Mind Mapping Makes Life Easier

One time or another we are all faced with dealing too much information. We need to gather, catalog and make sense of such a pile of information. We doubt we will ever find the time to do it. The number of information sources is increasingly abundant. There are magazines, books, web sites, abstracts, multimedia sources and probably one or more I forgot to mention.

The diversity in types of media has increased too. We used to have paper on which books and magazines were printed. Now we also have CD's, DVD's, video tapes, internet and computer files.

How is it humanly possible to stay up-to-date with all of the information we need to assimilate? It has become increasingly difficult to organize all this information in a manner that makes sense. And it is nearly impossible to retrieve all this information easily.

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is one way to handle this information overload. Especially digital mind mapping.

A mind map is a technique developed by Tony Buzan. He introduced this very powerful technique to unlock the brains fullest potential. Originally having a piece of paper and some colored pencils was enough to create handy mind maps.

The mind map's original purpose is to stimulate a thought process on paper similar to the one that goes on in our brains. It provides a more creative way to bring information together than is possible in normal written formats. Information can be more easily understood in a mind map, often in one quick glance.

Although this early technique on paper still works some companies have introduced digital forms of these mind maps in their business processes.

The digital form makes it easy to create mind maps fast. You are now allowed to edit, draw and manage your ideas on your personal computer. You can share you mind maps and leverage group ideas.

There are many stand-alone software programs available and even online mind map programs are popping up on the Internet.

Companies Using Mind Mapping

Many organizations are introducing the mind map technique as an excellent brainstorming tool. It makes creative juices flow easily. Participants of these digital brainstorming sessions are usually very enthusiastic about the new possibilities.

Even the Time Management community seems to have discovered digital mind mapping. It makes it very easy to brainstorm, to organize your thoughts or even write a book. With the added bonus of being very quick to revise if you need it later.

One example is how mind mapping can help you write a book. It is a great way to keep an overview of the topics you want to discuss. You start with the main topic in the middle and add branches for each chapter or topic. Then you can add branches or sub topics to each main branch. You will get a tree shaped picture will all the chapters or topics in one easy to grasp overview.

Subtopics can be put on a separate page and further developed while still being connected to the main project. Outside documents, website URL's can be linked into the original mind map. One document can give you the entire related library if necessary.

Rather then jotting down your ideas in a traditional linear list you can collect your ideas in a visual map. Thus making it easier to keep a bird's eye view of your ideas and stimulated the development of your ideas. Mind maps are easy to put down and come back to. They are so easy to comprehend at a glance. You can easily add in new ideas or sub topics and develop your mind maps further.

So next time you are stuck thinking up new ideas or organizing old ones think of this creativity tool and the endless possibilities digital mind mapping can provide you with.