Mind Map

A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the

potential of the brain, entice, delight, stimulate and challenge you. It harnesses the full

range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic, rhythm, color and spatial awareness –

in a single, uniquely powerful manner. In so doing, it gives you the freedom to roam the

infinite expanses of your brain. The Mind Map can be applied to every aspect of life where

improved learning and clearer thinking will enhance human performance.

All Mind Maps have some things in common. They have a natural organizational structure

that radiates from the center and use lines, symbols, words, color and images according to

simple, brain-friendly concepts. A Mind Map converts a long list of monotonous information

into a colorful, memorable and highly organized diagram that works in line with your brain's

natural way of doing things.

One simple way to understand a Mind Map is comparing it to a map of a city. The city center

represents the main idea; the main roads leading from the center represent the key

thoughts in your thinking process; the secondary roads or branches represent your

secondary thoughts, and so on. Special images or shapes can represent landmarks of

interest or particularly relevant ideas.

Radiant Thinking

What happens in your brain when you taste a ripe pear, smell flowers, listen to music, watch

a stream, touch a loved one, or simply reminisce? The answer is both simple and amazingly

complex. Each bit of information entering your brain, every sensation, memory or thought,

which incorporates every word, number, code, food, fragrance, line, color, image, beat, note

and texture can be represented as a central sphere from which radiate tens, hundreds,

thousands, even millions of hooks. Each hook represents an association, and each

association has its own infinite array of links and connections. From this gigantic information

processing ability and learning capacity derives the concept of Radiant Thinking of which the

Mind Map is a manifestation. Your brain's Radiant Thinking pattern may thus be seen as a

gigantic Branching Association Machine - a super bio computer with lines of thought

radiating from a virtually infinite number of data nodes.

The Power of Images

If the Radiant Thinking ability of the brain can be applied to the 'left cortical skill' of words,

can the same power be applied to the 'right cortical skill' of imagination and images? In

1970 Scientific American magazine published Ralph Haber's research showing that

individuals have a recognition accuracy of images between 85 and 95 percent. There is a

well-known quote, "A picture is worth a thousand words". We associate and remember

images because they make use of a massive range of your cortical skills, especially

imagination. Images can be more evocative than words, more precise and potent in

triggering a wide range of associations, thereby enhancing creative thinking and memory.

These findings support the argument that the Mind Map is a uniquely appropriate tool.

Random Words Association

A random stimulus is any class of creativity techniques that explores randomization. Most of

their names start with the word "random", such as random word, random heuristic, random

picture and random sound. In each random creativity technique, the user is presented with

a random stimulus and explores associations that could trigger novel ideas. The power of

random stimulus is that it can lead you to explore useful associations that would not emerge

intentionally.

How it works

Random Words works in particular by making you go elsewhere for ideas, and hence pushes

you out of your current thinking rut. It uses the principle of forced association to make you

think in new ways and create very different ideas

Just pick up a dictionary and choose a noun at random. Write the word on the top of the

flipchart paper and then underneath list 5 or 6 attributes of that word. Then force

connections between the word or its attributes and the problem to be solved. You will find

that all sorts of new associations spring to mind.

Say the problem is how to attract the best applicants to join your company. The random

word from the dictionary is – eucalyptus. You write eucalyptus on the sheet and then list

some attributes or associations – say Australia, gum, Koala bear, branches, medecine. Some

of the ideas that might be triggered are:

       –  Recruit Australians and New Zealanders

       –  Offer the opportunity to take time off and travel the world

       –  Offer free packs of dental gum to anyone who applies

       –  Stick notices about your job opportunities on boards at gyms and clubs

       –  Run a recruitment seminar at a Zoo

       –  Give applicants a branded teddy bear to show what a caring company you are

       –  Offer medical insurance and health checks

       –  Run a publicity event that helps a local hospital

       –  Show people how their career can branch out if they join your company

Keep adding suggestions until you run out or ideas and then turn over the flip chart and pick

a new random noun from the dictionary. Some words work much better than others though

you never know which until you try them. I generally find that simple concrete nouns like

fish, corner, stick or house work better than abstract nouns like faith or sorrow. But you

have to try with whatever you get. When you have a long list of ideas from several random

words then you evaluate them using some agreed criteria to select and refine the best ones.

Why does a stimulus like the random word work? It forces the brain to start from a new

departure point, to come at the problem from a new direction. The brain is a lazy organ; it

will automatically lapse into familiar patterns and solve problems the way it has always

done unless you give it a jog and start it from a new point. However, the brain is clever at

forcing connections between disparate things so when you prompt your mind with a strange

stimulus it responds by finding creative connections.

Some words will work and others will not, depending on the problem and on the individual

involved. No word is guaranteed better than another, it just depends on the situation. You

could use a large number of words for each problem or a small number but if you find

yourself using a large amount then you should question yourself as to how you are using the

word. You may be just searching for a word to fit with an idea you have already.

You can also use the random word technique for assessing the current situation. Often by

having a word in front of you, you are stimulated to think about different aspect of the

problem. Eg. when I brush my teeth the forces on the toothbrush are in all different

directions; is there a problem with having suspension which only goes up and down?; or,

when I was a child I hated brushing my teeth, so is the problem with a lot of car journeys

that the people in the back hate being there because they cannot see anything?

Often using a random word can just remind you of something which you knew all along but

you had forgotten to write down in your investigation. If you have dozens of aspects to a

problem, and even if you feel you know them all, it can still be tricky to recall them all when

it comes to actually writing them down. A random word can often help remind you of them

again.

A similar technique, and the next technique to be explained, is the Random Picture

Technique which uses a picture as a stimulus instead of a word. Some people find it easier

to use pictures rather than words, others vice-versa. You will have to experiment to see

which suits you best. Some people, of course, find both techniques work equally well for

them but for different aspects of different opportunities.

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition - As a literary technique, the juxtaposition definition is to place two concepts,

characters, ideas, or places near or next to each, so we can highlight the differences

between them to compare and contrast them. This technique also may imply a link that is

not necessarily real or to be trusted. The effect can be funny or dramatic, depending on how

it is used. A huge lion cowering with fear at the sight of a tiny mouse is a silly image. A

grandmother holding a newborn baby might be a very powerful image, juxtaposing birth

and old age.

For instance, Putting the words "athlete" and "intellectual" in close proximity evokes images

of each. It makes the reader compare those images and re-evaluate the either/or concept

held by many people. The reader is then forced to merge these contrasting images in order

to accept the statement.