link to the video

Some Basics

Mind maps are a method for creating a visual overview of information. Visual means that it is not just appealing to the left (or more logical) brain side, but also to the (more emotional) right brain side. People have been ‘mind mapping’ for as long as we can imagine. Remember the cave drawings from tens of thousands of years ago? Looks like a pretty visual image to me!

Back them writing was kind of an issue, so people used images and colors a lot. Then we learned how to write. Drawing was more for artists. Other people started to use words. What was almost a common trait in really smart people was that they used images AND words together.

Tony Buzan then coined the term mind mapping in the 1970s and since then did a lot of work to make people more aware of better brain usage.

Today, people use mind maps, concept maps, visual maps, summaps, diagrams, flow charts, etc. all over the world to visualize ideas, thoughts and concepts. Mind mapping is simply one of the tools you can have in your toolbox to do this. Just note that it is just a tool. It can be really powerful, but sometimes it is just not the right tool (we can talk about that later on if you like).

A mind map looks something like this:

As you can see it uses colors, lines or branches, images. It organizes information in a radial manner. The main topic is in the centre. the rest of the information is placed on the branches where everything in a branch is related.

Now that you know a little bit about mind mapping, let’s dive into the question: what are mind maps, yet now specifically for certain groups of people. I would like to discuss 5 groups: business professionals, teachers/trainers, students, creative people and writers.

image credit
 

What Are Mind Maps Good For, For Business Professionals

In the business (profit and non profit) world, there is lots and lots of information. People need to be aware of that in order to make good decisions. Sometimes this comes towards you in the form of reports, but it can also be via emails, meetings, presentations, brainstorm sessions, etc. Lots of information and you just need to figure out how this all can be captured, organized and used (or not used).

Luckily there is that little thing called mind mapping. It is helping business people around the world to create order in information chaos. It helps them to manage all their data, thoughts, knowledge and ideas. The mind map gives them clarity and overview.

This is where a business professional could use a mind map for:

Taking notes in meetings or even organize and give structure to meetings. You create a map with the topics you like to discuss and share this with your group of people. Then you stick to the map during the meeting. You, or another person can add thoughts and ideas from the meeting directly to the mind map. Afterwards, no more time wasted working out the notes. You have them ready the moment you finish the meeting

Giving presentations has never been easier. Just use a mind map tool and add your thoughts to the map. Then, you don’t do something silly like exporting it to PowerPoint (that would be BAD!!!). You take the map and show it during your presentation. People will love it, you look really fancy with your simple and effective presentation and everybody will think your ideas are clear and should be acted upon (“results may vary“).

Planning a project can of course be done using a special planning tool (MS Project for instance). You can also do it using a mind map. Add goals, tasks and people to a map and discuss this with your team. Then, you start working on the project. During the project, you make sure you update your map. Often working like this it gives enough overview and clarity to everybody in the team so you save time and energy (and probably some money).

What Are Mind Maps Good For, For Teachers & Trainers

As a trainer myself, I can’t even remember the time when people said my presentation was not clear. Could that perhaps be because I use mind maps to show the structure and content of my ideas, techniques and exercises? It just might…

The goal of a good teacher is to give the information to his students or groups and make sure they understand what it means.

A great teacher or trainer doesn’t just do this, he or she also makes sure people see how they can use this in their own lives and how they will benefit from this.

Your mind map will do just that. Because it is a simple format, your audience will understand the main points and the extras from what you teach. They also will be able to digest the information faster and remember it much longer. After all, the map is actually a real image. Since images are remembered at least 30 times better than words… you get the picture, right?

Using your voice, the map they see, and the impact your delivery has on the student, you will be able to make learning fun again!

A final tip on this… don’t overdo with colors and images in your maps! When you do that, the map itself becomes the thing they look at, rather than the information you want to deliver. I tested this with many groups. When a map is too overwhelming, people lose interest and focus. Too overwhelming is done by lots of bright colors, too many branches, images on every branch, a map that is not readable when viewed in full. Don’t do that because you will ruin the experience people could get from listening to you.

What Are Mind Maps Good For, For Students

Students love to read books and listen to teachers… right? Of course not! Some do, but most just want to get the information from books and teachers and pass their exams.

So now you can!

Reverse engineering a book into a mind map is easy. I’ve been training people how to take a study book they haven’t read before, of about 200 pages, and create a very good summary of this in less than one hour, using a mind map.

