CHAPTER 2

What Is an Idea Map?

This chapter will cover:

• The definition of idea mapping

• History

• Your current thought organization

• Associative thinking

Definition of Idea Mapping

"A mind map harnesses the full range of cortical skills-word, image, number, logic, rhythm, color, and spatial awareness-in a single, uniquely powerful technique. In doing so, it gives you the freedom to roam the infinite expanse of your brain."

This definition comes from Tony Buzan who is the originator of mind maps and a best-selling author. Tony developed mind mapping in the late 1960s, and it is now estimated that millions of people all over the world create them in order to use their minds more effectively.

Idea mapping has a rich foundation in mind mapping and I am grateful to Tony for giving this to the world. Here is the difference. After 15 years of real-world experience and seeing business people around the world apply this technique to their careers and lives, it was time for the next generation- a hybrid of sorts. Idea mapping is the tool that helps many who struggle with keeping with the laws of mind mapping and who often (sadly) throw out the baby with the bath water. The laws are important to understanding so that you know when it is applicable to use them and when it is not. Thus my front-line experience with skeptical, overworked linearly trained business people has caused me to craft idea maps as the practical, flexible, and more usable version of mind maps. Once the rules and techniques of idea mapping are established and learned, you'll be breaking everyone of them to make these graphical works apply to you in the most effective way possible. You will be the creator of your own rules that work for you!

Now let's look back at the history even further.

History

The History of Mapping

I thought it would be fascinating for you to see some historical examples of early graphical organizers. Since the term mind mapping was not around at that time, they were referred to as tree diagrams.

In one of Ramon Llull's diagrams called the "Tree of Knowledge" (about 1270 AD) the core concept or trunk is clearly the central theme. (You will come to know this as a central image when creating your idea maps.) This theme is fully surrounded by subordinate concepts. (You will come to know these as main branches.) See Figure 2.1.

A second example of Ramon Llull's drawings also shows knowledge arranged in a tree diagram. It is called "Arbre de What Is an Idea Map? filosofia d'amor" ("The Tree of the Philosophy of Love"; 1298 AD). See Figure 2.2.

The graphical display of knowledge or ideas using color, lines, and association to assist human thinking was well known by medieval times. Although mapping may be a new concept to you, I think it is exciting to breathe new life into systems that have been proven over time. For this source and more historical information on graphical languages, go to www.futureknowledge.biz. Scroll down on the home page and click on "frequently asked questions." In the answer to question number one you will find Michael Cahill's (President of Future Knowledge Group, Inc.) white paper on the History and Uses of Graphical Languages.

My Own History

I spent the years from 1985 to 1997 working in various leadership roles for an information technology company. In my last position, where I was introduced to mind mapping, I was a management training specialist in a leadership development organization. It was an organization of top leaders assigned to teach leaders about leadership.

I first learned how to map in 1991 from a coworker. I received my formal certification in mind mapping in 1992 from Vanda North, who was previously the founder and global director of the Buzan Centres and is now the founder and director of The Learning Consortium based out of the UK. She was and continues to be a great friend and mentor. I spent the next 5 years teaching 2-day Mind Matters workshops throughout the United States and Canada for this employer. For many this workshop was the most impactful learning experience of their lives.

Between July 1, 1992, and June 30, 1993, 1,397 U.S. participants attended this course. A survey was sent randomly to 350 of those students with a return rate of 37%. The results were detailed, extensive, and extremely positive. It showed that 85% of the respondents applied tools from this workshop to their business/personal lives. The survey results documented a phenomenal transfer of skill from the class to the real world compared to all of the other corporate offerings. The following year the statistics were equally positive. One of the most profound results stated that 73% of the respondents said that the workshop had made a lasting impact on their business/personal lives. This was followed by three pages of quotes describing the specifics of the workshop's impact.

I witnessed many situations where the use of this tool helped leaders become incredibly successful as a result of their willingness to learn and apply this skill. My passion for this work and the exhilaration of the results continued to grow. In early 1997 this workshop and all other vendorrelated courses were cut in a downsizing effort. I was at a crossroad: Do I stay with this company and do something I wouldn't enjoy? Or, do I leave, start my own company, and follow my passion to teach these skills to others? I left. It was an easy choice, and I've never looked back.

