Moveable Mind Maps
Walking in nature helps me cultivate a forest of ideas for my creative projects. But all of this raw material needs to be captured into a simple system in order to be useful.
My net for catching, clarifying, and sorting thoughts is called a Moveable Mind Map.
I’d be happy to show you how it works for me. You will find your own way—better than mine!— but maybe this will help you get started.
I like to take a huge sheet of inexpensive drawing paper (18x24 inches) and turn it sideways. Or, as shown here, I used the back inside cover pages of my microseasons sketchbook.
First, I write the central idea, or a question in the middle of the page. Sticky Notes are great for this.
Then I take scraps of paper or index cards and just start writing quickly. Each paper contains a single concept or thought about the central question. No need to connect them now. Just rapidly spill your thoughts onto onto scraps of paper. Sometimes this is called a “Brain Dump.” Continue for as long as you want, until you run out of ideas.
The next part takes some time.
I sort the papers into what I think are piles of ideas that go together. These piles can be added to, and subtracted from, to make them more cohesive. Next I give each pile a name— or category.
I arrange each category name around my central question until they flow nicely. Now I can see my jumble of ideas in a simpler way. It clarifies the project and makes me excited about working on it.
At this point I may also want to clarify or refine my central question.
Next, I add my piles of cards (or scraps of paper) to each category. I like to keep this going for several days adding more cards to the piles whenever I think of another idea that fits.
When ready to store it, I keep a box for this organized by category. I also add some of my hiking photos in here as well.
In time, this has grown into something very personal and useful to me for designing my creative projects.
I know there are apps for making mind maps, but something about this analog method— writing and touching my ideas with my hands— helps me to think. It makes me feel happy, calm, and satisfied.