Mind maps are great for doodling during a lecture. You literally draw your information in a map that afterwards shows you the information in a nutshell, but this time with details and relationships.

Creating a planning for the next term is also done in minutes. Outline the results and the path towards it in a map and start working on it. Really easy and practical.

What Are Mind Maps Good For, For Creative People

Since the mind map also uses the right brain side, the more creative and emotional side, it helps creative people a lot. Even if you are not saying about yourself that you are creative, a mind map will help.

Simply draw your problem and put solutions, ideas and thoughts in the branches around the centre. Your mind likes to play with the information and connect things. You might be surprised about the results you will get!

Great tip for people who are into product development or the creative process… do a brain storm session on whiteboards using a map structure. Everybody can add ideas they have on the big board. Then you start to look at the ideas of other people, you connect, you create associations, you grow and find solutions really fast.

You might want to start using different colors for different people. You can find your own ideas back later, and you can combine the ideas of other people. It may not really look like a mind map in the end, but still, the map creation is not the goal. Finding solutions to situations or problems is and the map should assist you with that.

What Are Mind Maps Good For , For Writers

I low to talk about writing, creating content, videos, audio training and books using mind maps. In fact, all my books started and have been written mostly in mind map software tools.

The way I do this is I put the topic in the middle (sometimes I even let this be blank because it can distract in the beginning of the creative process). Then I add ideas and topics around the centre. I organize them into just 4 to 7 branches and the writing starts.

That’s right… I write the book inside my mind mapping software tool! Simply use the notes screen most of the tools have available.

When that is done, I export the book to MS Word and do further edition (adding images, etc.).

Writing has never been this easy!

And it will be a lot easier when you create simple templates for your reports, documents, books, training courses, etc…

Good times ahead using mind maps for writers around the world I would say. Bye bye writers block, hello productivity!

What Are Mind Maps Doing For You?

There you have it, different ways mind maps are important to different people. The only question would now be… what are mind maps doing for you?

images: toolbox, mind map

Information Overload, what is it?

Information presents itself in many forms in your life. Sometimes it looks like reports you have to go through. It could be emails, news, people asking questions, meetings you just have to attend, etc. Information is all around you. What most people do, is that they let themselves be controlled by the information.

Just imagine… what is the first thing many people do when they get up? They watch the news, read email, perhaps they read the newspaper, check messages from friends, etc. They start their days with lots of information, immediately. They are almost in a response rather than ‘take control’ state.

Overload of information can be seen as stress. There are people who say that when your expectations and real life situations don’t match, you experience unbalance. If the unbalance is big enough, you have stress in your life. I often define stress as not having a clear overview of information. You can’t experience stress when you have a clear mind. Too many signals or information that can’t be handled causes stress. The easiest way to deal with that… reduce the information impact.

So that’s what we will be doing in this article. We are going to have a look at dealing with information overload, or information stress.

Reducing Information Overload Easily

What do most people see as the biggest influence in their lives when it comes to information? Research says it is people, email and news.

You probably can imagine how much you can be affected by either one of these.

Information Overload From News

Simple solution, probably difficult to implement (as are all solutions today)… stop watching the news!

Simple right? When you look back at 5 weeks ago, what was it that was big in the news for a couple of days? Do you remember? Let’s make it easier, what was big 10 days ago?

The radio stations, tv networks, newspaper publishers, they all want to give you the juiciest news brought the most. It has to be sensational. When you know your brain is intrigued more by negative news than positive news, you probably understand why there is so much negative news spread around.

Think about it… would you continue to follow the news if it would be all good? You might say yes, but it is unlikely. Humans have an inborn negative news radar. Would you stop and watch a beautiful sunset, or the car accident on the other side of the road?

My point, right?

An additional benefit from no longer watching the news at the beginning of your day is that you have a much brighter day when you don’t. You won’t fill your head with murders and bombings and accidents and pain. From now on you will start your day with a clear mind. It will be a change, and it is going to be difficult to change the habit of tuning in to the news. It is so worth it!

Action point: Stop watching the news for the first 4 hours each day, then build this up.

Action point: Don’t watch the news after 6 PM to give you a relaxed mind

Action point: If you do want to watch the news, make sure you tune in to a positive news only site

Information Overload By Email (And Other Messages)

Think back. 20 years ago when most people did not have email, smart phones didn’t exist, texting was new, and there was no Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp.

Did you manage to let people know what you needed to let them know?

