Outline vs. Mind Map
Question: What’s wrong with just doing an outline when working on a project?

Answer: The problem with outlines is that you’re trying to organize thoughts before you develop them.

Our brains don’t think that way.

Test this:
Take a piece of paper and write ‘Project’ at the top.

You pick the project – anything that requires thought and planning.

Examples: Trip, remodel, new product or way to distribute, marketing plan, etc.

Do this as you were taught in school; i.e. Roman Numbers, Capital Letters, Numbers, etc. (I, A, 1. a)

The odds are, that when you get somewhere around III c, you realize that item should be II b (or something like that).

Here, as stated above, we don’t think in linear fashion.

The beauty of Mind Mapping is that we map our main topic (project in this case) then radiating from the center, place all the things that need to be included in this project.

Those topics will have sub-topics, and they can start being mapped at this time.

Adding pictures, symbols and colors to the Mind Map will increase the ideas and solutions.

Only after you’ve put down as many topics and sub-topics as you can think of (and there willbe more!), do you go back and review, edit and prioritize your Mind Mapped project.

One of the nice features of most Mind Mapping software is that you can push a button and convert your map into a diagram (if that’s the way you prefer to use it.)

Some even let you export to Word where you can have the Mind Map and the outline.