Mind-Mapping

Mind-mapping is a term coined by Tony Buzan to describe a creative thinking process that he has made world-famous. Tony Buzan is a teacher and author of many books on creativity, learning and memory. Mind mapping is a brilliant method of putting your thoughts into a visual format that encourages and fosters the process of thinking creatively. 

Mind Mapping Technique

You'll need some large sheets of paper and some colour pens (or you could use mind-mapping software programs). In the centre of your paper, you write down your starting thought, key idea or creative challenge. Now, you have a choice you can either systematically explore sub-ideas or you can just let your mind free flow and use your mind map to keep track of the ideas as they pop into your head. You can do both at different times.

The systematic approach to mind mapping involves creating branches out from your central idea, labelled with sub-ideas that relate to the central idea. So if you were mind mapping on the subject of, say, facials... your central circle would say Facials, then you would branch off with sub-ideas such as Skin types, Cleansing, Massage Techniques, Equipment, Tools, Products, Therapeutic Concept ideas, Facial Approach/Procedure, Marketing etc. This systematic approach can often end up being simply a way of creating a map of your knowledge of a subject -- but just seeing it in this format frees your mind to think creatively, laterally, dynamically on the subject. You start with your central idea on the mind map and you see what comes to mind next and you add that to the map with a branch line from the central idea to the new idea with a circle around the new idea. If that idea sparks other thoughts, you add lines and circles from the new idea to note down the other thoughts too. If you reach a dead end, you may go back to the central idea or to any other sub-idea that has occurred to you.

While Tony Buzan encourages the use of colour pens and little drawings as well as words on the mind map, you'll find which approach works best for you. Mind mapping is an extremely adaptable and useful tool for creative thinking.  

Vertical vs. Lateral Thinking

Lateral thinking is not a substitute for vertical thinking. Both are required – they are complementary: lateral thinking is generative, vertical thinking is selective. For instance, during brainstorming meetings, you encourage lateral thinking during the first session to generate as much creative solutions as possible, and vertical thinking during the second session to select the feasible ideas.

In traditional vertical type of thinking (logic or mathematic), you move forward by sequential steps each of which must be justified.

You select out only what is relevant. You must be right at each stage in order to achieve a correct solution.

In lateral thinking, you may deliberately seek out irrelevant information - you use information not for its own sake but for its effect. You may have to be wrong at some stage in order to achieve an innovative and correct solution.

Reference: Tony Buzan, inventor of Mind Maps  http://www.buzan.com.au/