When you have a look at the information quality these days, is it still the same as 20 years ago?

Most unlikely. The reason is that everybody wants to share everything with everybody (“I am now eating a sandwitch… chicken”, “ready to go to bed, good night everybody”).

I believe that most messages in your email box are not contributing to the quality of your life, work or anything else. Unsubscribe from 90% of your newsletters that you don’t read anyway. It will make your inbox a lot clearer.

Start sending emails that are really needed, in stead of forwarding funny cat videos (I like them too, but is it really necessary to watch all of them?).

Do you have emails in your inbox that you received more than 1 month ago? Remove them, archive them, at least get them out of your inbox.

Just like having a clean desk policy, start working on a clean email inbox.

Another thing, stop checking email all day long! Do what you need to do, in stead of just checking to see if ‘they’ emailed you already. Email is not as important as talking with people one on one. When there are really important things, you can be called as well I assume. Email is not constant messaging.

I once read that unimportant people are always available, important people are not. What do you think?

My suggestion is, you only check email once or twice each day. Preferably at the end of the morning and the end of the (working) day. That’s it. Make it easy on yourself.

I am sure that once you do this, you will check it only once and perhaps even once every two days. As a side benefit… you will love the quietness!

Action point: check email only once a day

Action point: stop sending meaningless messages

Action point: clean your inbox

Information Overload from People

Many people will come to you with ‘monkeys’ on their back trying to give you their monkey. Don’t fall for that. They should handle those themselves (especially when they try to leave the monkey with you and walk away after they gave it to you).

Another information overload comes from people who try to talk all day about nothing with you. Hey… I don’t mind small talk at all, but not all day by everybody.

Schedule time for small talk (really, do this). If you are not in your small talk time zone… don’t do it. Ask people to come back later.

Think about it… you can chitchat all day long, and end up with a pile of work for you to do in the evening or the weekend. Time you would like to spend with non work friends or family. Or you can take 20 minutes out of your day and talk about everything and anything with co-workers, discuss office politics and rumours, and go home on time and enjoy quality time there.

What most people try to do is lure you into their world so you can deal with the soap life they have, see, experience (in their own life or other people’s lives). When you stop this and you take control (“I really go back to work now”, “I have 5 minutes to talk with you then I have to leave”), you will get more done, and feel a lot better.

Sure, you might feel that you are not polite, maybe even rude, are anti social, are anything else like that. But that really isn’t so. Most people will just find another ‘victim’ to go to.

Fortunately there are only few people in your life, but they are on the lure always. It is your job to make sure you keep them at a safe distance so you won’t be distracted.

Action point: take control over conversations a lot more

Action point: don’t let other people drop their problems on your plata

Action point: find out what is really important to you and live your life that way

There you go, Information Overload Answers

What will you do with this information? Will you take more care of your information? What is your action plan to do this?

I hope you will take massive action, because that is the only way information overload can be cured right now!

image: busy street

Let’s Get Started With Mind Mapping For Success

There are 2 areas we have a look at today in this article. The first area is success for yourself and others. The second area is location. That would be work, study and personal. When we combine these two areas we have different areas in which we can identify and use mind mapping for success more specifically.

Mind Mapping For Success At Work For You

Almost everything at work that you do can be done with mind maps. But should you? Yes for some things, no for others, maybe for most. It totally depends on what you try to do or reach.

Doing a planning in a map can be easy (because you have all the items in a single overview). Keeping an agenda based on days is not that smart because Outlook or Google Calendar does this as well.

Creating and delivering a presentation using a mind map is smart. Less noise than PowerPoint presentations and much easier to follow because you only have a single sheet.

Taking notes is amazing in mind maps. You will not get lost that fast using maps. The map builds up while you are listening to the person you are talking with. Quick tip: take notes together with the person you are talking with. Sit next to them and then start writing. Share your notes so they see immediately you understand what they are saying.

Organizing meetings is wonderful. You have a meeting invitation in a map that is shared with other people. When you start the meeting, you simply take the invitation and start going through it point by point. People recognize where they are and what will be up next. You can add thoughts and ideas and comments from people to the map and at the end… meeting finished, map done!

How will you start mind mapping for success at work knowing this?

Mind Mapping For Success When Studying For You

Studying is easy. It is simply taking in new information, organizing it, understanding the relationships between new and current ideas, and moving forward with that new knowledge.

