Top Tips forBetter Mind Maps

By Phil ChambersWorld Mind Mapping Champion

Top Tips forBetter Mind Maps

By Phil ChambersWorld Mind Mapping Champion

Published by:

ECPC Publications

A division of Learning Technologies Ltd

The Forge

New Invention

Bucknell

Shropshire SY7 0BS

United Kingdom

www.learning-tech.co.uk

First Published 2005

© Phil Chambers 2005

Phil Chambers asserts his moral right to be

identified as the author of this work.

Mind Map® is a registered trademark of the

Buzan Group used under licence.

A catalogue record for this book is available

from the British Library

ISBN 1-904906-02-8

Printed and bound by TAWS Printers Ltd,

Telford, Shropshire, United Kingdom

All rights reserved. No part of this

publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form

or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise,

without prior written permission of the

publishers.

About The AuthorPhil Chambers is twice World Mind

Mapping Champion, an InternationalGrand Master of Mind Mapping and theGrandmaster Trainer in Speed Reading

for the Tony Buzan Group. Phil is amember of MENSA (the High IQ Society)

and has been a Buzan Licensed Instructorsince 1995.

Phil is also President of the Guild of Mind

Sports Arbiters (GOMSA), seniorarbiter for the World Mind Mapping

Championship and Chief Arbiter of theWorld Memory Sports Council. He was a

founder member of the Mind SportsCouncil and is the only person to win the

Brain Trust's ‘Special Services to Memory’ award twice. Other awards

include ‘Warrior of the Mind’, ‘Officer’sCross – The Companionate of the White

Swan’ and ‘World Memory MastersClub - China’ medal.

Prior to entering the training profession,Phil worked as a computer programmerfor a major high-street Bank and has aBSc in Physics and Chemistry from theUniversity of Durham. Drawing on thisscientific background, he is one of thefew people to successfully apply Mind

Mapping to mathematics.

His Mind Maps have been publishedin Tony Buzan's GCSE Revision and

Literature Guides, "Use Your Head","Mind Maps for Business", "The MindMap Book" and "Mind Map Mastery".

Philip ChambersAuthor

Acknowledgements

Tony Buzan - For originating Mind MappingElaine Colliar - For friendly rivalryAnne Jones - For proofreading and supportLex McKee - For the Mind Maps I cribbedVanda North - For teaching me

Tony Buzan Elaine Colliar

Lex Mckee Vanda NorthAnne Jones

This book is a distillation of the knowledge and skills that I havegained in over fifteen years of Mind Mapping, ten of which were as an

instructor teaching the technique. During this time I have had the privilegeof working with and competing against some of the best Mind Mappers in

the World. Gradually my style has developed to include some of thebest ideas of a range of highly skilled individuals. This culminated in my

Gold medal at the 2000 World Championships and winning again in 2004.

My hope is that this book will help you to improve the quality andeffectiveness of your own Mind Maps much more rapidly than I managed

to through my experiences. Many of the insights that I give are not found inany other book on the subject, making this a unique resource.

The book is organised into a number of sections, each covering a particular

aspect of the Mind Mapping process or a specific application. Do not feel thatyou have to read it cover to cover. Dip in for a couple of tips to apply each time

you create a Mind Map.

Best of luck and I hope to see you at a future World Mind Mapping Championship.

Introduction

BEFORE YOU START - GATHER MATERIALS

Invest in a good set of pens – Whilst you can get by usinga 4-colour ballpoint pen, you will produce much moreaesthetically pleasing Mind Maps with quality pens. Ilike to use Stabilo Point 88 fine fibre tips. These come inpacks of 10 or 20 colours.

Get some good quality A3 paper, at east 90gsm weight.Either buy a cartridge paper sketchpad or, as I prefer,bright white surfaced colour laser copier paper. (4CC orNeusiedler are good brands). A ream will last you ages!

Be careful with ultra-smooth paper to avoid smudging –use a separate sheet of cheap absorbent paper to coverrecently dawn branches and to rest on.

