.: Use Mind Maps to Stimulate Your Creative Thinking
By:Royane Real
Category:Home / Personal Development / Creativity
When you need to organize your thoughts, you probably make notes the old fashioned way, writing down everything you think is important. If you want to improve your ability to generate new creative ideas, try the technique of making mind maps to organize your thoughts.
There are several techniques that can help you boost your ability to think creatively. One of these is the technique which is sometimes called mind mapping, or making learning maps.
By using the mind map or learning map technique, you get to instantly see the relationship of all your ideas to each other at a glance. You get to see and make new connections you might otherwise miss.
When you try to organize your thoughts by writing them down the traditional way, it's a very passive process. Simply taking notes does not get the brain very involved in interacting with the information. If you can get your brain to get more actively involved in organizing the new material you will remember it better and be able to generate new ideas.
The following technique for note-making is particularly effective for people who are highly visual. This method of making notes is sometimes called “mind-mapping” or making a “learning map”.
Although it takes some practice to use mind-mapping effectively, most people who use it find they can retain and remember far more information with a lot less work. They can also become far more creative with the facts they are trying to organize.
The essence of the learning-map (also known as “memory-map”, or “mind-map”) technique is quite simple. You will need a blank piece of paper, the larger the better. You will need at least one pen, more if you want to use a variety of colors.
You will be trying to fill the entire page with your notes, so it is important to keep the size of your writing quite small. With practice you should be better able to judge what size of writing will work effectively.
As you are trying to organize your thoughts about a subject, decide what you think the central theme is. For example, you might be listening to a lecture where you decide the central theme seems to be, “Conditions in Europe on the eve of World War 2” Or you might be trying to decide, "What are all the ways I can generate a second income?"
Once you have decided what the central theme is, jot down the words in the center of the page, and draw a circle around the main theme. Don’t try to write down a sentence or a paragraph--just get down enough of the key words that will bring the ideas back into you mind.
Keep listening or reading and thinking, and jot down your other ideas as they come to you. Watch for the first main sub-theme.
When you come across the first major sub-theme, pick a spot on the page to jot down a few key words that sum up the sub-theme. Draw a circle around the sub-theme words, and then join your sub-theme circle to the main theme circle with a line.
Each time you come across a new major sub-theme, write down a few key words to summarize the new idea, and draw a circle around those words. Then draw a line to join the sub-theme circle to the main idea circle in the center of the page. Eventually you will have a circle in the center with several spokes radiating from it.
The lines or spokes don’t have to be straight, and they can be of any length required. The “circles” don’t have to be circles; they can be squares, triangles, or oval squiggles if you prefer. You can use different colors to help you organize the ideas better.
When you generate a new idea, you will find that some of your ideas are additional supporting details that clarify or illustrate one of the sub-themes you have already identified. In this case you will write these “sub-sub-themes” down using just a few words, enclose them in a circle or squiggle, and link them to their sub-theme with a line.
Eventually your sub-theme circles may have many spokes radiating from them as the author or lecturer continues to present his ideas. At a glance you will be able to take in the dominant themes of the talk and the underlying organizational structure of the ideas.
When you make a mind map or a learning map of all your notes, you create a very visual document that differs a lot from traditional methods of making notes for class.
People who learn very well visually will particularly benefit from the way that learning maps clearly show the relationships between main themes, sub-themes and supporting facts and ideas. It can also help you understand connections between existing facts and possibilities, and that is the essence of creative thinking!
Try this method and see if this is creativity enhancing technique works best for you!
Article keywords: creativity, notes, creative, making notes, note taking, boost creative thinking, studying, be more creative, learning, mindmaps
Article Source: http://www.articles32.com
This article was written by learning expert Royane Real. If you want to increase your ability to learn and to be creative in your thinking, get her new book “How You Can Be Smarter – Use Your Brain to Learn Faster, Remember Better and Be More Creative” Download it today at http://www.lulu.com/real
.: New Creativity Articles
1). Ways to crank up your Creativity
Creativity is a quality that we all have buried inside of us, one way or the other. It involves the invention of something new or the re-invention of something already existing to make it useful of interesting.
Some people’s creative abilities are closer to the surface and one can easily see the manifestations of them. People say that their creativity is “inborn”.
2). How to pick the Dream Tattoo Design That You Want Today
A recent survey tells us that 24% of Americans between the ages of 18-50 are tattooed. This is almost 1 in 4. The most popular reason people get tattooed is “To broadcast what they are all about.”
