As a procrastinator I have always had a hard time organizing my thoughts in a fashion that I can understand. After hearing Chris Garrett speak I was shown the light through mind mapping.  You can see a nice little example of what a mind map looks like from the picture above. A mind map is  similar to brainstorming, but with more special features that help you organize your thoughts on a whole new level. There are many advantages to using mind maps whether it be for personal use or business use. This little application is free provides a way for me to clearly write out all my thoughts, prioritize them, save time, and even schedule them on my calendar.

Here is a walk through of using a mind map.

Download a mind map software. Free Mind is a free application that can be used or you pay for a more advanced Mind Map Software online. Free Mind is a basic mind map software, while other mind map software can range from $10 to $30. If you buy a mind map software check out MindMapper. However, free always has a nice ring to small business owners.

Start a parent node. A parent node is the center bubble that everything should revolve around. The ideas that spread out from the parent nodes are called child nodes.

Prioritize your nodes. Once you map out all your nodes you want to prioritize them in a way that will help you accomplish your goal. Once this is done you can digitally scratch out the node. This allows you to visualize your progress and what is next.

Customize your mind map. With Free Mind you can set backgrounds, icons, and colors to your mind map that allow you to visualize your thoughts in a way that you find useful. 

Set the schedule feature. If a node needs to be done by a particular day then the scheduling feature is key for you. The feature allows you to set alarms and import the calendar to your outlook calendar. Having an alarm can keep you inline and remind you of what is most important to help you reach your goal. 

Mind Mapping should only take you around 1 to 2 hours before you exhaust all of your ideas, but the great thing about mind maps is that as time goes on you can modify the priorities of each individual idea. Each idea generally is a sentence long. A lot of your ideas may stem off into a long branch that is about 3 to 4 nodes long. A fascinating thing about Mind Mapping is that you will start seeing ideas that can be grouped together or connected to each other down the road. 

Mind Mapping should make your life easier and it is a tool that many people like to use, but if it doesn’t work for you I strongly encourage to share your idea on how you organize your thoughts. Everyone thinks and comprehends information in many different ways. This is a way that can help you get organized, save you money, and it may even help you find something that you have been overlooking in your business model. 

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Tags: Mind Maps, Organization, ProBlogger

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Education, Management. 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.