In learning to maximise the power of the mind, Tony Buzan has inspired thousands, sharing his secrets in The Mind Map Book
Mind Mapping is both a creative and effective way of thinking; it’s a tool used by top global organisations such as NASA, Walt Disney, Microsoft, Harper Collins, Vodafone and IBM. Created by Tony Buzan, with the help of his brother Barry Buzan in the 1960s, their work, The Mind Map Book, promises to unleash your brain’s real potential by tapping into that very force field that’s locked in our heads, waiting to be opened, explored and nurtured towards putting thoughts into action.
Mind Mapping has been applauded for helping individuals recognise and achieve more than they ever dared think possible. It’s a form of brainstorming, a way of keeping your brain alert to tap into potential talent and thoughts that otherwise lie dormant in the brain. It can be used for work, home, school, or whatever you might be thinking of, such as making decisions, creative thinking, self-analysis, making a presentation, note-taking, study skills, for meetings and management, planning an event, future studies, a design project, or anything aimed at understanding yourself and leading a happier life.
To understand the success behind it is to understand how it works. In the foreward of The Mind Map Book, Baroness Professor Susan Greenfield, director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain highlights how the brain is much more than a logical computer, and that logic and thinking are two different things. She writes: “The physicist Niels Bohr once admonished a student, ‘You’re not thinking, you’re just being logical.’ So I’d like to think that logic is not the criteria by which we evaluate our potential. The brain is actually very different from a logical computer.” (Tony Buzan and Barry Buzan, The Mind Map Book).
Anyone can create their own mind map. When first looking at it you will notice its resemblance to a tree and its many branches, but what it also interestingly resembles is our brain structure of neuron cells and dendrites, branching out from our cells and transmitting our thoughts via chemicals and synapses in the brain that act as message carriers. The use of colour plays an important part in the process as it aids memory. The main objective is to create a natural flow of thoughts from your brain to the paper in front of you, or on your iPad or iPhone, by immediately writing down the thoughts as they come, or the images as you see them. Otherwise obstructing this flow limits the way you see solutions, opportunities or just answers to your plan, which is the first word or central image that you have circled, and from which you will draw out branches each representing a theme as you find yourself simmering with ideas.
I asked Tony what has been the key achievement from creating the mind map: “My achievements have rewarded me in many, many ways, including the great personal satisfaction of seeing so many human beings come alive when they realise the magnificent potential of their own brains.”
Tony added, “Historically, the person who has inspired my thinking more than any other is Leonardo Da Vinci, arguably the greatest genius of the last 1,000 years. Leonardo’s notes inspired me to develop Mind Maps, and his passionate exploration of all areas of knowledge (excelling in them all) is an example I encourage everyone to follow.”
Some of the projects he is currently working on are three new books on thinking and memory, working with Chris Griffiths on a major new development programme for his ThinkBuzan Licensed instructors, preparing for the biggest ever World Memory Championships in Beijing this December, preparing key note speeches for the Poetry for Peace Festival in October, and for the Emirates International Literary Festival in March next year. He is also preparing to work in various ways with the 2012 Olympics in London, planning a major new Global Art initiative with the artist Lorraine Gill, the creation of children’s stories, and continuing to work for Global Mental Literacy and World Peace.
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