Use ‘Mind Mapping’ to Be More Productive

I have always looked for hacks on how to become more productive, and one of the greatest tools I have come across is mind mapping.

Maybe you are familiar with this concept or have never heard of it at all.

Mind mapping is a process of taking that entire mess of tasks and dreams swimming around in your head and capturing it in a great net.

Essentially it is organizing your brainstorming sessions and using them to empower your success.

Once you have the information on your net, you can organize it and get things done.

Test me on this and see how productive your life becomes.

Keep reading to find out how to use mind mapping as a means to become more productive.

Step One:  Brainstorming

Take a sheet of paper and write down everything you need to do.

When I say everything, I mean everything you need or want to do in a day.

What is going on inside of your head?

This includes family items like changing the diaper, doing the dishes, and washing clothes.

Write out everything, no matter how mundane or silly you must do.

Consider the projects you want to accomplish around your house and the relationships you want to build with your family.

Don’t take much time to edit it at this point.

Consider your whole person, including work, social, mental, and spiritual tasks.

Just write them all out.

Who do you want to be?

What do you want life to be like?

For now, you are simply brainstorming.

Don’t worry if you can do all of these things or not.

Simply get them all on paper.

For those more artistic, you can write them all over the paper, don’t worry about a straight line of tasks.

For those who think more linear, maybe a straight line is ok.

Think through your days and weeks.

What are the things that are coming up that you need to do some work on to prepare for those events?

Make the tasks as small as possible.

But again, you are brainstorming.

Keep writing.

Step 2:  Create Themes

All of these tasks will fit into some sort of theme.

Some categories include home, physical, mental, spiritual, social, work, and play.

For now, simply consider all possible themes and write them on another sheet of paper.

You are still brainstorming a bit, so don’t edit too much.

Break down your themes to as small a piece as you can.

For example, you might have a theme that pertains to a specific project instead of work.

This week I have a theme of developing a conflict resolution presentation.

You might break themes into things like maintenance, marriage, or parenting.

In my experience, this step will remind you of some tasks you left off.

Go ahead and put them on your other paper.

Let the two documents feed one another.

Step 3: Bring it all together.

Take out another sheet of paper.

In the center of the paper, consider the main objective theme for your week.

Maybe it is to bring healing to your marriage, or maybe you need to be focused on a work project.

This needs to be something that is critical for your overall success.

Place the other assorted themes randomly on a sheet of paper.

Leave plenty of space around each theme and start plugging in tasks where they fit.

Think through carefully where they go.

Things like meals may fit under physical health if you have a focus this week on getting healthier.

However, for this week, that same meal might be under family because you want to spend time together around the dinner table.

Regardless all of the tasks should be on this paper somewhere.

For those who are more artistically centered, you might choose to color code or draw pictures to illustrate themes or tasks.

Step 4: Make a plan

This can be where mind mapping gets trickier.

If you are like most of us, you are looking at this page and realizing that there is no way that you can do all of these things.

First, consider how many of these things are essential to what is at the center of your paper.

What things must I do if I want that objective to be realized?

Remember that you already said that the week’s objective was that item.

Under each theme, you can also set up a minor objective.

Maybe you have a project at work that is your objective for the week, but you also would like to spend more time with your children.

Put that second objective under your parenting theme and think through those tasks.

Which of those tasks are enabling you to also obtain that objective?

Some of those tasks might be able to be delegated.

You might want to spend more time with a specific child, so delegating the dishes to a different child might help you to accomplish that goal.

Do not be afraid to delegate off of that list.

These things may need to get done but not necessarily by you.

Step 5: Take Action

Once you have your plan, get started on that plan.

This is not the time to simply sit back and enjoy the fruit of your writing on paper or your clever pictures.

You must fulfill the objective in the center of the paper.

The other tasks would be nice, and if you can get them done, you should.

However, don’t get bogged down in the lesser important items for your week.

If needed, you can always make those objectives a central objective for next week.

Get started on tasks that will help you achieve your main objective.

Step 6: Review progress

At the end of the week, review your progress.

Hopefully, you fulfilled your main objective and some of the other objectives.

How did you do?

What got done?

What did you decide simply didn’t matter?

Review and analyze your week.

Use that as a start for creating your mind map for the next week.

Special Note

This process can be used for preparing a speech or other presentations.

In the center, I will put down the main theme.

This is something that I must get across to the audience.

Everything else on the paper supports ideas, concepts, or illustrations.

As the presentation continues, I can pick and choose from those other items to back up the point in the center of the page.

I will keep coming back to that central point.

Mind mapping organizes your brainstorming sessions and can be done as a group or as an individual.

You can be successful and productive daily by focusing on your random thoughts.

In the beginning, it will take much more time than it will later on as you become more practiced, so keep at it until you master the process.

Have you heard of mind mapping before or ever tried it?

What do you find helps you be more productive?

Let us know in the comment section!

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Rich Schaus

Executive Director of Gospel Rescue Mission in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Rich is dedicated to personal growth for himself and hopes to bring others on the adventure with him. Like Gospel Rescue Mission on Facebook to keep up with the latest developments. Follow @grmmuskogee on Twitter to stay inspired to grow.