How to mindmap

Steps to create a mind map:

  1. Take a blank sheet of white paper and lay it in front of you in landscape orientation so that you can work the width of the sheet. Make sure the sheet is large enough to make branches, sub-branches and sub-branches.
  2. Place the subject of the mind map - the central theme - in the middle of the sheet. A simple picture can help with creativity, focus and memorization.
  3. Create branches from the central theme to the main concepts related to it. Tony Buzan's advice is to indicate the concepts with just 1 word. This ensures that you have to actively consider it, which increases the impact. For speed, adding a few more words is sometimes more useful, but keep it short.
  4. From these concepts, make branches to sub-concepts again. Continue in this way until you have captured the most important information in the mind map.
  5. Use color to stimulate your creativity and visually categorize information.
  6. Add simple drawings for creativity and memorability. A picture says more than a thousand. It doesn't have to be pretty.

You do not have to first map out all concepts or first fully work out a concept in depth. Follow the flow of how the relevant information or ideas come along and try to discover the structure in it. You may find out later that a different structure is more convenient. If you work digitally, you can adjust the structure at such a moment. On paper, it can be useful to get a new sheet in case of major changes.