Mind Map Your Way Down the Aisle
Today’s post is all about a powerful graphical tool called a Mind Map. For those “experimental” readers, think about the strange, interesting or just far out places your mind has gone when say partaking in the consumption of the devil’s lettuce. I’d like to walk you through how you might explore those far out spaces of your mind in a more PG fashion. You’ll learn about how my best friend and I used a mind map to capture her dream wedding in a written and visual form!
Michelle and I have known each other since birth; literally our parents were drinking buddies before we were born. Come to think of it, it’s probably the reason we were both conceived around the same time. Cheers to drunken hookups! (and my conception). We have similar jobs in healthcare, we have the same taste in music (soca, country, indie, the list goes on) and you guessed it, we both got engaged around within 4 months of each other.
She is my maid of honor and I will actually be officiating her wedding – I am both honored and equally terrified. For starters, I was envisioning a blissful day in which I would drink mimosas all day, get a little tipsy, tearfully watch her say I do and then tear it up on the dancefloor with Andrew. Now, with these new duties, I will have to keep calm, stay more sober than I planned to be, and make my mother (and Michelle’s) proud. I will for sure be letting you all know how that goes, (hint: future ridiculous post!) and in the meantime, you can just call me “Father Neuburger.” (Note: as an ordained minister, I am now available for hire; nondenominational ceremonies only – message me for details).
So now that you’re up to speed, where does this mind map thing come in you ask? Well, despite our many similarities, Michelle and I have come to realize that we have very different tastes in wedding themes as well as the general look and feel of what we both envision for that special day. This made my wedding advice to her and hers to me not all that helpful. Since her wedding is happening before mine, I suggested that we use a mind map to think through and get to the bottom of what she wanted. I’ve used mind maps in some of my past project work and have found them to be particularly helpful to illustrate a team’s ideas.
So, what does a mind map look like and how the hell do you create one? It’s relatively simple and easy to do on your own. Mind mapping is an extremely effective tool for getting information in and out of your brain. It is a tool that converts a long list of monotonous information into a colorful, memorable and highly organized diagram that works in line with your brain’s natural way of doing things. See Michelle’s wedding mind map below:
I’m not going to lie, there was a lot of white wine consumed and laughs shared while creating this mind map! Truth be told, we could probably and very well might do a mind map for each one of these topics!
Use it Or Lose It:
To create a mind map:
Think of an idea or topic and write that down in the center of the page, i.e. wedding
Allow yourself some time to explore the topic and related elements
Figure out the sub-themes of your main concept and draw branches to them from the center… this will begin to look something like a spider web
Use very short phrases or single words to illustrate the sub-themes
Add imagery and colors where possible to encourage additional thoughts or to convey the message
Attempt to think of at least 2 main points for each sub-theme you create (Continue branching out from those)
Continue adding to your mind map until you feel that you have explored every area of your topic
When to Use a Mind Map:
You can apply Mind Mapping in business planning or in your personal life. Use a mind map in the any for the following:
Creative thinking exercises
When planning for events
When thinking through complex problems
Organizing your thoughts
Alternative method to note taking (allows you to get all thoughts on a single page)
Discuss:
Who of you has ever used a mind map? Do you like what we came up with for Michelle’s Wedding? Also, any words of advice for a newbie ordained minister are most certainly welcomed.
Peace be with you and keep priming that pump!
Xoxo Bri
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For free mind mapping software click here.