What many people do however, it let themselves be overwhelmed by the books and hours they need to spend studying. A 600 page book may look overwhelming, but it is not that bad when you know that most of the information is not that radically new, and when you summarize the entire text into readable new text that is new to you, you probably end up with perhaps 50 pages or less…

For your studying, you have to create a map that answers a few basic questions:

• what is it that I learn here
• what do I want or have to learn
• how does this new information connect to my current knowledge
• how can I use this
• if I teach others this material, how can I make it as easy as possible for them

That’s all you need to work on when going through the book. The result will be that you understand it and you can use it. A mind map can help you with all these questions. Just create separate branches for all of them and start working on a chapter that you have to study. You will see that this way it takes less time, is a lot more fun and you get better grades.

Mind Mapping For Success At Home For You

The way you can use a mind map at home is to outline the things you want to do, for ideas, or as an agenda for the next month (or year).  Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think you should use a map that tell you that you have a doctors appointment on the 17th, and you put out the trash on the 18th, etc.

Doing that would be silly, you have your (online) agenda for that.

There are people who will tell you that a mind map is also wonderful to create a grocery list… Yeah, because creating a simple list won’t do for you, right ?

Don’t make it more complicated than it is. Keep it as simple as possible. A recipe is also much easier in linear format. No need to create a map because it looks to nice (unless you are creating a visual cook book for yourself).

What I am talking about is some sort of vision board where you put your dreams and goals in. Be creative if you want to. Use images to inspire yourself. Create a map that you look at at the beginning of the day. It is your Utopia, your world that you can create by working smart and hard.

So mind mapping for success is easy this way, you create a really compelling picture that gives you the strength to do amazing things in life!

Mind Mapping For Success At Work For Others

Think about it. You are a project manager and you have to make sure your team is motivated and people know what their responsibilities are. Sure, you can write a long manual that explains roles and responsibilities. But what happens then is that people often don’t feel motivated to read it, or they don’t read it well.

That is where a map comes in to your and their success.

You outline in a map the basics of your project. For each (key) person, you write out their involvement in the project. Remember, everything has to fit on a single sheet of paper that has to be readable when printed out on a single sheet!!! Don’t treat the map as another document for writing lots of text. Be concise!

You might want to follow a simple format for the map levels like, mission (centre), goals (level 1), tasks (level 2), people (level 3). Use colors for specific people. That way everybody knows directly what to look for in the map (besides their name). So for yourself you use purple text, for the next person green, etc.

When you created the map, you share it with the people around you. Ask them if they have any questions about it.

The result is a map that is easy to follow and won’t take much time to update an use. Make sure you update the map regularly to show you the present state of the project.

Mind Mapping For Success When Studying For Others

I am a trainer and (personal) coach for many years now. One of the things that I noticed really helps people is outlining for others how they can understand their study materials better (and faster). Think about it, I have a technique where people can summarize a book they never read into a mind map, within one hour! That map is the basis of their studies. So in stead of going through a book, read everything and then have a summary, you do it all backwards.

This method saves people lots of time and energy. It makes studying fun again!

Another way to have more success in studying is by outlining what you know and what you need to know in a map. You will literally fill in the blanks if you work like this. Benefit, you will see that you are not an empty sheet of paper on that topic. Also, you see the map grow with your understanding. Very motivating!

Finally, when I use a map for others in training courses, it gives them lots of clarity by not seeing dozens of PowerPoint sheets, but just one simple mind map that tells them everything. You create less overwhelm or overload of information.

Mind Mapping For Success At Home For Others

What happens when you use mind mapping for others at home? You can think of planning a holiday or a party for others. You can start to outline all that needs to be done and use the mind map as a to-do list.

Another way of making these events a success is by creating a simple mind map and allow others to fill in the blanks in the map. They create a mind map that you started. The aim… throwing the best party they have ever seen!

Do this by outlining the goal, what you like to do, what you need, where to get it, what people’s responsibilities are, etc. Create a map that all people feel is something they can and want to contribute on. Success guaranteed (except for the weather perhaps ).

I encourage you to start mind mapping more and in different areas of your life. Let me know what you experience so we can move forward together with this.

As you can see, mind mapping for success is very easy this way, just as long as you know what works best and what you need to do to make it work.

image: winner

I believe setting goals at work will help you to move forward faster and have a much clearer view of who you are (at work), where you are going and what your development will look like. You won’t believe me when I tell you how many people don’t put effort in setting goals…

Setting Goals At Work Is Easy!

