How To Improve Your Memory by Becoming a Great Mind Mapper

We, as human beings, have been making notes for a very long time. And this unnatural way of thinking has buried itself so deep into our brain, that now we have to force ourselves to unlearn. In other words, you will be inclined to make sentences and long lists in your Mind Map. Bear this in mind, but also persevere. Apply the rules of Mind Mapping until you master them, and you’ll experience a new and enriched way of natural thinking. To help you do this, I have written down some practical advice and guidance. Follow the tips below and you will soon become a master mind mapper.

How to Improve Your Memory With a Mindmap

Tip 1. Be Flexible On Your First Mind Map

Start by making a ‘draft’ Mind Map in pencil, and keep an eraser nearby. This allows you to adjust its branches as your understanding of the subject grows. Then, when you feel your Mind Map is ‘finished’, you make a new (neater) one using colored pens and pencils to optimize its display and clarity.

Tip 2. Stimulate Both Halves of Your Brain

Use a different color for each of the main branches on the mind map. Apart from making them stand out from each other, using colors also stimulates your memory and makes it easier to retrieve the information. Use as many images as possible to stimulate your left and right cortex, and vary the size of images, letters, and lines to emphasize hierarchy. Central words and images should also be bigger, and the central lines should be thicker. You can even use perspective and multiple colors to emphasis important words or images. In fact, it is recommended that central idea should always be displayed as an image. Trigger all of your senses by using words that resemble touch, scent, sight, taste, and sound.

How to Improve Your Memory by Stimulating Both Halves of the Brain

Tip 3. Literally Visualize What You Think

Leave plenty of white space between your images, words, and lines, and make sure your groups and their hierarchy are clearly defined. You should also use symbols like ↑→↗= ≠ + – * to show the meaning of different groups and their relation to each other. You need to create order in your Mind Map.

Tip 4. Stimulate and Trigger Your Ingenuity by Adding Empty Branches and Asking Questions

When you’re stuck, like a writer with ‘writer’s block’, the empty branches can help to reactivate your creative processes. The same applies to asking questions, since by asking questions you might approach the subject from a new and inspired direction. This can lead you to amazing new insights.

Tip 5. Clearly Organize Your Mind Map

Clarity is most important for your Mind Map. This is because a lack of distinction hinders both perception and the memory process. It’s the same with a house; if it’s too messy then you can’t remember where you have left things. A good way to organize your Mind Map, is to give numbers to the branches. Order them in the sequence they should be read. Another way to organize, and this is one of my favorites, is to make a ‘cloud’ around a branch. This is a great way of reminding yourself that the information inside it belongs together. Of course, the ultimate ‘clarity check’ for your Mind Map, is to let somebody else read it and see if they can understand it.

Tip 6. Memorize the Information by Reproducing Your Mind Map

You will ensure the information is stored in your long term memory by re-making your Mind Map at a later date. This is also a good time to adjust your Mind Map and to add any new insights you may have. Tony Buzan recommends doing this more than once, and suggests the following intervals between re-makes, with a study period of one hour each time: 20 minutes, a day, a week, a month, three months, and six months. If you want, you can re-make your mind map with the original in front of you, but it’s better to re-produce it from memory and to subsequently check your mistakes. In this way, you reinforce your memory through active production while at the same time testing your knowledge.

Tip 7. Develop a Personal Style Within the Rules and Stimulate Your Motivation, Self-Assurance, and Memory

By continually improving your Mind Maps (more images, more colors, clearer hierarchy and groups) it will gradually become more fun to make them. Moreover, it offers you the opportunity to express and improve your artistic skills and, since you have to mimic your surroundings, to become more aware of the world you live in. These qualities will further stimulate your creative thinking and memory.

FOR FURTHER READING ABOUT HOW TO BECOME A GREAT MINDMAPPER, I RECOMMEND:

[amazon_link id=”1406647160″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Mind Map Book: Unlock Your Creativity, Boost Your Memory, Change Your Life,[/amazon_link] by Tony Buzan, Barry Buzan and James Harrison
[amazon_link id=”B00CC2OY9C” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]How to Mind Map: The Thinking Tool That Will Change Your Life,(2002)[/amazon_link] by Tony Buzan
[amazon_link id=”B00CVRF1Q8″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Mind Maps at Work: How to Be the Best at Your Job and Still Have Time to Play,[/amazon_link] by Tony Buzan