Capture Your Ideas With Mind Mapping

By Author: Sam Sander
Total Articles: 60
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We all get great ideas from time to time and when we do, it's important to be able to capture those ideas as quickly as possible before the total extent of the idea is lost. But what is the fastest way to do this? Well, Mind Mapping is one very simple yet effective technique for capturing your ideas, almost as fast as you can think and is just as effective for taking notes.

Everyone at some stage will need to take notes or capture ideas that come to mind. The normal way of doing this is simply by writing down the notes or thoughts in a linear structure, where every point and piece of information is written in full sentences. But this method is not effective when you need to take notes quickly, which was the case with my algebra lecturer, or when your ideas are flowing fast and you need to capture them just as quickly before you lose your train of thought.

And this is where mind mapping can be helpful. Mind mapping is a whole new technique for taking notes and brainstorming and capturing ideas. You can easily keep up with any teacher or lecturer, and you can even capture all those ideas that pop into your head. ...
... The power of Mind Mapping comes from the way the information is captured, in a format that your mind finds simple to remember and fast to review.

The Mind Mapping technique uses non-linear documentation of key words or phrases instead of full sentences. Mind Maps give a two dimensional structure, where all levels of thought are laid out in front of you. The flow of thoughts and connections between the various thoughts are clearly identified.

A Mind Map has the main subject in the centre of the page, with secondary topics radiating in all directions from the center. Sub-topics flowing from these secondary topcs will be linked like branches of a tree to the main trunk. Just exploring your thoughts and putting them down in a single word will automatically create different levels of thinking.

As Mind Maps are essentially about documenting thoughts and ideas in a single word, maps are compact and occupy less space than traditional notes, but still provide a comprehensive picture of the whole topic at a glance. And if you need to include more information, you can easily integrate it into the existing map.

Mind Maps are also simple to review, as you can just refresh information by glancing through the Mind Map. The diagrammatic structure of the Mind Map allows you to get the full essence of the topic at a glance.

And once you learn how to use the Mind Mapping tool, you can create your own style to make them more meaningful to you. And Mind Maps can be applied to a wide range of situations including time management, decision making and problem solving as well as note taking and capturing ideas.
You can find out more about how to do a Mind Map by signing up for this FREE e-training course on Mind Mapping. You'll also find lots of free tips and tools on a range of self-help topics from success to emotional intelligence.