Mind Maps can be used to improve your writing at school, college, university and even at work.

I will cover creative writing in this article. I will cover business writing in another article.

Often the hardest part of writing is knowing what you want to write about. Finding your theme and how to begin can be the biggest stumbling block in the whole process.

Often an essay has to be written under severe time pressure. The worst kind of pressure is writing an essay under exam conditions.

Well, despair not! By using Mind Maps you can plan your whole essay in about Five Minutes. ‘Impossible!’ I hear you scream. ‘Trickery!’ and some ‘*!@%#$’ superlatives also come to mind.

If you have never created a Mind Map before, I suggest you read some of the other articles on this website, or do our Free, no obligation Mind Map course. Enrol Now and awaken your creative genius.

Pick a Topic

I suggest you pick a topic – any topic. Choose one now. If you cannot think of one, look around you. Choose any object that you can see.

I’ve chosen an onion.

Now draw a picture of your object in the centre of the page. Draw a few branches radiating out from this picture and write down Key Words of whatever you can think of about this object. Don’t worry about whether it makes sense at all. Just jot them down as fast as you can. Don’t spend more than two minutes on this.

When you Mind Map and allow your ideas and thoughts to flow freely, you’ll come to an ‘Aha’ moment where you suddenly know what you want to write.

Take out another page, or create a new Mind Map if you are using Mind Map Software.

Categorise your thoughts into clusters. This will differ for each subject. In the ‘onion’ example, you could have listed colour, shape, smell, uses, structure, biology…etc.

Under each of these categories, put down all the thoughts of your previous Mind Map into these categories. Add new thoughts as you go along.

Within Five Minutes you can have the whole structure of your essay mapped out.

I suggest you start with some tangible objects. I use my car as an example in our Free interactive Mind Map course, which can be found on classes.mindmaptutor.com. See the example below.

This process can also be much easier if you use Mind Map software. I suggest using XMind or FreeMind. Both are good Free Mind Map tools.

Using a Word Processor

If you are using a word processor like Microsoft Word, you could use this Mind Map to your advantage. If you put Microsoft Word into outline mode, you can type the structure of your essay from your Mind Map quite effortlessly. The branches and sub branches naturally define your different levels in Microsoft Word’s outline structure.

Now all is left is to type in the details describing and explaining the topics.

I hope this helps you to write effortlessly starts to put some fun into the writing process.

Example

Here is an example of a Mind Map of my car to give you an idea of how your Mind Map could look. This template is freely available in an interactive format, which can be used and adapted as you see fit using Free Mind Map Software, if you enroll for our Free Course.

Do you:

• Read the latest copy of Financial Mail lying on the table in front of you?
• Try to remember everything that you know of about the company you want to target?
• Chat to the secretary while you are waiting?
• Call a friend or colleague on your cell phone to ask them what they know about the company?
• Mind Map an account strategy?

If you chose to Mind Map a strategy, wealth, promotion, fame and fortune await you!

You could use the five minutes to Mind Map the situation. You could note problems that the company may have. You could note the company’s needs. You could note important factors in the market. As you Mind Map this background, ideas will automatically start to form on how to approach the account.

Is Five Minutes enough?

We tend to throw five segment of time away, dismissing them as too trivial to be effective, yet five minutes is the average time that a ‘Mind Map burst’ takes place.

In Five Minutes, you can have your thinking about a project started and down on paper. This is obviously not enough to have a completed project plan, with resources, costs and scope allocated, but it is enough to break down ‘project resistance’. Throughout your project’s lifecycle, you should take time out to do these Five Minute Mind Map Bursts to break project resistance and get going again.

Mind Mapping simplifies, organizes and drains away the resistance.

WWWWWH$

This stands for Who, What, When, Where, Why, How and Money. I suggest you write ‘WWWWWH$’ on the top left hand side of your page, draw your project idea in the centre of the page and start Mind Mapping!

Mind Map Framework for breaking Project Resistance

Here is a framework to get you started. I suggest that you download Xmind or FreeMind if you don’t have Mind Map Software and put together your own framework. You could also print or draw your own blank templates so that they are available when you need them.

5 Min. to Better Projects

Free Interactive Tutorial

Don’t forget to enrol for our free tutorial. There is no obligation for you to purchase anything; Just good, solid tuition using sound pedagogics and putting you at the centre of the learning process.

Go to classes.mindmaptutor.com now!

By using Mind Maps as your main Planning and Time Management tool, you will always have a handle on your time.

There are numerous Time Management Principles which you can use with your Mind Maps to  ensure that you are always focused on the correct things. By using good time management principles you can actually ‘gain time’. Good Time management will leave you with more time on your hands to do what you really want to do.

I will cover time management principles in other articles. This article will show you an amazing technique that you can apply to all your important and urgent tasks.

For maximum results, do this daily. Spend the first five to ten minutes of your day to plan the day ahead.

Forget about yesterday and don’t worry about tomorrow. Plan today!

The ‘quick burst’ Five Minute Mind Map for better time management

When I am in a in a crisis situation, or just simply have too much to do, I often apply the following technique.

• Take out a blank piece of paper (A4, or 81/2 x 11 in), turn it sideways (landscape) and draw a circle in the centre.
• Put today’s date in the centre
• Add an image if you can think of one that suits the tasks at hand
• Spend five minutes jotting down what needs to be done on this new Mind Map using branches radiating out from the centre
• Take a short break (2 mins. max)
• Reorganise your Mind Map into categories that can be naturally grouped together on a new Mind Map
• Number the branches in order of priority

You now have a visual representation of everything that needs to be done with priorities assigned. You will be amazed at how powerful this technique is.

Do this once a day for a month; each time starting a new Mind Map without looking at your old one. You will be amazed at how your brain adapts and actually becomes better at managing your time.

If you are not sure how to Mind Map, enrol for our Free Mind Map classes at classes.mindmaptutor.com. The Principles of Mind Mapping and the Seven Steps in creating a Mind Map can be learned at no cost at all. You could also browse MindMapTutor.com for free articles on Mind Maps and Mind Mapping.