Mindmapping: Productive Practice for Project Managers
Have you ever attempted mapping out your mind? And no, we’re not talking about MRIs or brain scans, solving the mysteries of our mind’s vast, vast capabilities or exploring how far our neurological functions can stretch out and go—or maybe just a little.
BYOG – Bring Your Own Genius
On occasion, we get glimpses of our own genius, with ideas and thoughts that are innovative, unique and creative. I myself thought I had found my own genius this morning, mixing my coffee together with hot chocolate – only to realise that Mocha’s exist. Oh well.
Regardless of what your moment of genius is, it’s what you do with those ideas and thoughts that differentiate you from others. Unfortunately, most of our ground-breaking epiphanies eventually lay at the isolated recesses of our minds, completely forgotten as soon as the next distraction grabs our attention.
Why?
Simply because we don’t take the time to take note of them. Writers, creative thinkers, and even theorists from varying fields will always tell you that it pays to have a pen and paper handy. Why? Because you never really know when the next big idea will come – in our sleep, while having coffee, in class, at home, while at the gym.
Now, there are some of you willing to take this advice literally. Piles and piles of note pads, journals, and endless sheets of paper containing a lot of important details and information—all of which in a confusing, useless heap – but taking down notes doesn’t stop with just scribbling data down. Mapping your mind means writing your ideas, and also making sure that you can use the information afterward.
How many times have you re-read notes and had no idea what you meant? Becoming frustrated over wasted energy, ink and paper. The notes then become an extension of the vortex where your brilliant ideas and concepts lie in obscurity.
Mind-mapping: a simple choice
Creating mind maps, is, primarily, mapping the mind into a tangible, comprehensive, organised and reviewable format that you can use for pretty much everything in life: school, work, at home, and for any other project that you may be working on. If it was a choice between masses of unreadable, sometimes single-worded notes; compare that to one page that easily maps out every detail in a font and design of your choosing, I know what I would be prefer. Start mapping out your mind today and bring out your inner genius.
