"I wish to work miracles..."

~ Leonardo da Vinci, The Archetype of Human Potential

Are you right-brained? Left-brained? Or whole-brained?

You can probably guess that our pal Leonardo da Vinci maximized his creativity through “whole-brain” thinking.

Michael Gelb, in his genius book, “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci,” breaks down an awesome process called “mind mapping.”

It’s basically all about mirroring nature.

Most of us were taught to capture our ideas in a very linear fashion using some form of an outline (think: Roman numeral “I” followed by “A” then “1” the “2” then “B”…etc, etc.).

Now, that’s fine once you’ve already generated most of your ideas, but it’s far from ideal when you’re trying to get the ball rolling in the initial problem solving/idea-generating phase!

The ideal?

Imagine a flower. Draw a picture of the sun.

If you’ve studied neuro-science or seen a picture of a brain cell, you know that each cell has a center (neuron) with radiating petals, or rays (dendrites).

This, in its simplest form, is what mind-mapping is all about. According to creativity gurus like Gelb and Tony Buzan, if you’re looking to create ideas or generate creative solutions to problems, you’d be much better served to pay attention to how nature—and your own brain—operates and do your best to mirror that structure in order to maximize your creative potential.

What challenge are you faced with right now? Need to solve a business issue? Plan your vacation (always a good problem to have!)?

Take out a blank piece of paper. Write your question/challenge in the middle. Draw a circle around it. Now, think about ideas related to that challenge. Draw “spokes” out of the center—each with one idea on it and let your ideas flow…

Learn more @ Wiipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map

Plus: Gelb’s How to Think like da Vinci provides a great intro to the subject.

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive source, I’d recommend you go straight to the guy who came up with the concept: Tony Buzan. His book, The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential is brilliant. (check his site at http://www.mind-map.com!)

Mind mapping is awesome! There is a free mind mapping program that runs on Windows, Linux and OS X, called Freemind. You can get it at http://freemind.sourceforge.net

I use it all the time in my work, to take notes while interviewing clients. I find that even though I don’t type very fast, I can easily keep up with them as they talk.

I also use it to organize my thoughts about new projects and to take notes on topics I am researching.

You might also be interested in the wikipedia entry on mind mapping:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map

Best,

Bryce