I don’t like to make things more difficult than they are. Just follow this outline that we discuss and you have a good understanding of what you want and where you are moving towards.

The first thing you have to do is understand what you like to have or do in one year, three years and five years.

Just create sheet with three columns, one for each period.

Then you let your mind free and see what happens. Add ideas about yourself and your work in each one of the columns.

The result will be that you probably have many items in the five year column and in the one year column.

That’s not strange. You are overconfident for the short term and you probably think that you can do a lot in five years.

Make sure you now balance the list. Go for 3 to 6 goals in the first column. That will give you two to four months per day. Is that realistic? Is not, make sure it becomes realistic.

What I like to do with this exercise is create an overview in a mind map. You only have three branches for the three corresponding times. Next to that you add the goals.

Right… step two is…

Well, there actually is not step two in this case. You already did it! You are done setting goals at work.

Setting Goals At Work – The Next Level

When you are really going for this and making it work, you take your mind map and you start to break down your goals in smaller pieces. So you create a couple of sub goals underneath the big goal. What do you need to accomplish to make your big goal a reality? Write them down.

Next, you go one level deeper again.

You write, if needed, sub-sub-goals.

The final step, after you created sub, sub goals, is that you add tasks. This may be in the third level of you map or even lower. It doesn’t really matter. The only thing you need to understand is that you make each task something that can be done within 30 minutes (preferably 15 minutes).

This gives you a complete plan of action to achieve your goals. You just have to stick with the plan you just created.

To Conclude

Setting goals at work is easy. It is the first level that will help you grow faster. Make sure you also work on the next level, finding the tasks. When that is done, the hard part is over. You only have to follow the path you created to accomplish your goals. (it sounds simple and it often is just that simple…).

You may want to check out the article I wrote on procrastination as well. It might help in the execution of the plan.

Enjoy setting goals at work and achieving them! Let me know what happens

images: stars

Painful question, right?

Most people know that there is something they should be doing that would not just improve their lives today, but would also improve their lives from now on. Let’s have a look at procrastination and what my number one tip is for overcoming procrastination.

Overcoming Procrastination, the definitions

Overcoming something is easy, right? You just don’t or just do what you want to do. Anybody can do that, right? But why don’t people do it?

If we would all overcome the thing we don’t like, there would be less problems and much more happiness.

Procrastination is such a thing. You probably know what it is, doing something while there is a thing you should be doing right now. So you should be working on that presentation or write that report. Still, you are drawn to your email, drink something, talk with a co-worker, drink something more, go to the bathroom…

When we would overcome procrastination I believe we would be able to work far less and accomplish a whole lot more.

Think about it. Do you really need to check your email constantly (even in the bathroom…), update your Facebook status, Tweet like a little bird and read the news? Of course not! Even if you are in a service environment, you don’t need to check all of them all the time. You need to work as well! (or is your boss paying you to have a perfect Facebook page?)

Overcoming Procrastination, Here We Go!!!

Once upon a time, there was a person who was able to do all he needed to do and who was happy and free at the end of the day to sleep like a baby and wake up totally relaxed.

That person was you when you were a child. You did not care about knowing everything in the world all the time. You did what you needed to do even without thinking.

You can be like that again (at work, home or any place else). Go back to the essentials. Go back to knowing what is important. Talk with real people in stead of following all their important messages online (“hey check this cat video, I am eating hamburgers, my daily favorite quote is…”). Step away from the noise that is making you feel stressed and overwhelmed.

The moment I started doing that, I learned that there is so much more that IS important and good. No more noise for you as well this way.

Still, stepping away from those really important information feeds is difficult, I understand. So here is my suggestion and the one thing that really helped me stop doing all of that.

Start to schedule the time you procrastinate!

You know what you should do and shouldn’t do, or better said: what you must do and what you do to procrastinate. Go on, make a list of them.

And with that list you know what you should focus on.

Now here’s the big thing that will change your life.

You take two periods of 30 minutes each day from now on. I suggest you do this at the end of the morning and the end of the day.

During those 30 minutes, you take your “procrastination list” and you do all the things you have on that. That’s right, you schedule your procrastination.

Your mind will know that it is something you can do from now on. So just let it go during your normal working hours.

Enjoy the procrastination time you now have. Increase it to two one hour periods if you want. I am sure you will still be more productive when you take two full hours of procrastination at the end of your work.

