YES! It is December already. That means it is International Visual Mapping Month.
To give it a good start I would like to ask you somethings first and then give you something.
The Questions
Since you are probably using a mindmap tool, I wonder… how did you know this was the right tool for you?
I had to figure many things out the hard way – downloading, testing, removing (making a mess of my registry…), finding a new tool, etc.
And you know what the ‘best’ thing was? Everybody I asked had their own experiences and best tool… and they were all different…
I couldn’t go to the publishers of the software either. They only had these amazing results on their websites. If I had to believe them, all tools were all super tools (strange, right?).
The one advantage of this quest was that I learned a lot about many tools. I could share my thoughts on them. But… I became one of the people who told others which tool was the best from my perspective.
This could not be right. How could I advise people when I often didn’t really know the person who asked me the question? This could be a problem.
Here is what I did:
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Did you ever start doing something and before you knew it, you were working on something else than the goal? I can assure you… we all know this (some people better than others).
The problem is that you get ’sucked into the activity’ and you don’t really know where you are heading. The only thing you do know is that you should finish your current task.
Many people know this, most don’t take action to make it stop.
You and I have an advantage.
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Lately I’ve been reading many books on how people perceive their information and their environment. You and I can find a great deal of wisdom in a perhaps surprising book. I will not yet ‘reveal’ the title of the book. That’s something or later.
Here are some thoughts you and I should be looking at when we create our next overview of information.
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I’ve been really busy these last couple of weeks/months training people and creating new materials for practical solutions. Right now, I only want to share with you a tip I saw helps so many people every day in their usage of mindmaps.
You see, most people don’t really want to create mindmaps that use images, colors and are fun to look at.
People want to get clarity on the things they are thinking about, what bothers them, what makes them move forward, what holds them back and what they actually don’t know 
.
All these things are important to people. They are important to you!
That is why I (often without knowing) have been preaching to people they should use their mindmaps in such a way their mindmaps work for them. No point working on your mindmaps simply to create a mindmap. When you do that, the tool becomes a goal and you don’t move forward.
Create maps that work for you. In 95% of all cases, this means you hardly use any images in your mindmap. You only give structure to the thoughts, ideas and information you have in your head. You combine this with the information that floats around you.
For me, this results in visual maps that give me overview. I might call them practical mindmaps. I could also call them summaps (summary maps) that summarize the information into practical knowledge I can use to move forward.
You do this as well. Create practical overviews. I don’t really care how you like to call them. Call them mindmaps, visualmaps, concept maps, idea maps of summaps. The name and the (software) tool are the least important, the result is what counts.
Imagine yourself setting at your desk… looking at the map you just created and finally understanding your life, business or personal situation. You see in one overview the path you have to follow to create the results you are looking for.
At that single moment in time, you don’t think about a name to describe the technique that led you to this overview. You simply want to move forward… because you now know how to.
That is the feeling I give people when I mentor them into creating practical overviews.
That is the feeling I want you to experience.
Create practical overviews and you are on your way to realizing that!
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As you know, I train many people in mind mapping. But, this is not something I teach them to use as a tool on its own. They have to use it with for instance (speed) reading and note taking.
A mindmap is only a tool. Yes, a powerful tool, but only a tool.
A mindmap must be used together with other techniques. Just by mind mapping, you will not save time. After all, you use the mindmap to create a planning or to gain overview (for example). The mindmap is a tool that allows you to create time.
For others, the mindmap is a tool to summarize huge amounts of information on a single sheet of paper. They save time and increase their knowledge.
Other people create a mindmap to reduce the (mental, physical or emotional) pressure in their lives. The mindmap is a means to create clarity and understand what bothers them.
And of course there are people who simply like to clear their minds by creating a mindmap. They may do this to relax or to get that one idea that helps them move forward and solve their problems.
So many people… so many ways mindmaps are used.
I am sure that you are already using your mindmap as a tool in a longer line of tools that help you move forward. If not… stop and think about the reasons you started mind mapping. What was it that made you stop and learn about this method of information management?
You know I don’t really like the term information management. Still, the mindmap does just that:
- The mindmap helps you to capture information
- It then allows you to give structure to your information
- Because of this structure you increase your overview
- That overview makes you see new options
- These options are evaluated and result in actions
- The actions you take help you move forward
- This will change the content and probably the structure of you mindmap
And there you have it…
The mindmap is a tool that is part of the whole. It is part of your personal formula to make you more successful.
I believe that if you can define your own personal success formula, you can move forward faster in life and enjoy life more.
BUT… it all starts with the way you use your mindmaps.
How do you use your mindmap most of the time?
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These last weeks, I’ve seen many people visit the website who asked questions about this thing called mind mapping and mindmaps. Many people wanted to know more about the basics of them. Especially for these people, I wrote this article. If you are already an experienced mindmap user, please add your thoughts to this special article as well. We can all learn from you and your best practices.
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