Mind Map Handbook: The ultimate thinking tool - Tony Buzan

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Making A Mind Map

       Discovering Your Natural Mind Mapping Ability

       Imagination and Association Game

       Seven Steps to Making a Mind Map

       Creating Your First Mind Map

      In this chapter you are going to make your first Mind Map, starting with an Imagination and Association game.

      You will graduate from this chapter knowing how to Mind Map and having learned all the ingredients that go into making a great Mind Map.

      Discovering Your Natural Mind Mapping Ability

      How does a Mind Map work? In the same way your brain works!

      And fortunately, although your brain can do the most incredibly complex things, it is based on the most profoundly simple principles. That is why Mind Maps are easy and fun to create, because they work with your brain’s natural needs and energy rather than against them.

      So what are the keys to your brain’s functioning?

      Quite simply: imagination and association

      Doubt it? Then try this game and make your first Mind Map.

      Imagination and Association Game

      Read the word printed in capital letters below and immediately close your eyes and keep them closed for about 30 seconds and think about it.

      FRUIT

      When you read the word and then closed your eyes, was all that popped into your mind a little computer printout of the word: F-R-U-I-T?!

      Of course not! What your brain probably generated was an image of your favourite single fruit, or a bowl of fruit, or a fruit store, and so on. You probably also saw the colours of different fruits, connected the tastes to appropriate fruits, and similarly ‘experienced’ their aromas. This is because our brains work with sensory images with appropriate links and associations radiating from them. Our brains use words to trigger these images and associations. They produce 3-D pictures with numerous associations that are especially personal to us.

      Your brain thinks radiantly in all directions.

      What you have demonstrated with the ‘Fruit Exercise’ is that your brain Mind Maps naturally! And in doing so, you have accomplished even more than you thought, and opened the way for phenomenal improvement in your thinking power. You have learned how your brain actually works!

      To get some insight into just how brilliant your brain is and how important Mind Maps are as a method for allowing it to express itself naturally and easily, think again about the ‘Fruit Exercise’ you have just completed: how quickly did you get that image of fruit? Most people answer ‘immediately’.

      In daily conversation you are accessing ‘immediately’ a constant stream of continuing data so easily and elegantly that you don’t even notice that your brain is doing something that makers of the world’s super-computers can only dream of doing! You already possess the ultimate super-computer. And it’s in your head!

      It is this amazing ‘super-computer power’ that Mind Maps harness. Mind Maps are the reflection of your brain’s natural, image-filled thinking processes and abilities.

      This is how our brains work –

      IMAGES with networks of ASSOCIATION

      This is how Mind Maps work –

      IMAGES with networks of ASSOCIATION

      Seven Steps to Making a Mind Map

      1 Start in the CENTRE of a blank page turned sideways. Why?Because starting in the centre gives your brain freedom to spread out in all directions and to express itself more freely and naturally.

      2 Use an IMAGE or PICTURE for your central idea. Why?Because an image is worth a thousand words and helps you use your Imagination. A central image is more interesting, keeps you focused, helps you concentrate, and gives your brain more of a buzz!

      3 Use COLOURS throughout. Why?Because colours are as exciting to your brain as are images. Colour adds extra vibrancy and life to your Mind Map, adds tremendous energy to your Creative Thinking, and is fun!

      4 CONNECT your MAIN BRANCHES to the central IMAGE and connect your second and third-level branches to the first and second levels, etc. Why?Because, as you now know, your brain works by ASSOCIATION. If you connect the branches, you will understand and remember a lot more easily. Connecting your main branches also creates and establishes a basic structure or architecture for your thoughts. This is very similar to the way in which in nature a tree has connected branches that radiate from its central trunk. If there were little gaps between the trunk and its main branches or between those main branches and the smaller branches and twigs, nature wouldn’t work quite so well! Without connection in your Mind Map, everything (especially your memory and learning!) falls apart. Connect!

      5 Make your branches CURVED rather than straight-lined. Why?Because having nothing but straight lines is boring to your brain. Curved, organic branches, like the branches of trees, are far more attractive and riveting to your eye.

      6 Use ONE KEY WORD PER LINE. Why?Because single key words give your Mind Map more power and flexibility. Each single word or image is like a multiplier, generating its own special array of associations and connections. When you use single key words, each one is freer and therefore better able to spark off new ideas and new thoughts. Phrases or sentences tend to dampen this triggering effect. A Mind Map with more key words in it is like a hand with all the finger joints working. A Mind Map with phrases or sentences is like a hand with all your fingers held in rigid splints!

      7 Use IMAGES throughout. Why?Because each image, like the central image, is also worth a thousand words. So if you have only 10 images in your Mind Map, it’s already the equal of 10,000 words of notes!

      Creating Your First Mind Map

      Let’s return to the topic of ‘Fruit’ and use your powers of imagination and association to make a Mind Map. There is a sample Mind Map on Plate 1, but try to complete the Mind Map yourself before you look at it.

      Level One

      First take a sheet of plain paper and some coloured pens. Turn the piece of paper on its side, so that it is wider than it is long (landscape rather than portrait). In the centre of the page draw an image that sums up ‘Fruit’ for you. Use the coloured pens and be as creative as you like. Now label this image ‘Fruit’.

      Level Two

      Then, draw some thick branches radiating out from the central ‘Fruit’ image. Use a different colour for each. These branches will represent your main thoughts on ‘Fruit’. You can add any number of branches when you make a Mind Map, but, for the purposes of this exercise, let’s limit the number of branches to five.

      Basic form to copy for your first Mind Map (Level 2)

      On each branch, print clearly and in large capital letters the first five single key words that pop into your head when you think of the concept ‘Fruit’. As you can see, at the moment, your Mind Map is primarily composed of lines and words. So how can we improve it?

      We can make it better by adding to it the important brain ingredients of pictures and images from your IMAGINATION. ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ and therefore saves you a lot of time and wasted energy writing down those thousand words in your notes! And it is easier to remember.

      For each of your key words, draw in a picture next to it to represent and reinforce it. Use your coloured pens and a little imagination. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece –

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