So that is how overcoming procrastination is really easy. Just be sure that you don’t work during the procrastination time

image: clock

Mindmaps Increase Productivity, 5 Tips

Let’s start with an obvious one, you create a planning in a mindmap. Doing this gives you a good overview of what you need or want to do. It also enables you to understand your day or time much better.

The beauty of this tip, and the other ones as well, is that it is done quickly! Me personally, I create a 90 day planning that helps me to know where I will be at the end of this 90 day period. The time it takes me is usually no more than 5 minutes (initially). During the 90 days, I will update the planning of course. Things are removed which are done. Items are added to make sure I move beyond the first planning.

The further from the start, the more I accomplished and the further I got that period.

You can create the planning in a radial manner with the centre being the present, aka the moment you made the planning.

What you can also do is start at the left of your sheet or screen, and work towards the right hand side. Just have a look at what is good enough for you. Remember, we are not in the business of mind mapping. We just want clarity in our information, time and thoughts.

Number two is note taking. I can vividly remember the moment I was the person who could take notes during a team meeting. During the meeting, I was just really busy writing. Afterwards I was often just trying to remember what everything meant (and what was actually written on the paper in my bad handwriting).

Now I don’t do that any more. I do create notes, but they are in mind maps. Ready to be used afterwards. No more putting ideas into a nice Word template. Just creating a mindmap with tips and tricks.

You can make sure you get your hands on a meeting outline before you start talking. Or you quickly use the agenda of the meeting that you receive just before or at the beginning of the meeting. Either way, it will help, but it is not necessary. Your mind mapping skills will help you create good reliable notes.

Doing and preparing for presentations is not really my favorite activity. I kind of hated it.

Now I create a presentation in minutes by using a single mindmap. From that map, I am able to talk for hours (when needed). I have a couple of 1 day training courses which are just a single mindmap each. I explain the content and we do exercises (also mentioned in the map). Really easy and time friendly.

You could ask people if they mind about you using a mindmap. Most often they won’t. Even if they do, you still create a map of your presentation first, and then you create the PowerPoint or other presentation format they like from that. The reason for this is because a map will give you a good overview of the entire talk, and dozens of slides normally don’t…

Do you feel overwhelmed by all the things you have to do and the ideas you have? It might be smart to start organizing your thoughts using a mindmap. What happens is that you will see much clearer what is urgent and important and what is just there to mess with your mind.

My tip for you is… take 10 to 15 minutes to really put every little issue on paper. This will help you to see what the noise is in your head. You don’t need this. You want to be productive or at least have that awful task gone. The moment you do that, your mind will release that stress. It will be calmer. You will look more relaxed. Just by creating a simple mind map.

A very powerful usage of mind maps is sharing information.

I saw this in many companies. People are bored to look at the plain old other presentations or announcements. They want to see something different. They want more entertainment.

Give the people what they want. Create a colorful map that jumps of the bulletin board! Help them to understand how to read a map. One way of making this easier, it outlining the entire map to the right (or left).

This way you have a good overview of your information, with colors and perhaps a powerful image, and your co-workers will like ot a lot.

How Your Mindmaps Increase Productivity

Mindmaps alone never increase productivity. It is always up to you to make the difference. So hear is what the not so smart people do.

They read the article and find it good enough for them. They understand what it can do for them but don’t take action.

Then there is you together with fellow successful people who grow to become more productive.

You take action. You start to create notes in mindmaps. You run a meeting and take notes with mindmaps. You organize your thoughts and your projects in maps and see a big difference.

You see, it is just as simple as that. You apply what you read.

Now… Take Action!

Now it is up to you. I want to hear from you how this helped you, what you will do with this information, or what I can learn from you. Let me know how your mindmaps increase productivity by leaving a comment below.

image: waterfall

On this website, you will learn from the speakers from all around the world some amazing, interesting, smart and funny things.I don’t want to just show you a bunch of nice images. That is not what mind mapping is all about for me. A mind map should educate, inspire and make you take action.

The maps are created by me personally to give you an insight in other ideas and thoughts captured in mind mapping examples.

I also included a number of maps I found online which give nice impressions of the many uses of mind mapping. Let’s go and have a look at information in a different format, in mind maps!

Mind Mapping Examples from TED talks

Here are the first maps. Feel free to have a closer look by clicking on them. When you feel you want to have a talk transformed into a mind map, let me know and I create it for you and the rest of our community.

TED TALK: Daniel Pink On Motivation

TED TALK:Michael Norton on Happiness

Mind Mapping Examples from Around The Web

source: Jane Genovese

When you like to learn more or need specific mind mapping examples, let me know!