Keeping this in mind, many people end up regretting the tattoo that is inked on their body. Most of the time, these people did not take the time to really think about why they choose a particular tattoo and look at other tattoo designs that are available.
3). Creative Loafing
Have you tried creative loafing? It is a good excuse to relax, and also a great way to come up with new ideas and solutions to problems. How does one creatively loaf? Just relax, open your mind, and use one of the many idea-generating techniques.
A Creative Loafing Technique
My favorite technique is one that is best for generating new ideas rather than solving specific problems.
4). How to Boost Your IQ -- Guaranteed!
What if I were to tell you that just six months from now your IQ could be 25 percent higher than what it is today? And what if I told you that all you needed to do was perform a simple daily exercise that would make it happen? In fact, there is strong evidence that by doing this one easy exercise, you can dramatically increase your IQ -- and even make yourself a genius! So what is this simple, easy and fantastic “genius exercise” that will supercharge your brain? This: Keep a daily journal or diary.
5). Create Your Own Destiny
We are constantly imitating others. When we copy other people, we can't reproduce their charisma, talent or success. Externally, we can imitate their life, their way of dressing and drive the same kind of car, but this does not bring us fulfilment.
We can take another's life as an example, but we must think hard before we follow them. Look at the.
6). Powerful Tools For Lucid Dreaming
Dream Signs - What Are They?
“I awoke in the morning as usual. I lay in bed for a moment and reached over to pick up the phone, as I had an important call to make. I started to dial the numbers and glanced away briefly. Looking back at the phone, I noticed something odd had happened. The object in my hand had now changed into the remote control for the television! What was going on?”
As you may have guessed, I was in fact dreaming.
7). The Value of Creativity - Part 1
Part 1 of 3
*****
Some Introductory Thoughts...
I make my living, such as it is, on creativity, spit and a little shoe polish. Well, not so much spit and shoe polish. I’m a writer, a designer, and a serial entrepreneur. I’m also a so-called “expert” on creativity. Which is why I found myself, at three o’clock one morning, thinking about the inherent value of creativity.
.: Top Creativity Articles
1). Creativity and Rebellion: Why They Go Hand-in-Hand
Studies on creative people have consistently demonstrated that creativity is associated with openness to new ideas, risk-taking, and being inner-directed. Do these traits put creative people at odds with the culture and people around them? The answer is sometimes yes and sometimes no.
Say for example that Jeremy is a creative child that performs below average in school.
2). 10 Steps To Clear Thinking
Does your mind sometimes feel like a television station you can't quite tune in? You know there's an interesting program on - or several, but everything is mixed with static. What if you could "tune in" at will, have clear thinking whenever you want it? Try some of the following.
Ten Clear Thinking Techniques And Tips
1. Take a walk. Science will eventually prove this to be a great way to improve the quality of your thinking, but don't wait for the proof.
3). How to pick the Dream Tattoo Design That You Want Today
A recent survey tells us that 24% of Americans between the ages of 18-50 are tattooed. This is almost 1 in 4. The most popular reason people get tattooed is “To broadcast what they are all about.”
Keeping this in mind, many people end up regretting the tattoo that is inked on their body. Most of the time, these people did not take the time to really think about why they choose a particular tattoo and look at other tattoo designs that are available.
4). 7 Tips to Make You More Creative
Many great things have started as an simple, creative idea. Consider donating some of your best ideas to help others. The more creative you are, the more ideas you will be able to create. You can be creative even if you don't think you are.
I have known many people that were scared to use a computer for the first few times. However, after diving into it they became more comfortable.
5). Ways to crank up your Creativity
Creativity is a quality that we all have buried inside of us, one way or the other. It involves the invention of something new or the re-invention of something already existing to make it useful of interesting.
Some people’s creative abilities are closer to the surface and one can easily see the manifestations of them. People say that their creativity is “inborn”.
6). Who Wants to Work?
I feel a loss when pragmatism wins over the mystical. There is a greater magic at work when you engage with Source. I believe that strength and optimism combined with hard work will keep marketing principles and other learned strategies working well for success. I have a much different story to tell.
I've spent many years in the corporate world and in the service and sales industry.
7). Use Visualization to Expand Your Knowledge
Our minds know much more than we know that we know. One way to access some of our hidden knowledge is through the use of special guided imagery techniques. The following technique uses a special type of visualization that can help you access hidden knowledge, improve your creativity, and learn new skills much more quickly.