Years ago, when I was exploring the world of visual thinking and summaps, I discovered something about creativity and mindmaps. Today, I would like to share that with you. I have to tell you that I felt a little bit hesitant at first when I wrote this article. You see… it focuses onsomething most people don’t think or even write/talk about.
As you may know, I literally wrote the book on summapping. This technique shows you your information in overviews which mimic the way your brain organizes information. It does this in a more natural way than mindmaps. A summap gives you a true overview of thoughts, ideas, topics and concepts.
During my training courses people love to create mindmaps. When I introduce them to summaps, they find themselves drawing summaps and having many AHA moments. They are able to create the REAL BIG PICTURE.
Summaps look similar to mindmaps and concept maps at first. Note that I write ‘look similar’ and ‘at first’. They go beyond normal mind mapping and concept mapping. The summap offers a dynamical overview to you, your information and situations.
Same-Old-Same-Old… Not Really
When I first showed the summapping technique to a group of hardcore mind mappers, their responses where what you could expect: ‘This is just like mind mapping‘, ‘We don’t need this‘, ‘Nice, but this is nothing new‘. Only the person who said to me that this is nothing new was right. We unconsciously use summaps all the time. Using them on a conscious level completely changes the way we think!
What I like about our Mindmaps Unleashed community is that we think in solutions. We want to move forward. We know perspectives can, will and have to change so we will be able to grow.
That is why I want to share with you something that is not immediately visible in your mindmaps, yet so important that it influences the way you view your map and how you use the information.
I am talking about the space between the branches.
Have a look at the huge white spaces in your mindmap. They are not empty pieces of map. They are where opportunity is waiting for you. This is where solutions are found to problems expressed in the mindmap. This is where insight and knowledge emerge from.
This may sound strange at first. I know 
I’ve been there .
Think of it…
Whenever we see something we can’t explain, we try to find explanations. We want to know WHY things are happening.
When you create a mindmap in such a way that the information is located in the map where it should be located, you will experience the following:
Your brain starts to look at the map and identifies relationships between pieces of seemingly unrelated information located in different branches.
Information written in the same branch is not that interesting for your brain. After all… the connection is there. There is a fixed and determined relationship and your brain does not have to figure it all out.
It is the not-yet-related information between branches (separated by the white space) which helps you in moving forward in your understanding and creativity.
This is why you can change your perspective just by rearranging the branches. New information is near each other. New thoughts emerge and you find new inspiration by studying the map.
Here’s How You Can Use This Now
Next time you are looking for inspiration, new thoughts and you want to increase your knowledge, make sure you investigate the space between the branches.
It is there where you will find answers to your questions.
For now, I think this is enough to start working with. We will explore the structure and less obvious insights of your visual maps at a later time.
Arjen
(my mindmaps work for me)
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Tags: advice, Growing, mindmap, question, Reflection, unleash, visual map
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