge—but not impossible.
Rule no. 9 states: Use emphasis and show associations in your mind map. Great idea—emphasis helps suggest a hierarchy in concepts, which is often of importance. Rarely, as we know so well, is everything equal in life!
Rule no 10, the last one, says, “Use ‘radiant’ hierarchy, numerical order or outlines to embrace your branches.” Embracing the branches is not just something environmentalists do, apparently! Let’s say your mind map has two branches that are somehow related. Bracketing them together by either shading them a different colour, or by enclosing them in an outline, is a great way to show the relationship between the two. Clearly, a practical guideline.
So, there you have it: The ten rules of mind mapping, and here’s one that really should be on the list: Have fun mind mapping. If you’re not having fun doing it, don’t!
PS – Make sure you download your free copy of “Get Started With Mind Mapping” that you will find at the top right hand side of this page. It contains everything you need to know for you to get started using Tony Buzan’s creation – including the rules and example mind maps.
Filed under Mind Mapping by .
Mind Mapping Video for HomeBusinessBrains.com.
In an earlier post I told you about a trip to New York where I was invited to be the Mind Mapping Expert for a new Home Business Building advice and support site.
At the time I thought it might be a bit of a punt because it was early days for these people but now having seen who else is on the faculty, I realise what a huge venture it actually is.
People like Michael Gerber (author of the “E-Myth”), Michael Tipper (oops, that’s me!) and many other leading experts have contributed to providing advice for home based business owners.
I was invited to contribute because Mind Mapping is seen by the founders of the site to be a fundamental tool that anyone in business MUST have if they want to keep ahead of the competition – and they wanted someone credible, professional and vastly experienced in the technique – and fortunately my name came up 
That was at the beginning of the year and after months of hard work by the owners of that site, it is about to be launched.
In fact tomorrow is the big day but as of today I and the other experts can release one or two of our videos to you to whet your appetite.
The site is based in the US and so it is being launched on their time so when the link for the site becomes live I will let you know.
In the meantime, here is just one of the many videos I have on the site that explains what Mind Mapping is all about, how it relates to business and how Tony Buzan made his great discovery.
Filed under Mind Mapping, Tony Buzan, What is a Mind Map? by .
In my post on Mind Mapping Examples – Showing Mind Maps as an Art Form I shared with you the really cool site from Paul Foreman and Admam Sicinski where you can see over 170 unique and individual example maps created by these two wizards of the art form and some of their equally talented buddies.
One of the things I stressed in that article was that I felt these super examples of artistic genius may actually put people off from trying this amazing thinking tool out themselves.
However what I neglected to add was that even though the examples from this site may not be generated by you, there is still some value in studying these great mind maps.
Whilst there are still keywords and images, the selection of which will be unique and personal to the author/artist, a skilled practitioner in the technique (of the quality of Foreman and Sicinski) will generate a map that will as close as possible be self-explanatory.
Whilst I would always recommend you use Mind Mapping yourself to get maximum benefit, using others’ maps can help too.
So what if you don’t want to go to the trouble of learning this valuable skill yourself, but you would really like to have a Mind Map generated for you?
Well on the Mind Map Art Website Creation Services Page the site owners offer a service where they will create one for you.
All you have to do is choose the style from Paul’s hand drawn variety to Adam’s “graphically generated” variety, choose your size (A3 or A4 which is 2xletter size or letter size) and then e mail them for a quote.
I have no idea what you will be charged but I do know that if you decide to try this service out, you will get a quality mind map that is a true work of art.
If you try them out, do let me know how you get on.
Filed under Examples of Mind Mapping, Reviews by .
As an avid hand drawn mind mapper for nearly 15 years now, I have become accustomed to casual observers of my technique describing the paper based version of my mental musings as art.
Sure they have colour and pictures too but I wouldn’t go as far to say they are works of art even though I will admit that to the uninitiated, they do look rather striking.
Now whilst a powerful component of their success the fact that you have to "draw" a Mind Map is one of the very things that puts many people off trying them out.
I find myself continually stressing to people that you do not need to be Michelangelo to be able to use Mind Mapping because simple stick figures and thumbnail sketches are absolutely perfect.
However as I find many people need to find a valid excuse to hide behind their own feelings of (unfounded) inadequacy then when it comes to mind mapping the "Well I can’t draw" excuse is the one they jump on straight away as the reason they won’t try them out.
But what of the other end of the spectrum where truly gifted artists apply their talents to creating mind maps that are indeed a work of art?
Well there are mind mappers just like, and what I want to do is review a site where you can go and see some incredible examples where the maps are truly beautiful and inspiring.
You will find some amazing examples of Mind Maps as art at http://www.mindmapart.com/, a site run by Paul Foreman and Adam Sicinski and contributed to by some of the world’s leading Mind Mapping experts/artists (two of whom are contemporaries of mine).
