Become a mind mapping expert from a novice in one month

Text/Carano

Before I came into contact with mind mapping, like many people, I was in a state of anxiety in life, work, and study. Especially after entering, there are so many things I want to learn, and time becomes even more scarce. So how to use scarce time to do more things and learn more knowledge?

I also heard that mind mapping has many benefits: 1. It is used to exercise memory. 2. Used for taking reading notes. 3. For self-analysis. 4. Used for writing diaries. 5. Used to improve learning skills. 6. Used for meeting minutes. 7. Used for speeches.

After hearing that it had so many benefits, I admired it and entered the first mind mapping class held by Little Bee, a British Buzan mind mapping instructor.

Actually, I recognized mind mapping last year, but I was a little distanced from it. At that time, I didn't know what to do and thought there was no use in learning this curve. My head was a ready-made mind map. I can imagine wildly. If I didn’t rely on that thing, I wouldn’t be able to write or work.

This is the first time I have drawn a mind map, and I feel pretty good about myself.

After one semester, I became the best among all students. From a novice to a mind mapping expert, I also gave sharing classes to students.

I recorded the lessons I learned and shared them with book friends who are predestined or interested. I hope it will be helpful to you.

Mind map is a tool to help divergent thinking, and the center map is the center of divergent thinking, which is the "origin" from which thinking diverges.

Thinking divergently does not require you to be unconstrained, unconstrained, free, and divergent within the rules. It's just like our roads, which are governed by traffic rules, but your destinations are different.

1. Position

Generally, we place the center image in the center of the entire image.

First, for the convenience of our divergent thinking, it can be spread in all directions without restriction.

The second is to build confidence. A suitable central image is more conducive to the spread of your thinking. Otherwise, your self-confidence will be more or less dampened, and you will lose confidence in yourself!

2. Size

If it is A4 paper, it is almost equivalent to the size of an adult holding a hammer. The size control is also to facilitate the filling of content. If the title is too small, the central theme will not be obvious.

But if it is too small, the central theme will take over the spotlight. After all, the central theme is just to lead to the divergence point of our divergent thinking!

3. Images

In the mind maps we usually see, the central image usually presents a colorful image instead of simple writing of words.

This involves the operating mechanism of our brain. We all know that the brain is divided into left and right brains. The left brain controls the nerves and organs of the right half of the body. It is the center for understanding language and completes language, analysis, logic, and algebra. thinking, understanding and behavior.

The right brain, on the contrary, has a music-receiving center and is responsible for visual, comprehensive, geometric, and pictorial thinking behaviors.

In addition, the selection of our central image must conform to our theme. For example, in the center of a map, the theme is the mental landscape about the functions of the mobile app. And if you draw a big rooster, there is no connection between the two at all, so the selection of the central picture is a failure.

How to express the central map

Having said so much, you may think that the central map is very complicated, but I will tell you a method to help you take the road to mind mapping. the first step.

1. Frame and line drawing

The requirements for the central drawing at this stage are very simple. One box has two words and three colors. Let’s talk about a box first. You will see it when you see it. Basic shapes such as square, circle, triangle, oval, rectangle and so on. Or basic shapes such as clouds, dialog boxes, streamers, etc., can be presented as part of the frame. The two words here are not quantifiers in the true sense, but a brief and concise summary of the central theme.

2. Stickers

Beginners to mind mapping have more or less troubles with drawing. They often wonder how to achieve many effects with the central picture? I'll give you a stupid way for lazy people, print out the center image you need, then cut and paste it, and you'll have a stunningly beautiful image.

3. Simple drawings

For people without art skills, it is very difficult to draw an exquisite image, but if it is a children's simple drawing, there will be many You can draw with your hands with great confidence, and you can also draw simple drawings with young babies in normal times. It not only allows you to practice simple drawing, but it is also a very good parent-child activity.

The trunk refers to the lines extending from thick to thin that are closely linked to the central image; the branches are the extended lines after the trunk.

An important concept that cannot be separated from "lines": connection

The lines of the mind map are similar to the protrusions of neurons, which are closely connected and cannot be disconnected.

Just like the various neurons in the human brain, if there is no necessary connection between the two and they run independently, they will inevitably become a traffic jam of thinking in the human body, leading to the collapse of the body.

Since the mind map is a "concrete" product derived from the mind map, there must also be a gap between the trunk and the branches of our lines, and between the central picture and the trunk. Closely connected and inseparable.

So before drawing lines, you should pay attention to the following four points:

1. Direction

The writing order from left to right is in line with our modern people's Reading and writing habits.

In this way, it greatly facilitates the reading of our eyes, speeds up the speed of reading information, the speed of information extraction and the efficiency of processing information.

So when drawing a mind map, try to avoid straight up and down lines.

2. Organic

Beautiful and smooth lines, on the one hand, can give our mind map a natural beauty, but more importantly, there is no pause on the central theme. Smooth freedom of thought.

I wonder if you have had this experience:

A smooth straight line suddenly has a small tip at a certain point, and all the attention will be focused here. Hard to remove.

If you feel this way after reading this sentence, congratulations, you can fully understand the organic nature of our lines.

3. Shape

Part of it is the trunk, which is the line extending from thick to thin starting from the central figure; and the parts that extend from the trunk are collectively called branches. Dry.

The lines of the branches are different from the main trunk in that they are represented by thin lines.

4. Length

None of the lines you usually see are particularly long in a certain section. It has to be said here that the length of our lines is based on the length of the line. Determined by the size of the text.

This is because the lines are too long and will take up more space. Later, there may be insufficient paper.

Second, it will make the focusing field of the eyes narrower, leading to a pause in memory.

1. Text-only version

As the name suggests, the entire map is mainly text, with no icons added. As for the pure text version of the mind map, you can intuitively understand the content presented in the entire mind map, but it lacks some visual impact. The brain's effect on this kind of mind map is only slightly better than traditional text explanations. , similar to the effect of blackboard writing.

2. Graphic and text version

This is a mind map presentation method with a particularly wide range of applications, that is, on the basis of text, it also takes into account icons and symbols. This type of mind map not only takes into account the explanatory nature of the text, but also can increase the visual and memorability of the mind map, making it more fascinating and deepening the impression.

3. Pure picture version

The last one means that the entire mind map does not have any text explanation, and is all presented in the form of icons. Pure picture mind maps are particularly useful for viewing for yourself. Because the brain has a deeper fascination with colors and three-dimensional graphics, the pure picture version can also be regarded as the ultimate version of mind mapping.

I share it here for everyone, I hope it is useful to you!