September 10, 2024
Mind Maps for Greater Creativity
Creativity is born of new ideas. To achieve stratospheric levels of creativity you have to be geared up to generate, assimilate and exploit worthwhile ideas on a consistent basis. But, first things first – how do you capture your ideas to begin with?
Catching ideas as they fly out of your mind is of crucial importance to your innovation efforts. It’s a struggle to be fully in command of your creative processes and to realise the value of your ideas if you let them escape! You can lose all sorts of inspirations by failing to note them down. Psychologist Graham Wallas says it best when he tells of a man “who had so brilliant an idea that he went into his garden to thank God for it, and found on rising from his knees that he had forgotten it, and never recalled it.” Recording your ideas is what sets off the process that takes them from being mere fancies into tangible and feasible possibilities. Ideally you need a ‘hub’ for your thoughts and ideas – a place where they can accumulate, interact and grow productively. I propose that place to be the MIND MAP.
A Mind Map is a visual diagram where thoughts, ideas or facts are laid out on branches around a central theme to form an organic, connected structure which ‘radiates’ outwards. It uses lines, key words, colour, space and images all according to simple, brain-friendly concepts. The popularity of the Mind Mapping technique has grown spectacularly in the last few decades and it’s now used by millions globally as an aid in study, organisation, problem solving and decision making.
Often people don’t use best practice when it comes to Mind Mapping or they believe that they’re Mind Mapping when, in actual fact, they’re doing something else. The term ‘Mind Map’ is regularly applied to map forms such as spider diagrams, flow charts, concept maps and bubble diagrams. These are NOT Mind Maps and work quite differently.
The Mind Map was invented and popularised by leading author and ‘brain expert’ Tony Buzan in the early 1970s. While at university, he learned that conventional linear methods of taking notes and recording ideas such as lists and outlines make inefficient use of the brain’s powers and can, in actual fact, be very wasteful to the thinking process.
Tony didn’t invent the brain – he did invent the instructions!
John Husbands, Institute of Management
Drawing on breakthrough scientific insights on the brain and the approaches of the great thinkers, scientists and artists of the past, Tony ultimately devised the Mind Map as a credible alternative to our traditional forms of note-taking. By understanding the operational principles of the brain, Tony was able to purposely formulate a tool to complement these principles, and in doing so, could offer us an incredibly practical and positive way to unleash our thinking capacity.
No matter what creative systems and strategies you use, a Mind Map allows you to readily capture and consolidate your ideas in physical form. Mind Maps can range from very simple to all-embracing, and are useful at all levels of the creative process from multiple idea generation to rigorous analysis of alternatives.
Chris Griffiths
Chris Griffiths, is a bestselling author with decades of experience in the areas of creativity, metacognition and innovation. His books have been published in over 20 languages and his previous title ‘The Creative Thinking Handbook’ was selected by Forbes as one of the best books to “get your creative juices flowing” and named the #1 business book for inspiring innovation by CEO Today. He is an advocate of using technology to improve thinking, and his latest app, Ayoa.com, is used by millions worldwide.