Using Mind Mapping For Ideation And Thought Organization
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I recently read a book that I’ve wanted to read for several years called Mind Mapping by Kam Knight. I wanted to read this book because I thought it might help me organize my thoughts around various topics swimming around in my head.
In a past article, I described how the tool Todoist helps me get all my tasks organized into projects, but I needed another tool that could help me organize the tasks within projects, and that’s where mind mapping comes into play.
I created a mind map to help me write this article. I will include some images of my mind map as examples throughout the article.
What Is Mind Mapping?
If you haven’t heard of mind mapping, it’s a tool you can use to organize thoughts or notes. Mind mapping allows you to create associations between thoughts which helps you remember things better and declutter your mind.
The mind map below is part of the one I created for this article:
How Does Mind Mapping Work?
To use mind mapping, you organize information into levels of detail. Mind maps consist of three levels:
- Main Topic
- Sub-Topics
- Lower-Level Topics
Although three levels are listed above, the third level, lower-level topics, can continue to branch down to display all the necessary details to distill your entire idea or thought process.
For all three levels of a mind map, you use keywords that represent a thought. Keeping keywords short make mind maps easier to read and keeps them neat and well-structured.
Main Topic
Each mind map should only have one main topic. The main topic should be a keyword or short keyword phrase that captures what all the information in the mind map is about. You could compare the main topic of a mind map to the title of a book. In Figure 2, the “Mind Mapping” cloud in the middle of the image is the main topic.
Sub-Topics
A mind map’s sub-topics are categories of detail that are a part of the main topic. You could compare sub-topics in a mind map to the chapters of a book. In Figure 3, there are four sub-topics:
- What It Is
- How It Works
- Usage
- Tools
Lower-Level Topics
A mind map’s lower-level topics provide additional details about the sub-topics, where appropriate. You could compare lower-level topics in a mind map to sections of a chapter or ideas in a chapter within a book. In Figure 4, there are four lower-level topics:
- Organization
- Design
- Manual
- Electronic
The first two lower-level topics are part of the “How It Works” sub-topic. The last two belong with the “Tools” sub-topic.
Designing Mind Maps
When you design a mind map, you can use various attributes of the mind map to communicate the individual pieces’ level and show relations across items. Some design features you can use in your mind maps include:
- Keywords
- Branch Width
- Colors
- Shapes
- Images
Below is the complete mind mad I created for this article:
Keywords
The main topic, sub-topics, and lower-level topics are keywords or keyword phrases representing the thought or concept being conveyed. Keep your keywords as short as possible to get your point across succinctly. In Figure 5, all the text is considered to be the keywords.
Branch Width
Lines drawn between items in your mind map are called branches. The branches help you follow the thought process behind the mind map. To help emphasize the hierarchy of items in the mind map, branches closer to the main topic could be thicker than branches lower down in the mind map.
In Figure 5, branches are drawn from the main topic to each sub-topic. Branches are also drawn from each sub-topic to any lower-level topics. The branches between the main topic/sub-topics are thicker than those between the sub-topics/lower-level topics.
Colors
You can use colors as another indicator of how parts of the map are related. All the branches from a sub-topic down could use the same color to show that they are all related.
In Figure 5, you’ll notice that each sub-topic uses a unique color to represent the:
- Branches from the main topic to the sub-topic.
- Branches from sub-topics to lower-level topics.
- The sub-topic item ovals.
- Any lower-level topics.
Shapes
Various shapes can be used within a mind map as another sign of related items. In Figure 5, the main topic is in a cloud shape, all the sub-topics are contained within ovals, and the lower-level topics are underlined. These differences help to delineate the level of each item.
Images
It’s possible to use images in place of keywords on a mind map. For instance, instead of using the keyword “Tools” in Figure 5, I could have used an image of tools.
Using Mind Maps
Mind maps have an infinite number of uses, but there are several that quickly come to mind, including:
- Notetaking
- Research
- Brainstorming
- Writing
- Planning
- Lists
- Goal Setting
Many of these activities will be a part of your freelancing journey, so I’m sure you can see how mind mapping could be a valuable tool to help you come up with ideas and organize your thoughts around a topic.
Tools For Creating Mind Maps
Now you know the basics of mind mapping, but how do you create them? One way is to create them manually with paper and writing utensils. This way of creating mind maps can be more freeing but may be harder to make changes to. In some cases, you may just have to start over.
For me, I like using a tool on my computer to create my mind map. This gives me the ability to start with a particular layout and completely change it up as I go along. For instance, for the mind map for this article, I started out with a very bare-bones approach:
As I went through the process, I added and changed shapes, used color for the four sub-topics, and changed the thickness of branches at the different levels. Creating the mind map on my computer also gave me the ability to change things around very quickly.
You can use many tools on your computer, mobile device, or online to create mind maps. The tool I currently use is Microsoft Visio. Some other popular tools with various options, including free, downloadable, single pay, and monthly subscriptions, include:
Which tool you use depends upon the options you need, your budget, and what feels most comfortable to you. Many tools have a free version or a trial period, so you can test them out before you buy them.
Conclusion
I hope this article has shown you some of the advantages of using mind maps. I think they’re a great tool to get your ideas out of your head and onto paper (physically or electronically).
Will you be trying out mind mapping? What topic will you mind map first? If you create a mind map, let me know how it goes and how helpful you felt this tool was for you.
Brenda Keller is a software coach who helps people feel comfortable with and learn how to use software. She has been an Excel user since it was first introduced in 1985 and has taught the program in various settings. Her new Microsoft Excel: Quick Start course was designed to help those new to Excel or those wanting a refresher to get a handle on Excel’s key features quickly. Check out her course on Udemy here or view her YouTube channel here to get more help with Excel. To learn more about Brenda Keller, check out her official website here.
