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Maps also shorten
journaling time. What might normally take pages or an hour in linear writing now takes 15 minutes.
Being creative and having fun with this technique is important to experience. Mapping encourages use of colored pencils, pens and use of images in place of words. My drawing skills haven't improved since third grade; yet after a few hundred lopsided airplanes I can now draw them from several angles. But I'm still sticking with stick people.
Ideas also count. Ideas always occur during our writing. We're writing away, an idea pings up and we either need to try and hold it on edge of our mind or record it somewhere quickly before it slips away. Start a Map on a new page, place idea at center of page, then return to finish writing. You will find your mind popping in and out from one to next as you continue writing.
You can also keep a separate Map journal. Every few years, I remember to buy a journal for that purpose. One of my favorite Map journals is, Note Sketch Book by Bienfang. You can order them in many places on Net. Our local Staples store usually carries them in stock. They are different because top portion of each page, about three-quarters, is blank and ready for your Map. While bottom portion has lines for writing.
Of course, Maps and Clusters have many other uses -- like brainstorming (alone or in a group), research, reading, studying, or memorizing. Thus, learning technique is worthy to learn. I use them for just about everything, including three books I'm working now.
Basic Rules for Mind Mapping:
1. Sheet sideways.
2. Pen or computer
3. Select topic, problem or subject and purpose.
4. Start in center of page.
5. Use color to trigger memory. Each separate main branch has a different color and each sub-branches for that main branch stays with that branch's color.
6. Branches closest to center are thicker.
7. Each idea starts a new branch.
8. Use images to express ideas whenever possible.
9. The image or word needs to sit on line and in print.
10.The line needs to be same length as image or word.
(c) Copyright, Catherine Franz. All rights reserved.
Catherine Franz, a MindMapping trainer, has been Mapping since the mid-1980s. She offers two books (pdf or in print) on journaling techniques and tips at: http://www.abundancecenter.com/Store/main.htm.
