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Article:
Becoming Radiant: Boost Your Team's Creativity with Mind Mapping by: Maya Talisman Frost I don't take notes anymore. Instead, I create one wildly colorful, creative and inspiring page whenever I need to make a decision, prepare a presentation, or plan an event. That whole two-column plus and minus approach? Gone. Bring on the Mind Maps! I read Tony Buzan's first book on Mind Mapping back in the early eighties, but I was too caught up in the old-school world to see how it could be of use to me. I recently rediscovered Mind Mapping and it has become an integral part of the work I do with clients. Tony Buzan created the Mind Map concept in the early seventies. Based on his brilliant observation that our brains do not process information in a linear way, Mind Mapping allows us to use words, images, and color in an effort to engage the right side of our brains in what is normally considered a left-brain task: organizing information. We've already learned that one of the keys to maximizing our potential as humans is to forget that whole right-brain/left-brain divide. Instead of seeing ourselves as a logical person OR a creative person, we're both. We've simply chosen to put more energy into developing skills associated with the analytical left or the daydreaming right. We must recognize that there's a fine line separating analysis from daydreams and that in order to have a fully integrated brain, we need to do both. We speak in a linear pattern. We can say only one word at a time, and we can hear only one word at a time. Similarly, we read in a linear pattern-words flow in lines across the page. So when it came time to organize notes and teach the proper form for creating outlines, it's easy to see why we turned to the tried and true linear approach. You know the format: Roman numeral one (I) followed by A, B and C, followed by '1
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