The site has over 170 Mind Maps filed under the categories of Arts, Business, Education, Lifestyle, Offbeat, Science, Sports and Technology.
You can also search the maps by topic and across the 170 maps you will find topics as diverse as Adjusting to Eye Loss, Graphic Recording, How to Make a Pancake, Richard Branson and Weight Management.
There is a definite personal development slant to the topics here with some natural bias towards the site owners personal interests (9 separate maps from Adam Sicinski on Basketball alone implies more of an obsession than a mere interest!).
However given the number of maps here there is a really nice balance of topics.
Each map has a description, details of the artist and you can rate the map on a scale of 1-10.
Not all of the maps are from Adam and Paul as there are also contributions from some other serious online Mind Mappers too.
When you go through the site you will start to see the different styles of the individual contributors.
Adam Sincinski’s style is unique and very easy to spot once you have looked at a couple of his maps and one of my favourites is the mind map on How to Twitter which is very topical map at the moment.
Paul Foreman is no slouch either when it comes to his mind mapping skills and I think if more of us studied his mind map on peace, then I think the world will be a much better place.
So in my humble opinion, this site is an excellent resource if you want to see some fine mind mapping examples from a range of different artists.
However always remember that what you will see on the Mind Map Art website is at the very extreme end of the Mind Mapping spectrum and you don’t need anywhere near the level of artisitic talent to be able to benefit from this marvellous tool.
In fact if there was to be any criticism of this site at all then it would be that potentially it might turn people off from using Buzan’s invention.
But to be honest I am clutching at straws here in an attempt to give you a balanced review because I actually find the examples Adam and Paul have shared with us to be utterly inspiring.
So go have a look at this site, make sure you let them know what you think of your favourite map and vote on a couple too.
Maybe one day you might even see one of mine on there.
Filed under Examples of Mind Mapping, Mind Maps by .
[NOTE - Make sure you watch the video below if you are learning ANYTHING and want a powerful way of improving your study abilities before you leave this page....especially the bit at 3:56]
Today I was out on the road again and this time I had been invited to a large university to give an hour long speech to about 150 new students on a variety of topics that broadly speaking come under the general heading of Study Skills.
These topics include:
- How to read faster and remember more
- Goal setting
- The Power of belief
- Mind Mapping
- The brain
- General memory improvement
I had a really great time with these students and they were a great audience.
Below you will see a short video that I shot before, during and after the session and in it I give the top 5 uses for Mind Mapping by students and share with you how to get the most out of using the Mind Map if you are in a learning situation.
It is just under 5 minutes long but if you watch all the way to 3:56, you will see exactly what 150 students thought about Mind Mapping when I turned the camera on them at the end of the session.
It was just like that famous scene out of the Life of Brian…..
So go ahead and watch the video now.
Filed under Mind Mapping, Mind Mapping for Education, Mind Maps by .
Top ten lists seem all the rage at the moment and indeed I think I might have even used the strategy myself a couple of times.
So in a moment of madness and high frivolity at the end of a productive day I thought I would add to the ever increasing mass of useless information accumulating online and create one of those little 2 minute filler articles the sub-editors in magazines use when an advertiser drops out at the last minute.
And so here we go, ten things you can’t use Mind Mapping or Mind Maps for:
1. Mind Mapping is no good for calming down prisoners in an isolation wing of a high security Alabama prison – try sedatives or the trusty strait jacket instead – they will thank you for it in the end.
2. Mind Maps are a poor choice for load bearing cross beams in deep valley spanning railway bridges – despite their versitility the insistence on using them in landscape format seriously undermines their tensile strength.
3. Mind Mapping as a form of nutrition is a poor dietry choice unless you involve eggs, cheese and chopped ham and then you have an omelette and not a Mind Map.
4. Mind Maps can not and should not be used to document the sequence of directional changes a large male red ant makes when running away from the focused sunlight passing though a magnifying glass guided by two mis-guided kindergarten kids – the expanse of paper is at risk of putting the insect in shadow rendering the experiment useless.
5. Mind Mapping as a martial art is a non-starter – anyone who has played Rock-Paper-Scissors knows that.
6. Mind Maps as a form of currency. Are you mad! Our banking system would collapse – let’s leave economics to the bankers who seem to know what they are doing.
7. Mind Mapping as a form of courting a member of the opposite sex – on the surface this seems a good idea, but you make an inadvertent smudge with your crayola coloured pens and then see just how attractive you look!
8. “Mind Maps” as the title of a Chekov play (because I know he never read any of Tony Buzan’s books and he wouldn’t want to constrain his stream of consciousness by placing it on ANY branch).
9. Mind Mapping as an international “sport” with a World Championships – I mean surely anyone producing a brightly coloured psychedelic diagram under the pressure of time in the interests of competition is just asking to be dope tested.