Today I combine my corporate leadership experience, my facilitation and training skills, and this wonderful tool of idea mapping to teach people all over the world.

Your Thought Organization

Let's find out how you currently organize your thoughts by imagining a situation that you have probably already experienced in some fashion. Assume you've been asked to give a presentation to a group of people and you only have 5 minutes to gather your thoughts about a particular topic. This could be the status of a project you are working on, sharing your experience in an area of expertise, updating your team on a meeting you attended, standing in for an absent presenter, or any other topic of your choice. Typically you have

been given a general idea of the topic. Your assignment is to

take a few minutes to choose a topic for a 30-minute presentation,

create the notes that you would take to the podium,

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and organize them in the format and in the way you would

normally do so. Take 5 minutes to create notes for this particular

task before moving on. Once you have completed

your notes, proceed to the next section.

Looking at these notes, again answer the questions from

Chapter 1 where we reviewed your baseline notes. In addition,

answer the following questions:

• How difficult was it to decide on a topic?

• Did you have moments of feeling stuck in generating

your thoughts?

• How did you organize your thoughts? Were they written

in sequential order? In other words, did you ask yourself

"what will I say first?" Or did you generate random

thoughts and organize them later?

• Could you speak from these notes for 30 minutes successfully?

A key issue to focus on within this exercise is your method

of thought organization. In my experience, the majority of

people use a chronological approach to generate ideas that

will eventually be presented in a sequence. They focus all

their effort on what to say first-not writing anything down

until they get past that hurdle. Even when the outcome doesn't

require a sequential outcome we respond similarly. When

the purpose is to come up with the most creative solution or

idea, most people will try to think of the best idea to the exclusion

of any other options. This is normal linear thinking

and creates barriers to our creativity and thought processes.

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Let's examine this more closely by referring again to the

30-minute presentation notes created for the activity in this

chapter. While your brain was focusing on what to say first,

did you notice any other ideas popping into your brain?

Probably. When these other creative ideas came to mind

what did you do? What usually happens is these out of sequence

thoughts don't get captured because people feel compelled

to start at the beginning and work their way through

to the end in a linear process. This is similar to the trap

people can fall into when reading a book. Many feel they

must read from page one and go all the way to the end-even

if they find they don't like the book shortly after starting-

even if data is only needed from a few chapters. (In this book,

please give yourself permission to read in any order and in

any quantity that is best for your purpose.)

By the time you reach the point in your notes where the

other ideas (the ones you had before you were ready to have

them) would have been beneficial, they're gone-forgotten!

These ideas could have shaped the initial part of your presentation

and made creating what you would say first much

easier. Instead we spent more time getting inferior results.

This is one of the problems with using a chronological or linear

approach.

Associative Thinking

Let's look at two ways the brain creates associations. The first

method is called a bloom of associations (BrainBloom_process

developed by Vanda North). This is a process in which all

ideas are generated from and associated to a central thought.

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All associations radiate from a central idea. The second

method is called a flow of associations. In this case, the association

begins with a single thought that leads to another

thought, which leads to another thought. It's like a long

stream of consciouness.

The creation of an idea map combines the bloom and

flow of associations. Following are three activities that will

demonstrate the bloom, the flow, and the bloom plus flow of

associations.

Activity #1-Bloom of Ideas

Idea mapping uses the logic of association in creating its

structure. It also combines this with chronology, but that

comes after the ideas have been generated. Let's do an activity

that will better demonstrate what is meant by the logic of

association.

Take a sheet of blank paper and write a word in the center

of the page. You can use any single word or use my example

in Figure 2.3. Off of this word, draw 10 blank lines.

On the lines, write the first 10 single words that come to

mind when you think of the word in the middle. This process

represents a bloom of thought. These 10 words associate to the

central word.

Activity #2-Flow of Ideas

Next we'll do something a bit different. Again start with a

single word of your choosing or use mine in Figure 2.4.

