The National Lottie

I am a dirty rotten liar.

On 22nd June I told a big fat massive lie that even I didn’t believe at the time. But now with only…..days to my next set of exams I can no longer immerse myself in the blogosphere and tell myself it will all be all right on the day of the exam. I have to knuckle down and do some work. I will not say I won’t be blogging, cos that would once again be a big fat lie but I won’t be dedicating so much of my time surfing my Blogroll and Blog Folder on my desk top. Instead I will be bombarding the internet with “here’s one I made earlier crap” and dedicating my free time to Mind Mapping (and watching The Wire).

A little bit about mind mapping

I first discovered this technique a few years ago in an ACCA student magazine that Darren gave me. As with almost everything I do, I initially became totally hooked and managed to map out an entire manual in the space of a week. It was a great way for me to study as at the time I was working as a law Clerk and I spent most of my days sitting in boring call overs waiting to be called so I would spend my time doodling maps and thereby getting in quiet a lot of study time.

A mind map is a graphical way to represent ideas and concepts. It is a visual thinking tool that helps structuring information, helping you to better analyse, comprehend, recall and generate new ideas.

Most human brains do not work in linear forms and this is why note taking and making endless lists fails for so many people. In a mind map, information is structured in a way that resembles much more closely how your brain actually works. The creation of the map calls on both analytical and artistic skills and therefore engages your brain in a much richer way, helping in all its cognitive functions. And it is fun!

So, what does a mind map look like? The best way is to show an example:-

Mind Maps can be used for almost anything. Study, preparing essays and presentations, writing blog posts, planning events and it goes on and on. It’s a great way to see something on one colourful page.

How to Draw a Mind Map

It’s very easy. Make sure you have a clear white page with no lines and a number of coloured markers or crayons.

* Start in the middle of a blank page, writing or drawing the idea you intend to develop. I would suggest that you use the page in landscape orientation.

* Develop the related subtopics around this central topic, connecting each of them to the center with a line.
* Repeat the same process for the subtopics, generating lower-level subtopics as you see fit, connecting each of those to the corresponding subtopic.

* Use colours, drawings and symbols copiously. Be as visual as you can, and your brain will thank you. I’ve met many people who don’t even try, with the excuse they’re “not artists”. Don’t let that keep you from trying it out!.

* Keep the topics labels as short as possible, keeping them to a single word – or, better yet, to only a picture. Especially in your first mind maps, the temptation to write a complete phrase is enormous, but always look for opportunities to shorten it to a single word or figure – your mind map will be much more effective that way.
* Vary text size, colour and alignment. Vary the thickness and length of the lines. Provide as many visual cues as you can to emphasize important points. Every little bit helps engaging your brain.

So I am getting me to a library and I apologise for the particularity poor level of posting for the next while.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 26th, 2008 at 6:14 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.