Can Mindmapping Help Your Business?

Whether you’re starting a business, or just planning new goals for the new year, it’s sometimes hard to know where to start, especially if you are a visual person.

Many folks recommend mindmapping as the way to get those goals or visions on paper.

Mind mapping is a technique popularized by Tony Buzan in the 1960s. Noticing that the humans respond better to images, keywords and direct associations, he developed many of the mind mapping techniques that we see today. And before Buzan formalized it, thousands had used the techniques including journals  Leonardo da Vinci, and Albert Einstein.

Here’s the basics:

1) Set your topic (what you want to brainstorm/mind map) on the center of the page, such as ‘2009 goals’ ‘Business Idea’ etc

2) Create pitcures or words that are themes that relate to the topic. For example. if your topic is ‘Goals 2009′, you might want “Personal Goals”  and “Professional Goals”

3) Continue breaking down the themes until you’re brain can’t work any more.

Do you use mind mapping?  Frankly, I’m more of a list girl. But am willing to try it if many of you think it has merit. Has it helped you?

For more inspiration, here’s Tony Buzan explaining mind mapping.

Image credit: creativeinspiration, on Flickr