Your Secret Recipe for Success- Mind Maps
You all must be familiar with mind mapping even if you realize it or not. Throughout your education or your professional life, you’ve used mind maps to brainstorm ideas for your presentation or making notes during a class lecture, structuring your report or simply revising for your exam.
It is an effective and creative tool that collects your ideas and puts them into a visual diagram format. It starts with a central idea in the middle of the map. Related topics are written, typically in the form of images or short sentences as branches radiating from the center.
Figuratively, it maps out an individual’s thoughts through the use of connecting nodes and associations, triggering the mind to produce further ideas. Even research shows that the human brain likes to work through making associations that connects fragmented pieces of information into a logical whole.
So if your boss calls to update you about possible solutions for a problem discussed in the meeting earlier that day and paper and pen aren’t readily available. Try using an online mind map because it’s free to use with the added benefit of saving, editing, and sharing your work without any trouble.
A Step-By-Step Guide to Solve Problems with Mind Maps
A single mind map illustrating the problem as well as its solution can become cluttered and mind-boggling. So it would be a good idea to make two discrete mind maps, one for the problem and another for its possible alternate solutions.
Mind Map 1: Identification of Problem
The central idea of your mind map must be your problem, add as many branches as required that highlight the causes of the problem and their implications to get an in-depth view. Instead of forcing yourself to come up with a solution and feeling stressed, try using a mind map. It not only opens possibilities but also calms your mind as now you’re viewing the problem as a positive challenge to show off your skills.
Mind Map 2: Deriving Solutions
Write as many possible solutions as you can and also analyze if one solution doesn’t work out, what could be the next best alternative, and rank them from most preferred to least preferred. Simultaneously, add routes and branches to explore further details. Through mind maps, you can visually see which solutions are more cost-effective and time-saving.
You can also create your mind map for them through;
Free-Flow Method: Adding ideas with no particular structure or order or Branch-by-Branch Method: Adding sub-branches radiating from the central branch. So the next time you feel stuck, try mind mapping.
The Bottom Line
Problem-solving skill is one of the major attributes looked for by employers in candidates as it shows logical and creative thinking. Problems occur all the time and people are faced with obstacles on an almost daily basis whether it’s in a personal or professional capacity. Thus, being able to provide timely imaginative solutions is a skill that will help you succeed.
Online mind-mapping software extends far beyond conventional capacities. It not only boosts an individual’s creativity and innovation but also enables knowledge sharing which is essential for solving problems.
Typically, there are no formal rules for using mind maps. All you have to do is enter your central idea which can be a topic, concept, or problem, and then start adding everything related that comes to your mind. Mind maps are an excellent tool for conducting interviews, and attending workshops, and most useful for students and teachers as mind maps make learning easy and fun.
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