Experiment with textured paper, especially if youintend to use coloured pencils.

Store your Mind Maps in a ring binder. You can buy anA3 binder but this can be a bit unwieldy. Alternatively,fold each Mind Maps nearly in half so that it becomesalmost A4 but with a margin of a couple of centimetressticking out. You can then hole punch it, clip it in astandard A4 ring binder and unfold it to read.

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PREPARING MENTALLY

6Get into the right state of mind before you do a MindMap. Known as the zone’ by athletes, the best state forlearning, and creativity is relaxed but alert. This is whenalpha and theta brainwaves dominate your thoughtpatterns. You can achieve this state by listening torelaxing music with a frequency of 1Hz (i.e. one beat persecond). The mind synchronises with the music to ‘takeyou down’ into a more relaxed frame of mind. Trycomposers such as Bach, Corelli, Handel, Telemann &Vivaldi. If you dislike straight classical music certaintracks by Enya and Jacques Loussier have the sameeffect. Lex McKee is a composer working on the effect ofmusic on mental states. (See www.lexstudios.com)

7Anchor resourceful states – Anchoring is a techniqueused in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). This is away of accessing the best state of mind very rapidly.Simply perform a physical movement (such as touchingyour earlobe) whenever you are in a relaxed state. Aftera while the brain will associate (or anchor) themovement with the state. To return to that state justrepeat the movement.

8Generate ideas with a brain storm (also known as a brainbloom’). Write the title in the centre of the paper, andwrite a word or phrase on each. Do not judge the qualityof these – All thoughts are equally valid. If you do this ina group ask each person to do the exercise individuallybefore collecting in responses. This gives a much widerrange of ideas.draw lots of lines radiating out

9Cluster the ideas – By this I mean come up withcategories into which you can group similar or relatedideas. Try to come up with no more than 9 categories orclusters. These can become the main branches on yourMind Map.

10Highlight key words before you start your Mind Map ifyou are making notes from a text. Key words are usuallynouns and account for about 10% of the words in astandard piece of prose. These act as triggers to bring themeaning back to mind so you shouldn’t worry if you thinkthat these are insufficient to convey the meaning.

11Allow a gestation period for ideas to mature in yoursubconscious if you are problem-solving with a MindMap. Use a Mind Map to gather and organise the facts,define the problem and, if possible, the ideal outcome.Then switch off: have a bath, go for a long walk, sleep onit. The subconscious will be working on the problem thewhole time and will alert the conscious mind when it hasa solution. An idea will ‘pop into your head’!

12Keep a scrapbook of ideas, inspirational quotes, articlesand anything else that may be useful later. This allowsyou to capture thoughts when they happen but when you

don’t have time to follow up or develop them. Whenyou need inspiration you can go to your scrapbookand pick up one of these stored ideas.

13THE CENTRAL IMAGE

Make sure you orientate your paper and scape wayround (i.e. long edge at the top) – This gives you 'respace to spread out horizontally. It’s much easier toread horizontal text than vertical.

14Size your central image appropriately. It needs to bebig enough to stand out and be the largest image onthe page, but small enough to allow plenty of roomto develop your ideas. As roughguide, if you’re using A3 paper make The centralimage between 6 and 10 centimetres square. On A4paper, about 4 centimetres square.

15Find the middle of the page before you start. A reallygood tip is to move your finger diagonally across thepaper from corner to corner. Do thisfor both diagonals making an imaginary ‘x’ shape.Notice where the diagonals cross – this is yourcentre.

16Remember that you should always try to draw acentral image rather than write a word. Images addvisual variety to your Mind Maps. If each Mind Maphas a word in the middle they become very similar inappearance and can be confused in your memory. Ifyou absolutely have to use a word, make it asvisually interesting as possible by using unusuallettering, colours, patterns, etc.

17Make your image unique – Once again, this aidsclarity of memory.

18Use at least three colours for your central image.This draws attention to it and aids recall andcreativity.

