Are you a Mind Mapper?

Posted by Faizel Mohidin on Jun 5, 2010 in Mind Mapping, Mind Maps in Education | 0 comments

You may have heard about Mind Mapping. You may know what Mind Maps are. You may know the Mind Map Principles. You may know the steps to create a Mind Map.

But are you a Mind Mapper?

This question is particularly relevant if you’re on my email list and have been for months. Have you made the transition?

My guess is: Probably Not.

Why is it so difficult to change?

We found that using Mind Maps are easy, but creating them is a bit more difficult.

Teaching you the Mind Map basics is easy. Mind Maps are fun, colourful and engage the whole brain, so changing should be easy.

There are enough courses, books and websites on the subject for you to learn the Mind Map principles in a very short time.

Yet, changing from your linear ways is hard.

The Linear Way is a part of your life blood. You were taught throughout your life with linear methods. All your note taking during your development years has been linear.

Things that are learned early in life are the hardest to change or unlearn. Early conceptions of the world, even if lost to consciousness, remain a part of our memory and may influence our behaviors in some very interesting ways. (Barry Greenwald, Ph.D)

During our use of Mind Maps and our experiences in teaching with Mind Maps, we found that the problem does not lie in the Mind Map Principles, or in the Steps used to create a Mind Map.

The problem lies in your ability to change.

For you to change, you have to consciously go back to learning how to learn. People look at my MindMapTutor summaries of popular books and say: ‘That’s easy!‘

What they don’t realise is that there’s are over two decades of Mind Mapping experience embedded in the creation of that Mind Map.

Have a look at my MindMapTutors on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, or the Six Thinking Hats. I believe that I’ve covered the essence of the books in those Mind Maps.

An urban legend of Pablo Picasso illustrates this principle even better:

…Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.

“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”

So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.

“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”

“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.

“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”

To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life”…

Don’t worry, I won’t ask you Five Thousand Dollars for any of my Mind Maps!

Are you able to summarise a whole book on one simple Mind Map? Or, better still, are you able to summarise a whole book on one or two pages that includes both a Mind Map and a text explanation?

If your answer is yes, please send us some examples. We will be keen to publish them on our website, where you can share them with the world.

The answer for most of you will, unfortunately, probably be ‘no’.

To help you get there, we’ve come up with a couple of solutions.

Step 1 – Go back to learning how to learn.

You need to consciously visit the way that you learn. You have naturally been learning for many years, but:

• Do you understand the principles behind your learning?
• Do you follow a structured learning method?
• Do you know how to extract the important information when learning?
• Are your notes structured?
• Has your reading method gone beyond Grade 1?
• Are you using Mind Maps?
• Can you recall what you have learned effortlessly?
• Are you committed to lifelong learning?
• Is learning Fun?

If you have said no to one or more of the above questions, then you need to develop a Learning Management Programme so that you can learn how to learn and start getting a competitive advantage by learning faster than your competitor.

We have made this easy for you by creating an affordable, instantly downloadable, Ebook. You can obviously develop your own program, which could take you months, or even years. Or, you can simply purchase ours for a quick start.

Summarising and applying our program using Mind Maps, would be the perfect start to a new life. This brings us to the next step:

Step 2 – Use Mind Map Software

Mind Map Software has revolutionised the way you are able to create your Mind Maps. The branches can be rearranged, modified, or even deleted with the press of a few keys, or a few mouse clicks.

Gone are the days where you had to manually draw and redraw on paper. Things which took hours the manual way, can be done in a few seconds.

I believe that Mind Map Software will make Mind Mapping more accessible to many people, as it takes away the ‘fear factor’.

There is no need to buy expensive software to get started. We recommend that you get hold of Xmind Mind Mapping Software. Xmind is OpenSource, so it won’t cost you any money.

By using Mind Map Software, you will become free to experiment with creating Mind Maps. Revisit our article on the Mind Map Principles before you start though, as it is so easy to start Mind Mapping with Xmind. Many people skip this step and end up having to unlearn bad habits later. Get it right, first time.

Step 3 – Accept, Apply, Adapt

Have a look at the Mind Map examples on our Website and other websites. Try to reproduce them exactly in your Mind Maps. Do they need to be reworked? Can you structure your Mind Maps better than ours? Can you personalise the Mind Maps?

Once you have copied ours and applied them in your life, you will be ready to adapt them for your own use. Send us your efforts and we will gladly publish them, so that you can share them with the world.

MindMapTutors – A special promotion just for you.

I am taking this opportunity to tell you about an exciting happening that is coming down the line. We are developing a set of MindMapTutors that you can use immediately to help you become a Mind Mapper. And if you are already a Mind Mapper, we will help you become an even better one.

We are busy developing a set of interactive MindMapTutors using Xmind, for you to use and adapt as you see fit. The first one to be published will be based on our Learning Management Program.

The Mind Maps will be fully interactive and will combine Mind Maps and text, to get you into Mind Mapping as quickly and effectively as possible.

You will use our method to learn our method!

If you have purchased our Ebook, you will automatically get these MindMapTutors free once they have been developed. So get it now, before it’s too late.

We plan to launch this concept by the end of June 2010. Any purchaser of our Learning Management Program Ebook by then will automatically get these MindMapTutors free.

We are offering this as a launch special for this one time only. The Interactive MindMapTutors will sell for much more.

Conclusion

Revisit the way you learn. Ensure that you follow a structured program when learning, so that you can learn the most, with least amount of effort.

Download Xmind and start Mind Mapping. First reproduce our examples, then apply and modify them.

To really take your Mind Mapping and learning to the next level, purchase our Learning Management Program Ebook and get our Interactive, Xmind MindMapTutors at no cost at the end of the month.