How Mind Mapping Improves Your Creativity

By Author: Sam Sander
Total Articles: 60
Comment this article

You've probably heard of mind mapping as a useful technique for capturing complex ideas and thoughts and translating them into words and images. But mind maps can do more than that. Your natural creativity also benefits from the mental process of creating a mind map.

And creativity is not just an important attribute for artists and Kindy teachers. Creativity is truly the mother of invention and gives the ability to brainstorm, explore and develop ideas and think outside the box. Without creativity or intuition, we would never be inspired to try something new. Creativity is the skill we all need to be able to approach a problem from a different angle and address real problems we face.

Some people are naturally more creative than others, but the good news is that creativity can be improved by a few simple mental exercises. The right side of your brain is responsible for your creativity and other qualities such as imagination, risk, artistry and philosophy. The left side of your brain is logical, analytical and organized.

And as the majority of people are actually left brained, creativity is a mental trait ...
... that mostly goes untapped.

But you can develop your creative skills by using specific mental methods of lateral thinking to find solutions, which involve exploring various properties, components and elements to ultimately determine the practical viability of these solutions. Well documented methods include basic brainstorming and of course Mind Mapping.

Lateral thinking involves thinking outside of the conventional and structural method of linear thought and gives us the ability to see problems differently. These methods deliberately use illogical thought processes and wild ideas for generating solutions and new directions. The key to lateral thinking techniques is in treating all ideas as good ideas, regardless of how silly an idea might sound initially. Just let the creative juices flow and see how you go.

Now back to Mind Mapping, it is a simple and effective tool which makes full use of your creativity by activating both sides of the brain. Mind Mapping uses non-linear methods and serves as an elementary tool for creativity, turning the entire technique into an easy and highly effective tool.

The principle of Mind Mapping is to allow free and full flow of thoughts and connections so the procedure itself brings about creativity.
You can learn more about how to do a Mind Map by signing up for this FREE e-training course on Mind Mapping. You'll also find lots of free tips and tools on a range of self-help topics from success to people skills.