MindMapper 12 Professional, what it does for me

Many years ago, when I first learned about mind mapping, I wanted to do this on a computer, not on paper. So I used google to find tools. The ones I found were Mindmanager, Visual Mind, ConceptDraw, MindGenius and MindMapper.

I downloaded them all and tested them. What I needed was a tool that could make a mindmap for me when I only fed it the data.

All of these tools could do this (fortunately). What I liked most about MindMapper was that it needed back then the least amount of effort. Some tools needed me to add a branch, then enter the information, and then confirm (click return).

MindMapper didn’t need the first action. It automatically added the branch to the one I was working on at the time as a sub branch. Very easy and it made the mindmap creation a lot faster.

I contacted the different software creators and asked if I could sell their tools for them. All replied I could and I started a new business, selling mindmap software.

In the mean time, I also learned more about mind mapping and how this could be done in a practical manner. I write a book on mind mapping and created the first online video training (with a fancy blue screen and all ).

The software tools kept improving and more features were added. Frankly, I hardly use them all. What I do find very important were these:

• Easy to manipulate mindmaps during and after creating them
• Work with MS Word
• Have maps that look professional, but not too boring
• Have maps that look pleasing, but not like hand drawn or children maps
• A notes screen to store additional ideas that are not shown in the map

All of these are more or less available in the tools I mentioned before and also in most of the new tools.

Still, what kept me a heavy user was mainly the easy of input for ideas, thoughts and other information.

You probably wondered why I only want my tool to work with MS Word. This is because I don’t understand or ever use the export to PowerPoint or Excel, or Outlook features. A map is not my agenda. A map is my presentation and doesn’t need to be transformed into a linear PowerPoint presentation. Numbers are cool, but not in my mind map, I leave them in Excel.

What I sometimes do is embed a map or a map image in PowerPoint or Excel. I don’t export or import to or from these tools.

For you, there might be other tools that completely satisfy your mind mapping needs. It could be on an iPad, online, or a tool on your computer.

MindMapper 12 Professional, a tool is just a tool

In any case, make sure your tool is very easy to use. I use MindMapper 12 Professional to keep my information updated and ready to be used. My 90 day planning is in a map (often only on paper, sometimes I create a digital map).

My point is, different people require different tools (are there for that reason so many mind mapping tools???). Different situations may require different tools. You need to make sure your tool is the one you can work with and which allows you to capture, organize and utilize your information fast and easy.

When you like to learn more about MindMapper 12 Professional, have a look at my other website. On this you can download MindMapper 12 Professional and you receive a personal 6 part video training that makes sure you not just create mind maps but also benefit from them!

image: clouds

Creating clarity is not hard. It does take a little bit of time, effort and knowledge. Doing it will make your life a lot easier once you do this.

Is is almost like the two men who went into the woods to cut down a tree. The first one started chopping like crazy and wasn’t making a lot of progress.

The other person took his time to sharpen his axe. It took him a long time. But the moment he was ready he started chopping a tree as well. In a fraction of the time of the other person, he had the tree down. The other person was still busy…

The moral, well you could say that the more time you spend getting the right tools, and not just getting started like crazy, you may end up in a far better position in the end.

And that is what I do for and with people.

Creating clarity in your life too!

I help them create clarity and overview in their lives. This is not done by using mind maps. What I did years ago was develop a method to create visuals which are much more in line with the way your mind works than mind maps. I call this type of visual a summap (from summary map). Over the years many of my clients learned amazing things about themselves. They created overview in their head, body, life, environment, just by using this powerful technique.

I would love to talk more about this with you and how it can help you reaching your goals, making your life easier and easier to understand.

You know, the moment you have a good sense of who you are, what/who’s stopping you from becoming the person you can or have to become, you will feel better, have an easier life, have more meaningful relationships, and hardly any negative stress.

Sounds amazing, right? Well, the method I use for this is.

Creating clarity starts now

Now is the time for you to act. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to buy anything (although you are more than welcome to do so ).

I just want to know from you if you could use such a solution for yourself or a person you know.

If so, let me know. I prepared an online course which helps people just like you to become much more focused and clear.

Creating clarity is easy, it may take a little time, energy and knowledge. I will bring the time and knowledge. You only have to make some time and put in your energy. Creating clarity will help you as well, no matter where you are in life or what you do.

image: road