There are a lot of people who stop using mindmaps, conceptmaps and visual maps in general because they get stressed when creating the maps. This is of course very sad and should be prevented. After all… your brain enjoys mind mapping and you should continue using the brain friendly and practical technique.
Therefore I would like to confront you with 6 causes of stress people experience when mind mapping. Here we go:
- You are not yet confident in mind mapping and feel you are not using it correctly
- You are feeling overwhelmed by the information you receive and feel you miss something
- You can’t find the right images fast enough which makes you lose track of new information
- You are afraid you won’t be able to understand your map content next time
- You feel you lose track of all the content of the map because of the huge amount of data you added
- You (no matter what) use mind mapping or your mindmap tool, and have the feeling you are limited because of the tool
(how many of these are you familiar with?)
These are the most common causes of stress people experience when creating mindmaps. I have to tell you that I experienced all of them. Sometimes I have the same feelings again when I look at the maps people create.
As you can see, all these causes are starting with one word, which is YOU!
You are the cause of the stress. The mind mapping technique itself will do wonders for you… if you know how to use it. Since you are the cause, it is YOU who is the solution to reducing or removing stress.
Here’s something you should know
You should realize that mind mapping is not a quick fix which will end all your information management problems.
You still have to do things yourself in order to manage your content, information, data and thoughts. A mindmap will however be a wonderful assistant in all of this. In fact… depending on the task, all visual maps will be valuable tools to manage your information.
I’ve had many talks and followed countless discussions on which tool is the best tool for a person to use. To me, it all depends on what you need to accomplish. Some computer tools are great for capturing large amounts of data. Other moments, you probably have to use a visual map on paper or just jot something on paper.
You need to know which tool you must use for achieving a certain result. This is what people who experience stress #6 don’t know you.
I met people who mindmap everything!
Really!!!
They create mindmaps of all the things they learn, see, hear, experience. To me that is… let’s just call it silly. A mindmap is a good tool, but not the Holy Grail of information management.
One Common Result
One common result of all these different causes of stress is what I like to call Map Stress. People get stressed because of their usage of mind mapping. This is reflected in their maps as well.
A map created by a person with Map Stress is not balanced and the content is moving back and forward. The structure is gone and images are used where you should not use images. In short: the map shows unbalance and is not clear to read/use.
What you can do to lower (mind)map stress
The first thing you should do is make sure you understand how to create a mindmap (or visualmap). Once you familiarized yourself with this and you know how to apply the technique, you can start to use it.
Tony Buzan wrote that the first 100 maps should be viewed as ‘training maps’. You create these to get a feel for mind mapping.
Secondly, you need to be clear on what you want to mindmap. Don’t add too many unrelated topics in a map. A mindmap after all is showing you information on one topic! When mind mapping a presentation, the topic is for instance the name of the presentation, or what you want to learn from that presentation.
Third point: Don’t add too much information to a map. You are probably worried that you will miss a lot of context or data when adding less information to your map. Don’t worry. Using the right words in the map helps you to remember.
I read that Tony Buzan can have a look at a mindmap created 20 years ago and know immediately what it is about (I can’t remember where I read that, perhaps you know?).
The reason he can recall the information is because he is using the right words in the right setting with the right images.
Keywords are exactly that. They are KEY words. They open your mind to a huge amount of information.
The fourth and final point to lower mindmap stress is for most people the most important stress reducing tip: Make sure you relax and enjoy the process!
Sure, you will miss certain pieces of information. Yes you will not be able to recall everything all the time. Of course your maps may need to be re-done afterwards. That’s all fine!!!
Every time you create a new map or update an existing map, you will become better in using the technique. Take baby steps and learn how to create and use mindmaps. Your mind already knows how to mindmap. You only need to re-activate the technique in your conscious mind.
Enjoy your mind mapping experience.
Share your thoughts and stories on stress in your own life using mindmaps. Your mindmap community will benefit from what you can tell us.
Arjen
(enjoying stress-free mindmaps which work for me) – this slogan is getting longer and longer 
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