Draw a line from your word, another branch from that one,

and so forth, until you have 10.

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Beginning with the first line off of computer, write the

first word that comes to mind when you think of the word

computer. On the next line write the first word that comes to

mind when you think of the word you just wrote down. Follow

this pattern until you've completed 10 words. This represents

a flow of thought. Each word associates to the previous word.

So far we've differentiated between blooming and flowing.

Here's the next critical lesson. It applies to capturing

ideas as your brain creates thoughts.

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Figure 2.4 Flow of Ideas

Figure 2.3 Bloom of Ideas

Lesson Two-

Where your brain goes, you will follow.

Let's look at the two activities just completed. In the bloom

example, I imagine it was hard to stay completely focused on

the central word as your primary source of association. It's

natural to start a flow of associations at times because the

brain just can't help it! It is associative in its design. In the flow

example, there were probably several choices of associations

each time you wrote down a word. In this case our brains

were blooming at each point, and we simply selected the

word that stood out the most for whatever reason.

Activity #3-Bloom Plus Flow of Ideas

So let's do one last activity that combines both the bloom and

the flow of associations. Go back to your bloom activity. In

my example I used the word WORK. I made 10 associations

as you can see in Figure 2.5. Even if we used the same central

word, I doubt we had many associations in common because

our experiences and associations with this word are different.

Lesson Three-

Two individuals' idea maps on an

identical topic will look different.

This time add single-word associations to your original

bloom activity. Look at the central word plus the 10 surrounding

words. When the first word associating to any of

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these 11 words (including the word WORK ) comes to mind,

draw a line connecting to the associating word and write

your new word on that line. See the following example using

the word WORK as the central thought. Words will come to

you randomly. Go where your mind takes you. Let the ideas

come naturally. You will be blooming and flowing at the same

time-a natural reflection of how the brain works! Spend 3

or 4 minutes allowing this process to work. If you have a

question about where a word should go, ask yourself, "To

what branch does my new word connect?" That's where you

draw a new line and then write the word on that line.

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Figure 2.5 Bloom + Flow of Ideas

Let me explain what I did in Figure 2.5. When I did my

initial bloom around the word WORK, the words I thought

of were job, fun, vacation, friends, travel, office, boss, sweat, labor,

and hard. I don't know why those were the first 10 words that

came to mind-they just were. However, I do know what

each word represents. I thought of job because it's a synonym

for work. Fun came to mind because my work is extremely

fun. I also need rest from work, so that made me think of vacation.

I have great friends with whom I work. My office is a

mess. Physical work makes me sweat. Work could also be

called labor, and sometimes work is hard.

Next I asked you to make additions to your original

bloom of ideas. I added more words (in no particular order)

to further define the existing words. I added consultant and

facilitator to describe portions of my job, laugh to expand on

what I consider to be part of fun, a few of the locations where

I travel, and finally I sweat when working in the yard. It's

very important to understand that I broke this process into

two phases to teach you the difference between blooming

and flowing. If I had been creating an idea map, I would not

complete the bloom before allowing myself to add sub-ideas.

I would add ideas as I thought of them-regardless of where

they would be positioned in the map.

Soon you will be using this technique to create and deliver

presentations, keep track of what needs to be done, plan

meetings, develop marketing strategies, dissect a complex

problem, and do many, many more applications.

You have experienced how the brain generates ideas

associatively in the bloom and flow activities. The best strategy

for capturing ideas comes back to Lesson Two-"Where

your brain goes, you will follow." This lesson applies even

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when generating thoughts for an application that will require

chronology in the final draft. An idea map will provide the

structure in which you can organize and sequence ideas despite

their random creation. Generating ideas for a task

where the eventual outcome will require chronology brings

us to another lesson:

Lesson Four-

Just capture ideas. Order comes later.

The associative process is the logic by which an idea map is

created. It is a natural reflection of how the brain works. See

Figure 2.6 for my summary of this chapter in an idea map.

You're now ready to look at the laws of idea mapping, learn

how to read an idea map, and start creating one of your own.

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Figure 2.6 Chapter 2 Summary