10. Mind Maps as a thinking tool – what? Don’t be silly! With all that creativity, increased concentration, greater understanding and comprehension, improved recall and better memory, higher order levels of thinking, vastly superior information handling and problem solving abilities, better decision making skills, improved communication and the ability to neatly, swiftly and easily switch from tatical detail to strategic overview in an instant…From a simple colourful diagram with a handful of keywords and pictures organised to mirror the associative mechanism of the brain – Nah!! No one would believe you.
So there is my list of ten and if you have any ideas about things that Mind Mapping can’t be used for then let me know.
Filed under Mind Mapping, Mind Maps, Tony Buzan by .
In my previous post on Bubble Diagrams and Mind Mapping I mentioned the confusion between these thinking tools.
Well another common confusion I often encounter is that Mind Mapping is described as “brainstorming”.
Now whilst it can be used for brainstorming, Mind Mapping has so many other applications as well so defining it in such a restrictive way is rather limiting.
How To Use Mind Maps for Brainstorming
So what I want to do in this post is give you some idea how you can use Mind Mapping for Brainstorming, creativity and the generation of ideas.
I am not going to get into pure definitions of creativity (and the closely linked issue of innovation) but suffice it to say that in the context I shall be using the term, we will focus on it being the generation of new ideas.
Now ideas do not simply appear out of thin air.
In general terms an existing idea will trigger off a new idea.
Creativity is about taking these ideas and organising them in a new and unique way.
Now the brain generates ideas all the time based on the stimulus it has and the associations it makes.
In principle the brain organises its ideas through association and it does that in one of two ways.
First of all if I give you an idea to think about, it will be the trigger for these two processes.
I will break them down individually but left to its own devices the brain will do both simultaneously.
In a deliberate creative processes you can force the brain to do either but naturally it will take whichever course it chooses.
So what are those two processes?
One Thing Leads To Another…
This first mechanism is where one idea triggers another, which in turn triggers another and that one then triggers a third idea and so on.
Now whilst the first idea and the second idea will be related by whatever association they have between them (and that can be absolutely anything), the first idea and the third idea will only be related by their common link to the second idea and then when you get to the fourth idea it will have absolutely no association with the first idea in terms of the context of this information flow.
Boy that sounds complicated.
Let’s see if a picture works here.
So in this example with a starting point of “Water” this triggers the idea “Tap” and that in turn stimulates the idea “Plumber” which triggers “Van” and so on.
Now I must stress these are my associations and whilst you might see the connections between each adjacent word, it does not matter if you don’t because this is a reflections of the associations that take place in my mind.
And again this association chain is not fixed because on a different day with the same starting word, it is likely I will come up with a different set of associations.
So the principle is that one idea triggers another and is the mechanism that is responsible for you saying things like “Oooh that reminds me” (please delete the “Oooh” and replace it with your exclamation of choice).
So what is the other way the brain the processes and generates association?
We Are All Related…
If we start with an idea then as before we will come up with a second idea.
But instead of letting this second idea trigger a third idea we go back to idea #1 and see what other ideas it triggers and we keep repeating that process.
Mmmm, time for another diagram…
So now the idea water triggers off a bunch of other ideas but all related back to water.
This is the other way that the brain processes association.
Now I have described these two processes in isolation but in reality the mind will crackle and sizzle and can and will make hundreds of not thousands of different associations across a combination of these two mechanisms from a particular starting point.
Now if we combine these two together, we end up with a structure of this form:
You know that looks remarkably like a Mind Map!
So when someone says to you “Mind Mapping is great because it represents on paper how the mind thinks” – this is exactly what they mean (though chances are they won’t know that).
How to Use Mind Mapping For Brainstorming
As you can see from above, Mind Mapping is a graphical representation of the way we generate and organise our ideas in our brain.
So it is a great choice to use when we want to generate more ideas and here is how to use for that:
Step 1 – Take a piece of blank paper, turn it landscape (ideally) and write your starting idea in the centre of the page
Step 2 – when your first idea comes to mind, add it as a main branch to your fledgling mind map.
Step 3 – when your second and subsequent ideas come to mind either add them to an existing branch (if they are related) or start a new branch if there is no logical place to put your new idea.
Step 4 – keep repeating the above process until you have got more ideas than you think you will ever need.
You can add to this process by overlaying other creativity strategies to stimulate more ideas but you still capture them using Mind Mapping.
Doing this with hand drawn mapping works very well and if you use mind mapping software you have the added advantage of being able to quickly and easily sort and re-organise your ideas.
Try brainstorming, Mind Mapping your ever growing number of ideas as you do so and let me know how you get on.
Filed under Mind Mapping & Creativity, Mind Mapping for Business, Mind Maps by .
