Mind Mapping Is An Effective Tool For Creative Thinking

Are you gifted with innovative thinking? If you are you can take advantage of mind mapping because it would suit you perfectly. Mind maps consume skills found in imagination, creativity, flexibility, and organization of ideas. According to many psychological researches, creative thinking has 4 elements which include the use of shapes, colors, unusual elements, and dimensions. Aside from that, creative thinking can also adjust conceptual positions and create response to appealing objects. If you want to promote creative thinking, mind mapping is a very effective tool.

Mind mapping can aid in completing the thinking process. Mind map is considered as an essential tool for mnemonic principles and creative thinking. If you can apply the appropriate techniques and facilitate them correctly, individuals can create lots of innovative ideas; more than a group brainstorming session can generate.

Creative thinking has five stages:

• Mind mapping burst (Quick-Fire) – choose an interesting topic and draw a central image to represent it. You can use a blank paper or any other material that you can write on. The ideas that radiate from your mind should be indicated on the page. Try to generate ideas for twenty minutes. Even if some ideas seem absurd, jot them down because there are times when these ideas serve as the key to breaking bad habits and coming up with new perspectives.

• 1st Reconstruction and Revision – don’t over exercise your brain. You can take a break and then try to integrate the idea you’ve generated. Create another mind map but this time, try to categorize the preliminary ideas. You can build hierarchies and identical ideas should be given attention. Through mind maps, individuals can explore and grow.

• Incubation – when you’re at rest, running, or sleeping, there are times when you experience sudden realizations. In this stage, the thinking process can create probable breakthroughs.

• 2nd Reconstruction and Revision – do another mind map burst because at this stage, you have a fresher perception. Integrate all the ideas and info found in the initial mind maps and try to create final comprehensive mind map.

• Final – after you’ve created a comprehensive map, you can now look for the realization, decision, and solution since this was your original goal.

These are the five stages in the creative thinking process. So you see, mind mapping is really an essential tool in creative thinking. In recent years, mind mapping has become easier as compared to the time it was first introduced. There is now software focused mainly on mind mapping. The software is widely available online.  Computer-based mind mapping is just like the traditional method of mind mapping. It is up to you whether you will make use of the traditional way or the modern way of mind mapping.

You may like to try to experience the 5 stages of creative thinking. You will surely be surprised with the explosion of innovative and creative ideas. For those who don’t have any experience with mind mapping, you can consult the experts online or you can find a local mind mapping expert.

Let mind mapping help you in uncovering your creative thinking so that you can use it in your everyday life. Search the internet now for some mind mapping resources.

Creative Thinking and Mind Mapping

Creative thinking can benefit greatly from mind mapping because it is able to consume all the common skills found in imagination, creativity, flexibility, and organization of ideas. There are some fundamental elements that you need to know if you want to improve your creative thinking. According to psychological research, these elements include using shapes, colors, unusual elements, and dimensions. Aside from that, it also involves the adjustment of the conceptual positions and it also considers the response to emotionally pleasing objects.

According to further studies, mind maps are the best tools in nurturing creative thinking. If you try to apply mind mapping in any of your activities, you will be able to create lots of innovative ideas than what you’ve expected.

In creative thinking, there are different stages. In the first stage, you can start by drawing a central image to represent a general topic. Make sure that the image is drawn at the center of the paper or blank page. Try to focus in the image and take note of the ideas that come into your mind. Welcome all ideas that enter your mind and indicate it on paper. You don’t have to write a lot of text; in fact, it will be a lot better if you use graphics or drawings instead. Take note of all the ideas no matter how absurd they may seem.

After that, you need to take a break so that your brain can also rest. Look at the ideas that you’ve generated. Get another blank paper and create a new mind map. Use the same central image but this time you need to identify the categories and major branches. You need to build up the hierarchies and look for new associations from the preliminary ideas. If you see repetitions of ideas in different branches, disregard them and don’t try to remove them because they might be important later on.

Your mind map will reflect your current thoughts. Study it carefully and you will be able to explore intellectually, making room for growth. When your mind is at rest, for example when you’re sleeping, you must take note of creative realizations. These are sudden bursts of ideas and you should immediately indicate it in your mind map. You need to reconstruct your mind maps and integrate all the ideas into one map.

The goal in creating the mind map is to look for decisions, realizations, or solutions. Examine your mind map again and look for breakthroughs or new insights. Soon you will realize that all the ideas are connected with each other and you will be able to find the answer that you’re looking for through the mind maps.

In creating mind maps, you will go through the different stages. If you find difficulty in one stage, don’t give up and try to continue making the maps. Follow the step above and soon, you will have a mind map of your own. When you’re in the process of creating the maps, you will notice that you’re creative thinking is already at a high level.

Making mind maps is one way of enhancing an individual’s creative thinking. Adults find it hard to use creative thinking because they are more rational thinkers but you shouldn’t be discouraged in exploring this portion of your mind. You will soon realize that it will be the key in solving your problems and in achieving your goals.