Make A Mind Map Computer Software Web Tips Guide
Make a Mind Map While Brainstorming Ideas
By Dirk C Wallace
People trained in public education may be unaware of what it
is to make a mind map, and not realize how useful it can be to
review your options. This sort of thinking is associated with
the right side of people's brains rather than the left.
With left-brain thinking, thought processes are more logical
and linear. You do what the Red Queen advised Alice in the Wonderland
books: "Begin at the beginning. Then proceed until you come
to the end. Then stop."
But right-brain thought doesn't travel in straight lines. It
works more on the basis of a picture, a sort of visual map of
associated ideas.
Alternative Reasoning Process
But why would someone need to make a mind map to begin with?
After all, linear thinking has served people very well for a great
many years. Proponents of this right-brain way of looking at things
don't deny that, nor do they intend that this alternative reasoning
process should replace the linear way of thinking.
Rather, they view the two methods as partners; right-brain thinking
is a way of expanding possibilities. Mind mapping might even capture
possibilities that could be useful but which may never be discovered
at all using only the linear, single-direction style of thought
that dominates society.
Brainstorming Ideas With Several People
So how does one begin making a mind map? One starts with a central
concept or idea, written on a piece of paper, a white or blackboard,
or perhaps on a computer screen. Then the brainstorming begins.
One can do this alone, but it's even more effective with several
people.
Everyone tosses out any idea they think of that relates to that
central concept, and all ideas are written down. Once everyone
is done, all the concepts are analyzed and gathered into broad
themes that suggest themselves, essentially doing visual mapping
to link common ideas together.
By brainstorming like this and using mind mapping techniques,
sometimes new connections are discovered that weren't noticed
before. Things might be seen to affect the central issue that
no one previously realized had anything to do with it.
Seeing The Bigger Picture With A Mind Map
Left-brain linear thinking concentrates more on the fine details
of an issue, while as one works to make a mind map, it becomes
a means of seeing the bigger picture, or discovering the constellation
of ideas forming the wider environment of the issue.
These two ways of approaching a problem don't need to be in competition,
but can work together to form a more comprehensive whole.
About the Author:
Dirk C Wallace has written a number of articles on Business Software, Computers and Internet Security including
Mind Mapping Software,
How To Mind Map,
Customer Relationship Management CRM,
Customer Support,
CRM Software,
Business Tax Software,
Adware Spyware Removal Program
Computer Security Handbook,
Computer Instruction.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this website.
Did You Know This About Mind Mapping?
Writers often suffer from a debilitating condition. They sit
starring at their keyboard or computer screen and the words they
are searching for, or even the ideas, just do not come to them.
But it is not limited to writers. Everyone has faced a problem
sometime in their lives where the solution just was not apparent.
There is a way to kick start the brain, so to speak. It is a technique
called mind mapping. This technique is simple to use once you
learn how it works.
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