Mind mapping is something I do on a daily basis and it is the start point for virtually everything I produce from articles to entire websites to corporate training programs to business plans. A mindmap begins as a capture device for your thoughts. What it looks like will be driven by its purpose. Let me illustrate with an example.

If I wanted to write a book I could start capturing my thoughts by writing "Book Topics" in the center of a sheet of paper and then drawing a radial line to each major topic as I think of it. As I write the major topics, ideas may come into my head relating to a specific topic. Thus, I think offline promotion of blogs through business cards is a good idea and I draw the lines from the main idea. Thus the mindmap is hierarchical.

Alternatively, the purpose of the map may be to organize a schedule. So I begin perhaps by writing the actions that I need to take: find a publisher, do research, write the book etc - and with each of these areas there may be sub-tasks.

[Incidentally, one of the great strengths of MindManager Pro is the ability to convert any topic into a task - and then link it to your tasks in Outlook or the built-in project manager. So you move from free-form thinking to action seamlessly. A very powerful way to make sure that your great ideas are acted on!]

So what else is good about mind mapping:

• holistic - you can see the big picture view and then zoom down into the topics but always with a clear idea of how everything fits together. This is particularly important when you are passing on new information to others. Our brains need a way to categorize and sort - the mind map provides an organizing structure.
• images can be included for extra impact - a picture is worth a thousand words and images are much more memorable than bullet points (which may seems kind of ironic as you read this but hopefully this will provide you with a practical example when you watch my video below). MindManager Pro makes it easy to incorporate and resize images
  
• project planning - integrated project planning tools in MindManager 8
  
• GTD - MindManager Pro is the perfect tool for GTD (Getting Things Done, the productivity system)
  
• information organizing - in MindManager Pro your mind map can include hyperlinks to webpages and documents as well as formatted notes
• presenting - forget PowerPoint - present your mind map using the built-in presentation mode of MindManager Pro
• export - as a PDF or image

When you bring all these together, you will find that Mindmanager Pro is a perfect tool to sit at the center of virtually everything that you do.

Below are some examples of mind maps that I have created. There's a comment box below so that you can share your experience with mind maps or give me some feedback on mine.