Map your mind for greater productivity

The simple elegance of a centuries old tool has evolved into a powerful tool for freelance copywriters, authors or anyone who needs to organise ideas, think creatively or develop solutions to life's complexities. Have you ever spent hours writing meeting notes yet felt that the really important information remains buried deep within a mass of minutes? Or, maybe you've wrestled with complex information for a report, website or a newsletter. If that sounds familiar, the answer, as many other people have discovered, may lie in a simple but effective technique called mind mapping.

Mind mapping in marketing, technical writing and PR

Twenty years ago, before I became a copywriter based in Gloucestershire, South West England, I discovered mind maps in an article about Lana Israel, an American teenager who, inspired by the works of British popular psychologist and writer Tony Buzan, had used mind maps to turn around her education and her life.

Fascinated by Israel's intriguing multicoloured charts, I was hooked and soon started using this simple yet elegant tool in my marketing, technical writing and PR work. Since then, mind mapping has become an integral part of my working and personal life, completely changing the way I think, organise information and plan my copywriting. It could change your life too.

Unlimited uses for copywriters and others...

Mind maps, related to techniques such as concept mapping, idea mapping and Ishikawa diagrams, are branching diagrams that use lines, words, colour and images to capture information around a central idea. College coursework, a business problem or the copywriting for a new website? Whatever the challenge, mind mapping, with unlimited uses in personal life, research, education and business brings proven benefits for creativity and learning.

Like all great ideas, mind mapping is as simple and accessible as a pencil and an old envelope. Although Buzan claims the origination (and subsequent trade-marking) of the term mind map, the use of image-centered radial graphical organisation methods goes back to the third century. And with computers it was inevitable that mind mapping would reach our monitors in paid-for and freeware forms such as the excellent Freemind which has become an essential part of my freelance copywriter's tool box.

A great device for generating ideas

Whether you are a busy executive, a marketing manager or a copywriter like me, mind mapping leads to a flow of thoughts - making it a great device for generating ideas. And by creating blank branches, you have to think creatively (satisfying the brain's desire for Gestalt, or wholeness) to find answers and make new associations. Where traditional note taking works in a constrained, linear way, inconsistent with how our brains actually work, mind mapping takes advantage of the brain's tendency to scan the whole field of information presented before it.

Advantages of mind mapping for copywriters?

So often, the simplest ideas and tools are the most powerful. Thus, it is with mind mapping, a tool that, from the simplest personal uses to the most complex corporate applications, punches way beyond its weight. In the course of my work as a copywriter, I've found mind mapping to be invaluable.

We all face daily challenges as we plan, organise and solve problems. For anyone who writes in the course of business (and who doesn't), mind maps are perfect allies. Over the years, as a marketing manager, technical writer, PR copywriter and more recently as a freelance copywriter, I've used them every day for planning articles, brochure content, newsletters and website copy as well as all manner of thinking and brainstorming purposes.

The advantages of mind mapping for copywriters?

• No need for expensive technology
• Portability
• Suited to a wide range of tasks
• Great for organising copywriting projects
• Prompts new ideas – a great creativity tool
• Easy to learn and use
• Intuitive
• Ease of viewing topic overview
• Immediate benefits from your first mind map
• Minimal storage space needed
• Can be added to and reviewed more easily than linear notes
• Practice quickly leads to improvement
• Mind maps are aesthetically pleasing, and FUN!

As a busy copywriter, regularly needing to think creatively, capture information and organise it in different ways, mind mapping is a fantastic tool.

Your first mind map

So, you're itching to have a go? You've got paper and pencil handy (anything from an old envelope to an A3 sheet will do); here's how to make your first mind map.

The basic rules of mind mapping are as follows:

1. Start with one central image (ideally using three or more colours)
2. Use images, and your own codes, symbols and dimensions, throughout
3. Select keywords and print these on the radiating lines
4. Ideally, each word should be alone on its line* and be as upright as possible
5. Connect lines as you develop an organic, outward-flowing radial hierarchy
6. Each line should be the same length as its associated word/image
7. Use colours to identify words or blocks of information.
8. Let your own personal style emerge as you write and draw
9. Use emphasis and graphical devices to show associations
10. Create boundaries around each branch outline

* I'll admit that this is a rule I break sometimes. The purists would despair but sometimes it's necessary (I believe.)

The keys to successful mind mapping are emphasis, association, clarity and developing your own personal style. As such, it shares a lot with the principles of good copywriting. Once the initial mind map has been completed, you can easily add additional thoughts or associations between different elements. And by creating blank extensions to the branches, you can force yourself to think about related ideas.

Starting with a blank piece of paper and keeping it horizontal before you, put a strong written and graphical image at the centre of the page. Then draw a series of radiating lines out from the central image, each one corresponding to a key idea relating to your theme. On each radiating line, write a single keyword for that idea. Then, essentially, you just keep going, adding finer lines and further keywords as you create an organic, branching hierarchy of ideas and sub-ideas. Be spontaneous, don't be fussy about appearance, get those ideas down and see where you end up. You may be surprised.

It's that easy; you're a mind mapper!

Computerised versus conventional mind mapping: the pros and cons

So, twenty years into mind mapping (and still learning) do I prefer the 'quick and dirty' of paper and pencil (or pen, particularly one of my favourite Swiss Prodir ballpoints) or computerised mind mapping in the form of Freemind (see image above) or a similar application?

The computer is undoubtedly good for getting a lot of information into a given area and frees you from the novice's worry about fitting all their thoughts onto a given page when hand writing. Furthermore, computerised mind maps can be easily integrated with other electronic documents; for presentation, the electronic version certainly looks more polished.

Simple elegance

But on the other hand, even using keyboard shortcuts, the computer can't match the speed of paper and pencil as the ideas flow and your hand struggles to keep up. I've also found that conventional mind mapping is also easier, quicker and less obtrusive when you are in a meeting. And of course, if necessary, the final mind map can be transcribed into a mind mapping application later. There's something about the simple elegance of a quick, inspired, hard copy mind map. People still comment when they see you draw one - there's a little bit of magic about it - like being able to pick up a guitar at a party and deliver a song, or being able to find your way around Windows Explorer with just the keyboard! Like learning HTML coding before using an HTML editor, I'd always recommend starting with pencil and paper before experimenting with mind mapping software.

Not just a useful business tool

Mind mapping isn't just a helpful business tool, but also surprisingly good fun and rather therapeutic after hours in front of a computer monitor.

Try it.

Resources

Use Your Head, Tony Buzan
How to Mind Map, Tony Buzan
The Mind Map Book, Tony Buzan with Barry Buzan, BBC Books 1993

Freemind 0.8.0 (downloadable from www.sourceforge.net)