Mind Mapping For Dummies

Example: Motivation

Assume that you read a text on the subject of motivation and would like to write out the most important content in the form of a Mind Map. I now present a few sentences which I’ve taken from this text as an exercise.

You’ve already read a bit of the text on motivation:

The first section contained a definition of motivation.

The second section is now concerned with the preconditions for motivation.

I’ve presented these two themes in Figure 6-1.

Figure 6-1: Mind Map – motivation.

So you’ve reached the section on the preconditions for motivation which I’ve already indicated with a main branch in Figure 6-2.

You then encounter the following sentence:

‘A precondition for developing motivation is personal interest.’

Now imagine that you have to select just one keyword from this sentence and write it as a sub-branch after your ‘preconditions’ branch.

I expect you’re wondering how to choose the best keyword. Use a process of elimination and first cross out any words that, in your view, add little to the meaning of the sentence.

You’ll probably strike out the following words:

‘Precondition’, since this word is already on the main branch.

‘Motivation’, since that’s the ...