19Leave your image open. Do not draw a frame or boxaround it. The brain sees a box as finalised orfinished, whereas the purpose for the image in thecentre of a Mind Map is to stimulate the growth ofideas from it. The unique outline of the centralimage is yet another example of visual variety.

20Try using photographs as central images. A digitalcamera or Polaroid gives you an instant image. Youcould use royalty free or stock photographsavailable on the internet, in books and on CD-ROM. 

You could even cut out pictures from magazines butmake sure you don’t infringe copyright if you intendto distribute copies of your Mind Map.

21Buy a clip art collection – It’s best to invest in onewith a printed book of images accompanying thedisc. That way you can copy images by hand withouthaving to use the computer to find and print animage.

22Search the internet for sources of images – Googlehas an excellent image search facility. Again, becareful of copyright issues.

23Develop your drawing skills – A great way of doingthis is to copy images whenever you can. It is mucheasier to copy something than try to reproduce theimages in your head. It is a terrible shame that weare taught in schools that copying is in some waycheating. It is in fact a natural and very effective wayof learning. Get ideas by copying images from otherpeople’s Mind Maps or works of art.

24Use a light box to trace the outline of the centralimage. If you don’t have a light box you can lean upagainst a window. If your ‘source image’ is the rightsize this is often easier and more accurate thancopying.

25Learn to draw cartoons – A caricature of the speakermakes an excellent central image for Mind Mappinga speech or presentation. There are many books andcourses available on cartooning. Books include: ‘TheCartoonist’s Bible’ by Terry Simpson, ‘How to DrawCartoons’ by Maddocks and ‘The Cartoonist’sWorkbook’ by Robin Hall. The Cartoon Academyruns an excellent 10 module home studyprogramme. (call 0161 3398388)

26Experiment with different media –fibre, felt orbrush tip pens, watercolour or acrylic paint,colouring pencils, gel ink pens, crayons, pastels – thelist is endless.

27Give your central image as much impact as possible –bright or fluorescent colours, especially yellow, givesthe image a vibrancy that makes it a powerful focalpoint.

28Draw using perspective, shading and shadows tomake images look three-dimensional. This literallymakes the images stand out.

29Have fun with visual puns. Humour is one of the bestways to make things memorable. Even puns thatmake you groan are memorable simply becausethey’re so bad!

30Leave a blank space in the middle of your Mind Mapif you get ‘stuck’ for a central image. The brain isvery good at filling in ‘gaps’. You will find that as youstart drawing branches and filling in details yoursub-conscious will come up with an appropriatecentre.

31Endeavour to limit the number of branches to nineor less if you aim to use the Mind Map as a memoryaid. Research has shown that you can hold 7±2pieces of information in your short term ‘working’memory concurrently. Any more than this and youtend to get overwhelmed with information. TheMind Map will also begin to look overly clutteredwith more main branches. If, on the other hand, youjust want to do a creative brainstorm or brain dump,don’t worry about the number of main branches –you can always simplify and group data togetherlater.

MAIN BRANCHES

32Choose your main branches to reflect the large-scaleideas on your Mind Map (Sometimes called BasicOrdering Ideas or BOI’s). If you can group a numberof ideas under a global heading then that heading

would be the main branch and the individual ideassub-branches off that. If you are Mind Mapping abook, the title would be analogous to the centralimage and the sections or divisions of the bookwould be the main branches.

33Order your branches so that when reading the MindMap the first branch is at the angle of the numbertwo on a clock face and the Mind Map is readclockwise. If your order is anything other than thisconvention, indicate this by numbering yourbranches in sequence. If you’re left handed you mayprefer to start at the 10 o’clock position and workanticlockwise.

34Work according to your preferred processing style: Ifyou are a holistic learner and like to see the bigpicture first, filling in the details later, begin bydrawing all the main branches. If, on the other hand,you are a more sequential learner, draw the firstbranch and develop its sub-branches before movingonto the second. Remember you can always go backand add to a branch if you think of something thatrelates to it.

35Draw your main branches such that they start wideand taper to a point as you move away from thecentre. Starting wide indicates the greaterimportance of the main branches but you always

need a point to branch off from with your connectedideas. The tapering also leads your eye out from thecentre.

36Make your branches organic-looking, curving andtwisting like the branches of a tree. Use flowingcurves. Long elongated ‘double’ curves like a lazy‘s’ shape often look best as main branches. This isanother way of adding visual variety leading to theuniqueness of each Mind Map.

37Ensure that each main branch is a different colour.Sub-branches, however, should be the same colouras the branch that they connect to. This has a two-fold benefit. Firstly, it helps to ‘chunk’ or tietogether each set of branches into a coherent unit.Secondly it allows you to highlight important pointsby using a different colour to the one predominatingon that particular set of branches.

38Connect your main branches directly to the centralimage. Do not leave a gap around the centre - Thiswastes space and disrupts the connected flow ofideas.

39Write the text on your main branches in large, boldcapitals. As you move outwards from the centre youmove down the hierarchy of ideas. Reduce the textsize accordingly. Big letters near the middle -smaller nearer the edge.

40Experiment with different patterns filling your mainbranches: Checks, stripes, spots, waves, chevrons –Be creative. You can even use a pattern in the branchthat relates to the word placed on it. For example ona Christmas card I used a wishbone pattern for the‘WISHES” branch and a collage of Brussels sproutson the FOOD’ branch.

41Make your branches look three- dimensional. Youcan use spirals (like the horn of an oryx, narwhal orunicorn); make your branch look like a pipe, or aflowing pennant, ribbon or banner.

42Try to make the branch length equal to the imageor word that is placed on it. It can be tricky toestimate the correct length of branch, especially onthe left hand side of a Mind Map where you can’textend a branch to accommodate a longer word. Asyou become more experienced you will get betterat judging the optimal length of branches.

43Try varying your lines to reflect the meaning of theword placed on them. For example a ‘wavy’ line forwater, a jagged line for breaks, etc.

44Connect lines to the end of lines – this gives a muchclearer and more logical structure than joining partway along a line. Connected lines reflect connectedconcepts.

LINES

45Remember that each line should only have a singleword or image on it. Phrases destroy the structureof a Mind Map. The single key words that you useare only meant to act as triggers to recall conceptsand information. Breaking up a phrase into itsconstituent words allows each to be expandedupon. If the purpose of your Mind Map is forcreative thought then single words will stimulatemany more ideas.

46Use curved lines as these make much better use ofspace. By curving a line towards the horizontal thetext placed on it becomes much easier to read. If youlook at the branches of a tree, a structure that hasevolved over millions of years to make the best useof space (allowing each leaf to receive the mostlight), you will never see a totally straight branch ortwig.

47Avoid overly ‘wiggly’ lines. For second levelbranches and above, single pen strokes forming asimple arching curve will make your Mind Mapmuch clearer and easy to read.

48Mix convex and concave curves. If all your linescurve the same way (for example they are all ‘u’shaped) then they will tend to spiral into the centreof the Mind Map. Use ‘u’ and ‘n’ shaped curves inpairs to ensure that you are always radiatingoutwards and making the best use of space.

49 Leave sufficient space between sets of branches –This is what five times World Mind MappingChampion, Elaine Colliar calls the ‘Feng Shui ofMind Mapping’. Tony Buzan says, “Taken to itslogical conclusion, the space between items can beas important as the items themselves”.

50 Add some empty branches if you find yourselfstuck’. The brain will naturally try to fill gaps andyou will come up with as many ideas as there areempty branches.

51 Enclose the branches of a ‘finished’ Mind Map withan outline that closely hugs the shape of eachbranch. This unique shape ‘chunks’ the informationtogether making it easier to recall. However, itdoes tend to restrict the further growth of the MindMap and has largely ‘gone out of fashion’ amongstthe World’s top Mind Mappers. The use of apredominating colour for each set of branches as achunking devise tends to be favoured.

52WORDS

Print the words that you write on a Mind Map.Printed lettering is much easier to read thancursive ‘joined up’ handwriting. The brain caninstantly recognise and ‘photograph’ the clearlyprinted lettering on a Mind Map.

53Use words that evoke your senses. Descriptions ofsmells, tastes and touch add more scope forconnections. Memory is an associative process, sothe more connections, the easier something is torecall.

54Experiment with different styles of lettering:‘Times’ font with serifs is a good strong style formain branches, helping them to stand out.However, lettering style should not be such thatit reduces clarity or makes it hard to read thewords. You could take a course in calligraphy!

55Try making the style of words reflect theirmeaning. For example, you could use shakywriting for the word fear’. Accelerated learningexpert, Lex McKee often writes the word Review’ inmirror writing to emphasise that it is looking backat something.

56Combine words and images. For example the ‘oo’ inthe word ‘look’ could be a pair of eyes or the ‘O’ inthe word ‘world’ could be a globe. You can also useother symbols in words like ‘MON¤¥’ or ‘$AL¤$’.Play with rebuses (puzzles in which words arerepresented by combinations of pictures andindividual letters).

57Write direct quotes in speech bubbles connected toa branch. You should try to avoid too many phrasesbut sometimes they are unavoidable, for example,when studying English Literature. This is amodification to the laws of Mind Mapping to getround the problem of phrases.

58Size your lettering appropriately for its level in thehierarchy of a Mind Map. Main branches havelarger lettering than second level branches and soon, decreasing as you move out from the centre.

DirectQuotes

59Link related ideas in different parts of your MindMap using simple symbols, like stars, triangles,squares or circles. Simply put the star (or whatever)next to each occurrence of the idea or word. Thishas the benefit that you can show links on oppositesides of the Mind Map without having to draw longarrows.

CODES

60Develop a system of colour codes: This can be usedin many different ways. For example, on a decisionmaking Mind Map – everything that indicates onealternative could be in green, everything that indicatesthe other in red and information relating to both in blue.In Mind Mapped meeting minutes – each attendee couldhave their action points a different colour.

61Use a highlighter pen to indicate tasks that havebeen completed on a to-do Mind Map. As soon asomething has been completed just go over therelevant branch with the highlighter. This gives avery clear picture of progress and remaining work.

62Invent your own vocabulary of code symbols thatyou can quickly draw – For example an ‘i’ in a circleis much quicker for me to draw than write theword ‘information’. An ‘L’ plate represents‘learning’, a simple drawing of an elephantrepresents memory’ and a telephone representscalls that I need to make.

63Copy the icons used in computer programmes forthe various functions. They are usually quitesimple to draw and can form a good starting pointin building up a vocabulary of codes.

64Find any symbol fonts on your computer. ZapfDingbats, Wingdings and Webdings are fairlycommon ones and are a fantastic source ofpotential codes.

65Look through the Highway Code for inspiration.Road signs are excellent examples of relativelysimple pictures that sum up information quicklyand elegantly. You can of course invent your ownmeaning for the signs. I use the ‘road works’ sign torepresent work or tasks that are assigned in ameeting. A really good symbol is the circle with adiagonal line though it (as used in no smokingsigns). Use this in a Mind Map to represent thingsthat are not true or not allowed. This saves writingthe word ‘not’ that could easily be missed as akeyword.

66Be creative with your codes and make use of sillypuns. In Mathematics, an empty cage represents apolygon (i.e.missing parrot!). In Linguistics,subordinate clauses are represented by traineeSantas.

67Keep personal information secret by using ordevising a code. Lex McKee substitutes Englishletters with their Greek equivalents. Leonardo daVinci famously used mirror writing to keep hisnotebooks secret. You could even use Morse codeor a visual representation of Braille but it may bea little time consuming drawing all the dots ordashes.

68Link repeated words, related ideas, synonyms andeven antonyms in some cases by drawing an arrowbetween them.

ARROWS

69Take care that arrows don’t restrict thedevelopment of other branches. You can avoid thiseither by adding the arrows as the last thing you doon your Mind Map or make sure that they go out tonear the edge of the paper. (Or use a code instead –see above)

70If you have a long quote that is relevant to a linkbetween ideas, you can write it along the line of anarrow.

71Use an upward spiral with an arrow on the end of itas a representation of continuous improvement (orKaizen). Likewise, a spiral pointing down with anarrow at the end can represent continuous decline.

APPLICATIONS & PRACTICE

72Practice Mind Mapping Lectures in a low risksituation. A good example of this is the televisionnews. News programmes are structured like anideal lecture as they start with the headlines (yourmain branches) and then move on to reports anddetails about each story (your sub-branches).Finally, they give you the headlines again (a usefulfirst review). Of course, if you miss something offyour Mind Map it’s not a problem, unlike a missingpart of an important college lecture.

73Try Mind Mapping a phone call. Before making thecall, draw a central image, main branches andpossibly some sub-branches if there are specificthings that you want to raise. These can then easilybe added to during your conversation. A typical setof branches could include: a record of generalpoints; actions to be followed up after the call byeach person; good ideas; issues to flag up.

74Mind Mapping a textbook or lengthy report can bemade easy if you work with the way it isconstructed. The central image can be arepresentation of the title that could be inspired bythe cover design or, if you prefer, an idiosyncraticimage of your choosing.

75Looking at the table of contents: Is the book dividedinto sections or chapters? If there are more thanfour sections but less than seven, these can be yourmain branches. More than seven: Can you groupsimilar topics together? Less than four: Can yousplit up the material? Look at the next level oforganisation in the table of contents. If there aresub-divisions these divisions can form your secondlevel ‘sub-branches’.

76Tear up a large number of strips of scrap paper thatwill act as bookmarks. Then go through the booklooking at each page. You shouldn’t be reading atthis point but looking for bold headings,summaries, tables, graphs, diagrams, etc. Place abookmark for anything that looks like it contains alot of information or is important. Once you’vegone through the whole book (this shouldn’t takemore than about 15 minutes depending on the sizeof the book) look back at the page where you puteach bookmark and add the relevant informationto your Mind Map.

77You now have a good overview of the book and candecide if you need to read it in detail. Often you willfind that only certain sections are required. Start byreading the beginnings and ends of paragraphs –This is where the most information is contained –Add key words to your Mind Map.

78A really good tip to get through a large number ofbooks in a short time is to do this with a group offriends. Each person choose a book and go throughthe process of Mind Mapping it. Then photocopyeveryone’s Mind Maps so that you each have a copy.Each person in turn explain his or her Mind Map tothe group. Colour in the photocopies and add yourown images and notes to personalise them.

79Plan the structure of any writing that you do from abusiness letter to a report or even a book. Justfollow the process for extracting information inreverse: use a Mind Map to brain dump everythingthat you want to include. At this stage don’t worryabout order or structure. Then decide on the mainthemes and create a new Mind Map with these asyour main branches. Add the information fromthe brain dump to these, this time deciding wherethe information fits best. You may choose to edit orreject certain ideas at this stage. Finally use yourMind Map as an outline for writing whatever it isyou need.

80Plan a presentation with a Mind Map. Start in thesame way as you would when planning writtenwork by brainstorming or brain dumping.

81Cluster related ideas (see tip number 9). Edit, selectand reject the ideas that you have generated andresearch areas that need more detail. Collateeverything on a Mind Map using your clustercategories as the main branches.

82Draw a storyboard to sequence the material (aseries with boxes with a small picture in eachrepresenting the elements of the presentation). Youcan decide on the level of detail, and hence thenumber of boxes, depending on how confident youare about the material and your audience.

83Create a final Mind Map of the presentation with allthe elements in order. This single page acts as yournotes when delivering your presentation. You caneasily glance down at your Mind Map if you loseyour train of thought but are free to engage with theaudience without having to read a script or cuecards.

84Prepare any visual aids or props that you will need.If you are using presentation software such asPowerPoint, avoid falling into the trap of producinga lot of bullet points that you just read off thescreen. Remember the purpose is to illustrate yourpresentation and help convey particular points.Include lots of pictures, diagrams and animations.

85If you want to present without notes you can use amemory system to remember the key points (see ‘AMind to do Business’ by Phil Chambers and ElaineColliar – full details in the further reading section atthe back of this book).

86If you are delivering a seminar away from yourworkplace, for example in a hotel, make a MindMap of all the equipment and materials that youneed. Highlight each item on the Mind Map as youpack your bags or load your car. This is much moreeffective than writing a linear list. The MindMapping process will generate more thoughts andhence a more complete and detailed list, therebyensuring that you don’t forget any vital piece of kit.

87Create a monthly to-do ‘list’. Start with a centralimage that represents the month that you’replanning. For example, a snowflake for January, aheart for February, a March hare, a jester (or fool)for April, a May pole, etc. Add a main branch foreach project that you’re working on and perhapsone for important correspondence and telephonecalls.

88Add arrows to show links and dependencies (i.e.some things have to be done before other thingscan happen).

89When a task is completed highlight or cross it off.The benefit of a Mind Map is that you can see at aglance what needs to be done and how this relatesto the big picture.

90Add new tasks as they arise during the course ofthe month. If you find that your Mind Map is toocomplex, create weekly and even daily Mind Mapplans.

REVIEWING

91Review a Mind Map by looking at each word orimage in sequence. That is, from the two o’clockposition, reading outwards and then clockwise. Foreach word or image recall what it means. Askyourself, what was the thought you were recordingby choosing that word or image.

92Pin or ‘blu tack’ Mind Maps to the walls of youbedroom or office – Wherever you will see themregularly. This is especially important for examrevision and goals Mind Maps. You can review theMind Maps in idle moments (for example if yourcall is held in a queue on the phone). You canreview an entire, highly detailed Mind Map in 90seconds.

93Make sure that you review your Mind Map 10minutes after first creating it. Psychologicalresearch has shown that we forget 80% or thedetail of anything we pay attention to (readinga book, watching a presentation, even creating aMind Map) within 24 hours. So if you leave it a daybefore reviewing, you are having to re-learn mostof the information and will struggle to re-create allthe associations. By doing the first review whilethe memory is still fresh, you reinforce the mentalconnections and the memory takes longer todecay.

94Review at the following intervals after the initial10 minute review: one day, one week, one monthand three months. After these five reviews the Mind Map will be in your long term memory. Youwill be able to access the information wheneveryou need to. In fact, you should be able to picturethe Mind Map in your mind’s eye and ‘read off’ thedata.

95On the bottom corner of each Mind Map write thecode “10-D-W-M-3M” this stands for the fivereviews: 10 minutes, Day, Week, Month, 3 Months.Each time you do a review cross off one of the codeletters. This gives a really good visual record ofhaving completed the reviews.

10 Minutes

1 Day

1 Week

1 Mon

th3 M

onth

s

FIVEREVIEWS

96Write a creation date, a title and a number oneach Mind Map. (for example if you’re studyingphysics you could have: “25th February, Laserscourse, Mind Map number 3”) This will help you tokeep track of your Mind Maps much more easily.

97Buy a pocket diary or set up reminders on yourcomputer to schedule the reviews once you havefinished a Mind Map, dated, numbered andnamed it. Write the details in your dairy one dayahead, one week ahead, etc. for the five reviews.Each day look in the diary and review the relevantMind Maps.

98An alternative to using a diary is to buy a ringbinder with dividers labelled January toDecember and 1 to 31. Say you created a Mind Mapon 5th February and did your 10 minute review.Fold, punch and clip it in (as described in tip 5) butput it in the section labelled 6 (because yoursecond review is due on 6th). On 6th open yourring binder at the relevant section, review theMind Map you find there and unclip it, moving itto the section labelled 12 (one week later). On12th February do your third review and move theMind Map to the March section. On the first ofeach month take all the Mind Maps out of that

month’s section and arrange them in the numberssection according to their dates. So our exampleMind Map is clipped into section 5. On the 5thMarch do your fourth review and move the MindMap to May. So your final review is on May 5th,after which you can move the Mind Map to abinder labelled by subject in case you ever need torefer back to it. This process requires discipline todo it every day. The big advantage is that the MindMaps are right there when you open the file. Youdon’t have to search through multiple binders tofind them.

99Take regular breaks to keep your recall high. Weremember most from the beginning and end ofany learning or working period. If you have threehour meetings without a break, as so manycompanies do, you will come out having almostcompletely forgotten what was discussed in themiddle hour. If instead you work for no more than45 minutes in one go you will remember more andbe much more productive.

THE IDEAL STUDY HOUR

100Structure your time to include breaks andreviews using the Ideal Study Hour. Thediagram on the following page shows an hourblock of time with various tasks scheduledwithin it. Notice we have three 5 minute breaks– at the beginning, after 25 minutes and after 45minutes with suggested activities in each. In thefirst 20 minute block we spend our timestudying by creating a Mind Map. The block of15 minutes is used to review our Mind Maps ofone day, one week and one month ago. Then inthe final 10 minutes of the hour go back andreview and add to the studying done in the 20minute block.

JUST DO IT!

This is the most important tip in thisbook. You learn best by trying the

technique and making somemistakes. Maybe even compete in the

World Mind Mapping Championships!I look forward to meeting you.

Further ReadingThe Mind Map Book – Tony Buzan with Barry Buzan

ISBN: 978-1406647167

Mind Map Mastery – Tony BuzanISBN: 978-1786781413

Use Your Head – Tony Buzan

ISBN: 978-1406644272

Mind Maps for Business – Tony Buzan with ChrisGriffiths

ISBN: 978-0273784357

Mind Maps for Kids – An IntroductionISBN: 978-0007151332

Mind Maps for Kids – Rev Up for Revision

ISBN: 978-0007177028

Get Ahead – Vanda North with Tony BuzanISBN: 978-1874374008Recommended

Recommended Websites

Additional Training

www.learning-tech.co.ukwww.tonybuzan.con

Mind Sports

www.msoworld.comwww.gomsa.globalwww.worldmemorychampionships.com

Also by the AuthorThe Student Survival Guide

ISBN 1-904906-01-X(Written with Elaine Colliar)

Aimed at students of all ages, this book will show you the secrets of how topass GCSEs, A-Levels and University courses with excellent grades but without

spending more time studying. Imagine that, pass with straight A’s and STILLhave a social life!

Fourteen students from four South London schools approached us with a

single burning ambition: “Show us what we need to get A’sin our A-levels and we will do it” - and they did!

Despite three having dyslexia and one having cerebral palsy, ALL passed their

exams with flying colours - An amazing 42 ‘A’ grades between them. Evenmore fantastic, one young lady decided to study for A-level Spanish with only

six months to go before the exams “Because learning was now so easy - Iwanted a new challenge”

See how you too can achieve similar success.

A Mind to do BusinessISBN 1-904906-00-1

(Written with Elaine Colliar)

The face of business is changing so rapidly that life-long learning has becomeessential. Our new portfolio careers bring the addi-

tional stress of having to continually update our skill-sets to keep our futureemployment prospects high. The necessity of juggling a

full-time job and training requirements with family and home life can pushsome of us to breaking point.

This book gives you the necessary tools to take control of the information that

bom- bards you on a daily basis; To manage yourtime; To remember, think and learn more effectively.

Presented in a highly visual and yet struc- tured format with numerous

business examples, it allows the reader to quicklygrasp and begin to apply the techniques.

Training ServicesPhil Chambers is available to run seminars in

the following techniques...

Mind MappingMemory

Speed ReadingCreativity

Time ManagementAccelerated Learning

INSET Training for TeachersWork with groups of students

Public Open Courses

For further information call:Phil Chambers on 07000 853276

phil@learning-tech.co.uk or visit

www.learning-tech.co.uk