Map Your Mind ...

Turning your thoughts into
diagrams will help you act on
them

GREAT Indian leader Mahatma
Gandhi said: “A man is but the
product of his thoughts; what he
thinks, he becomes.”

We have a very sophisticated
thinking mechanism in our head.
According to research by the
University of Alberta, the average
“clock speed” of neurons in the
brain is 200 firings per second
(fps). If we have 100 billion
neurons in our brain all firing
around 200 fps, this will give a
capacity of 20 million billion fps.
This is a staggering number of
thoughts being generated per
second.

The brain never stops thinking. It
is constantly working 24/7, even
while we are asleep. The brain is
busy processing the day’s
information as it runs through
recently formed memories,
sorting and organising the
information so that they will be
useful the next day. We think for
answers to complex questions,
look for solutions to daily
problems and find new ideas to
help resolve our longer-term
issues.

Many of the most successful
people started with an idea and
then put their thinking into
action. Bill Gates thought about
putting a computer in every
home. Michael Dell wondered
whether he could make
computers cheaper by bypassing
the middleman and selling
directly to the customer. Steve
Jobs lived most of his adult life
thinking about how he could
apply technology differently in
our lives.

If we want to accomplish big
things in life, then we have to
start small with a little thinking.
What do I mean by this?

When our brain is engaged in
purposeful thinking (not to be
confused with daydreaming), it
should not last too long, typically
for 10 minutes or so. It happens
usually for a reason — to find
answers, resolve an issue or to
generate new ideas. The question
here is: How can we make our
little bit of thinking become more
effective for us?

I have been using mind maps for
about six years and they have
helped me capture all my little
bits of thinking. A mind map is a
visual thinking tool that helps to
structure information, enabling
you to better analyse,
comprehend, synthesise, recall
and generate new ideas.

I have three simple principles
when it comes to doing my own
little thinking:

Think more

Due to our busy lifestyles, we
often spend more time doing
things than engaging in thinking.
The mind map helps me to think
quickly and easily because of its
branch-like structure.

I keep a notebook and multi-
coloured pen in my pocket so I
can mind-map my thoughts and
ideas when they occur to me at
any time of the day.

It is like an “idea bank account”,
where I make small deposits of
my ideas during my little thinking
moments. I believe that the more
ideas I can regularly deposit from
thinking more, the higher my rate
of return when there is a need to
withdraw these ideas for my
work.

Think out-of-the-box

Being creative is important in
almost any type of work and job
scope. I use the mind map to
brainstorm and think of new
angles to a specific problem.

The mind map format (resembling
a brain neuron) enables me to
radiate my ideas from the central
theme by using associative
thinking and branching out
indefinitely.

It also encourages the use of
colours and images to stimulate
visual thinking and creativity. This
method is useful for
brainstorming as it produces
more ideas than traditional linear
thinking.

Think deep

In his book, How Successful
People Think, John C. Maxwell
said that thoughts need to be
“shaped until they have
substance” and must stand the
test of “clarity and questioning”.

Many of my mind maps are like
works in progress, and I refer to
them from time to time when I
want to think more deeply about
a specific topic.

This is also the time when I make
withdrawals from my idea bank
account to further enhance my
thinking.

Mind mapping is an effective
thinking tool because it is brain-
friendly and easy to apply.

It captures our little bits of
thinking and helps us to make
sense of it all.