Mind mapping is a concept that has been gaining popularity and with just cause! For those of you who are not familiar with the concept, a mind map is a diagram that is used to represent anything from ideas to tasks and is arranged around one central thought, keyword, or idea. When you put your tasks or ideas in a radial manner (as opposed to just a list) you are encouraging yourself to enter a brainstorm in order to plan and organize your tasks. It is also much more in tune with the way your brain naturally plans

It’s interesting to note that mind mapping has been used for centuries by educators, engineers and other professionals and has many uses in our world today. Mind mapping actually goes hand-in-hand with the Getting Things Done series we’ve been writing about this week because when you mind map, you actually trigger the different thoughts and next actions you have hidden inside your brain. As you start placing branches on your map, you’ll begin to remember all the little details of projects and plans.

Aside from aiding you in your GTD lifestyle, it can also help with studying, memorization, planning projects, preparing presentations, and consolidating information. There’s no real limit on what areas a mind map can help you: family, education, business, or personal.

Starting a mind map is very easy – in the middle of a blank page write a keyword or idea of what you intend to map. You’ll begin to connect this central topic with subtopics which will connect to the center of your map with a line. Then you can repeat the same process for each of the subtopics which will allow you to generate lower level subtopics as well.

Creating something that is very visual will help you immensely so please don’t allow yourself to think that you can’t be graphic because you aren’t an artist. Use colour and drawings whenever you can. Adding thickness to lines could mean that the subtopic is a very important one.

As you move through the sub-topics, be sure to keep the labels as short as possible. If you can keep them to a single word (or picture!) you will find your map to be much more effective.

If you are interested in software or purchasing pre-made map templates, here are a few good places to start your search – but remember, the only thing you truly need is a blank page and a pen!

• Grove Store
• Mind Systems
• Free Mind