I’m sure you heard before of the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule (or principle).
This principle tells us that 20% of what we do accounts for 80% of our outcome. This is of course an average number. There are numbers that tell us there is an 70/30 60/40 or a 99/1 ratio. The interesting thing is that in nature the majority of these ratios is unevenly divided. Balance tends to lean towards 100/0 in stead of 50/50.
Today, I want to make you more aware of this powerful principle in mind mapping.
You know already that a mindmap allows you to present huge amounts of information on a single sheet of paper. This is because we group the information, remove words that are not needed and we have powerful associations with the words we use.
In fact, the most powerful mindmaps are the ones that show you only a few words and images. These words and images are keys that open up massive amounts of information in your head. And of course, at the same time, the mindmap itself becomes an image that you remember and that gives you access to information stored in your map and your brain.
The moment you understand this, you will no longer create mindmaps that store too many words and images.
I’ve seen these maps, you’ve seen them: The mindmaps that can’t be read when you zoom to view the entire map…
These maps are nice, but usually not that interesting for your brain. They not only give access to huge amounts of information. The creator of the map just wanted to cram every piece of information into the map as well!
The best thing you can do is apply the 80/20 rule to your map.
I am sure you don’t need all those words. And even if you do… just move the majority of the words on a node to the notes section! You won’t lose the words, yet you won’t see them immediately as well. This clears the mindmap and helps you to GAIN OVERVIEW.
Next time you find yourself stuck with a mindmap that isn’t good to overview, use the new and improved version of the 80/20 rule… the 95/5 rule.
It took a lot of time to come up with this brand new concept, as you understand of course 
. But now I am ready to share this with you.
From every 20 words you have in a mindmap that has too many words, you remove 19 into either the notes section or you simply remove them.
I’m sure it will be strange in the beginning. It will create more clarity in your map.
Enjoy!
Popularity: 39% [?]
Related posts:
