How about a 'whole brain' thinking tool?

A Mind Map is a diagrammatic representation of ideas and concepts created by drawing lines off main points to subsidiary points, which branch out again to other points, and so on. Short words are used to encapsulate ideas, and illustrations are used wherever possible. Mind Maps help to generate, visualise, structure and classify ideas. Memory guru Tony Buzan, the man behind Mind Mapping, tells DNA how training memory is like training creativity.

Tony Buzan “will do for the brain what Stephen Hawking did for the universe,” The Times of London had said. It might sound a bit exaggerated to the uninitiated, but those familiar with Buzan’s mind mapping would swear by its revolutionary potential in radical thinking, and thereby transforming memory. Why, it has even been called the ‘Swiss Army knife’ for the brain!

According to Buzan, ‘Mind Mapping’ is to the 21st Century what linear note-taking was to the Industrial Age. Linear note-taking primarily uses words, numbers, letters lines and lists. These are dominantly ‘left-brain’ skills. In Mind Mapping, all of these essential skills are used plus the ‘right brain’ skills including colour, image, spatial arrangement, and visual rhythm. Mind Maps combine these left and right skills, producing a synergetic effect that multiplies the brain’s learning and thinking power. “The Mind Map is thus a whole-brain thinking tool, rather than a ‘half-wit’ thinking tool,” he says.

How did you arrive at this innovative technique?
When I was in high-school, my curriculum was expanding and there were more and more notes to make and keep. I was putting in more hours of study and more concentration but my grades were constantly declining. It was that time that I visited the library and asked for books on using the mind better and the librarian directed me to the medical section. “I don’t want to operate on my mind, I want to know how to use it better”, and there were no books on the same. A refrigerator, a microwave, a music player, everything comes with a manual, but the most important organ of our body does not have anything that teaches us to use it. That is when I decided to dedicate my life on writing books which help people train their mind better.

Can you tell us a little more on how Mind Mapping works?
1) One-year-old babies: Babies learn with ‘baby Mind Maps’ in their brains. Every baby identifies the key images/element in his or her environment, and then builds up associations around that. The first internal Mind Map for most babies is ‘Mamma’. She is the central image of the Mind Map. Around this image, the baby will generate the main branches, which will include key ideas such as security, food (and off that main branch food, the sub-branch milk, etc). Off each of these main branches, second and third-level branches will radiate. Babies and very young children understand Mind Maps far more immediately than they do sentences and paragraphs.
2) For 8-10-year-olds: The process is the same as that for the baby, because the Mind Map is the reflection of the way the brain functions at any age.  For them, the Mind Map is particularly useful for gaining a grasp of what will by now be fairly advanced academic subjects, especially for giving a student an overview.
3)  The Mind Map: This is useful for teenagers, for it allows the student to prepare, revise, and answer examination questions with surprising ease, efficiency and success.
4) Adults: Adults use Mind Maps in every situation where better thinking is needed. Its uses include planning, problem solving, creative thinking, organising events, communication, presentations, negotiation, brainstorming, human resource development, developing self-awareness, counselling, project management, and for the sheer fun of it!
5) Senior citizens: Mind Maps are like the ‘fountain of youth’. When we get older, our brains are ‘supposed’ to get worse, with a decline in memory, concentration, creativity and the overall ability to learn. This is not true for a well-trained brain. A well-trained brain will increase all its cognitive abilities with age.
You have said: “The world is historically mentally illiterate.” Please elaborate.

Mental literacy refers to the knowledge of the brain’s physical and mental function, and to the application of this knowledge to all aspects of life. Put in another way, mental literacy refers to having the “correct formulae,” the proper operations manual for the brain.
Historically, we have not known the correct formulas, and have gone down many brain cul-de-sacs and wrong turnings. One example is the use of lined paper for linear verbal note taking as a main method for enhancing learning and memory. Because the brain is based on imagination and association, this method is diametrically opposed to what the brain needs. Being diametrically opposed, it creates many of the learning problems and difficulties that virtually all students experience.

Could you share a few tips on cultivating a mind map?
Whether they know it or not, people are changing their minds every second of their lives. Every thought you have causes a little ‘memory trace’ like a track through the woods or snow.  Each and every one of these thoughts creates a change in the probability that you will think it again.  The more you repeat the thought, the more likely you are to think that thought again. You change your mind by thinking.  All you have to do to change your mind for the better is to think in a positive, pro-active, and constructive way.  Make sure you do.

Tell us about your journey with the Mind Map.
The acceptance of Mind Maps in the world of business and education has accelerated exponentially since I invented them in the 1950s and 60s. In business, from no use at all, virtually every company in the fortune 500 has pockets of Mind Mappers, including many boards.

I have personally be invited to lecture on Mind Maps and their application in business to companies including Microsoft, IBM, Gulf Oil, the BBC, Con Edison, General Electric, Hitachi, the Oppenheimer Group, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Goldman Sachs and Walt Disney, etc.

In addition to businesses, many governments and governmental organisations are incorporating Mind Maps in their tool kits. These include China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, England, Scotland, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Holland, Mexico, Brazil and the USA. India is next. The number of people Mind Mapping globally and the advances in Mind Mapping computer technology have multiplied.

What is the future of the Mind Map?
I foresee the day in the very near future when Mind Mapping will be the new norm for note taking and thinking, and linear note taking will be seen as an historical step in the development of Intelligence. India has a wonderful tradition of developing, rewarding, and applauding intelligence. Your classic literature and philosophical writings attest to this, as does your dominance in certain areas of information technology, development and use.