Imagine someone in an authoritative position (your boss or your wife) chiding you to use your brain to solve the problem at hand. And you reply like, “Which one? The right or the left?” you are obviously smarter. Experts say you can only go up to some level in solving your problem if you use your logical side (the left) and at some point the creative side (the right) should come into play to reach a brilliant solution. The famous Edward De Bono suggests the use of ‘Six Thinking Hats‘ technique to switch our style of thinking while solving a problem. So that means at a given time we need to be aware of which mode we are in, say; being pessimistic or optimistic or cautious and switch it deliberately to widen our perception and that needs some disciplined thinking.
What if there is an easier method that makes use of both parts of the brain simultaneously, and let you see the result immediately and also is something fun to do? Luckily there is one and it is the use of mind maps pioneered by Tony Buzon.
Personally I feel the mind maps come close to our natural way of thinking (a scatter brain approach). Using mind maps, even as we jot down ideas in free form, we follow a structure. Looking at the partially developed mind map, we plug in the missing elements in our thinking as we go along. Before we know it, we will be amazed at the extent of territory we have covered and realize it was all fun and the job is done.
Before the advent of PCs the use of mind mapping technique was confined to scientists, executives in big corporations, students and professors at university. Though it doesn’t need much in terms of resources (a sheaf of papers and pen will do), it wasn’t popular and perceived to be an elite exercise. But now that PCs have become popular and along with the proliferation of mind mapping software, mind mapping has come to be within reach of every one.
I am convinced that if used properly, mind mapping exercise will enable you to create a ‘WOW’ effect in all your ventures.
Uses of mind maps:
Uses of mind maps are many as they are outlined here.
To show a live demonstration of the use of mind maps, I have taken browsing my website as an example. Please click on the link below to see how easy it is to navigate my site using mind maps. (Some of my visitors complained that they find it difficult to locate in my site what they came searching for)
Using mind map to navigate my website .
You may notice how easy it is to navigate web sites using mind maps which no one has talked about so far (at least as far as my knowledge goes. Please correct me if I am wrong)
I may even go further to suggest mind maps should be the first interface users see when they turn on the computer. Due to its intuitive nature this would make any operating system very user-friendly.
What do you think?
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