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Use Mind Mapping to Boost Creativity!

I haven’t always loved mind mapping. During school, I was well trained in outlining and I was fairly good at it. Habits from childhood can run deep. So it took me a few years to let go of the old and embrace the new.

However, when I did let go of the old outlining method, I fell in love with mind mapping! It is the fastest, most powerful brainstorming tool I’ve ever used.

As a result, when I planned my first book, Learning to Learn – Maximizing Your Performance Potential, I mind mapped it. I brainstormed the entire book on a single page and I followed the map through the entire writing process.

In fact, when I thought that I’d lost the page somewhere half way through the book I freaked because I thought I lost the plot of the book. When I did find it, I made copies of it, filed the copies and finished the book.

Then, some years ago, I ran into Tony Buzan. He was the original author of mind mapping and he had developed a mind mapping program for the computer. I purchased it immediately and have been using it ever since.

Recently I upgraded to the iMindMap5 release and I love it. It is excellent for students, teachers, business people, project planners, and anyone who uses brainstorming as part of their planning process. Some of the new items included are a 3D view, presenter guides, greater ease of navigation, more templates and a lot more.

Below is a mind map that I did on Leadership for an executive team I’m coaching. The skills, skill sets and competencies I will include in the process are included on the right. The character traits necessary for success are on the left.

This is a comprehensive overview of everything I will cover in the coming months. And it gives the coachee a clear picture of where we are heading.

The map took me 15 minutes to do and the style I will present it in is 3D with various areas popping onto the computer screen as I highlight them.


Trinidad Hunt February 11, 2012 Filed in Education, Leadership, Neuro-Science, Revitalizing Schools No responses yet - Click to leave yours

Hitting the Wall

Here I am with this decision to be a sentinel at the gateway of consciousness, a mighty commitment indeed! And I suddenly found myself knee deep in the sludge that lies at the base of a new creative mountain.

I was going into the video studio to do a series of demos for our anti bullying program, Breaking Out of the World Game. And I was in a panic. I felt like a total failure. I didn’t know my script (which I have taught in nearly 500 hundred schools).

Like the Magic Eight Ball where words keep surfacing out of the black ink, my feelings and thoughts exploded out of the dark onto my mental screen. My world spun out of control. ”Not good enough!” “I can’t do it!” “I feel lost.” ”Where do I start?”

Here I was touting mind management and I couldn’t even manage one thought. What happened!? I hit the wall and I found myself back in my own ground zero.

The only viable thought in the whole thing was really, “Where do I start?” But it took me a while to get there.

When I finally did get there, I took a proactive stance. I went back to the creativity template I had burned into my mental hard drive 30 years ago.

  1. Preparation – Engage in the process. Be willing to concentrate fully on the subject. Struggle with it. Visualize it. This feeds everything into the sub-conscious mind. (In my case I had to review the material and think deeply about how to do the video without an audience.)
  2. Incubation –  Let it all go. Relax. Change the subject. Play and sleep usually work for me. (In this case, I went to bed. I was going into production the next day.)
  3. Breakthrough – This usually comes as an ‘AHA’ experience, like Archimedes ‘Eureka’! This breakthrough cannot be forced and arrives in its own time.

In my case, I got up on the day of the shoot and I was in ‘the zone’. I had an extremely successful day in the video studio.

But I could have done it without all of the panic and the negative self-talk. I could have had more wisdom about it and caught it by the tail before it caught me.

I was reminded of Ashley in The Operator’s Manual for Planet Earth. I had fallen asleep and lost the plot again!

I’ve recommitted to my initial goal. Staying awake on Planet Earth is a challenge, especially when the old deep habits kick in!

I’d love to hear you experiences…. I’m going to keep tracking mine and sharing the experience!

Trinidad Hunt February 4, 2012 Filed in Leadership, Reflection No responses yet - Click to leave yours
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