Mind Mapping – Capture Your Dreams and Put Them to Work!
I wrote an article recently about stepping away from the work and spending a little time each day dreaming about the business you want. You can read that article here if you haven’t already.
Now it’s time to capture your dreams and put them to work!
One of the tools I like to employ when I’m doing some creative thinking is mind mapping. It’s a great way to get your thoughts out in front of you rapidly. If you’ve never heard of mind mapping you can find out more in a number of ways:
- Find a book – Tony Buzan has a number on the subject
- Google Mind Mapping – there’s lot’s of resources out there
- Ask me nicely and I might show you how it’s done! 🙂
In short, the idea is to quickly put ideas down without judgment in rapid fashion. Because the brain doesn’t work in a linear fashion, but rather jumps from idea to idea as each thought triggers a new connection, main mapping is designed to allow you to capture these ideas by simply putting them down as they arise. Don’t judge, just go with the flow. There’s time analyse and critique later.
I like to use large sheets of paper where possible to get going, but at some point in time I end up putting the ideas into a software package. I’ve used a number over the years, but of recent times I’ve been using an online mind mapping tool called MindMeister.
Well worth a look. I use a paid version as it’s become an integral part of my process, but there is a free version that allows you to have up to 3 mind maps – enough to give you a good feel of what is possible.
So, get to it! Get your head in the clouds and start dreaming. Capture your ideas so you can put them to work for you. And of course, enjoy creating your dreams!
Mindmeister is great – but for an iPad tool – check out iThoughts HD – its an awesome mind mapping system – i use it everywhere and all the time.
Fantastic post.
Hi Stan,
Thanks for dropping in! I’m not familiar with iThoughts HD, but I’ll give it a try – always on the lookout for great tools that get the job done! I’ve had a quick look at their website (http://www.ithoughts.co.uk/iThoughtsHD/) and notice they have several export options that match the Mindmeister import options so they can work together which is nice for me.
Regardless of the tools used, and I still do most of mine on good old paper, I’m a great believer in the power of mind mapping. It’s good to know there are others that find mind mapping an indispensable tool too. Thanks for the input!