Mind Mapping For Dummies

Keywords instead of phrases

Another important aspect that for some people is unfamiliar and new is the so-called keyword rule.

Each branch of a Mind Map contains just one keyword. Yes, that’s right! Mind Mapping tries to to get by with just one keyword per branch. In Mind Mapping, instead of writing ‘good friends’ on a branch you write just ‘friends’. The adjective ‘good’ then appears on a sub-branch attached to the word ‘friends’ (see Figure 3-3).

Perhaps you’re wondering what use this rule is. I’ll show you in the following example.

Figure 3-3: One word per branch!

One word per branch

What occurs to you when you read the two words ‘lilac cow’. If you have a sweet tooth I bet the notions ‘chocolate’ and ‘Milka’ definitely come to mind. But most other people wouldn’t necessarily make these connections with the words ‘lilac cow’.

What associations come to mind if I say just one word, the word ‘cow’? Now your thoughts may fly off in all directions and notions such as ‘milk’, ‘farm’, ‘pasture’, ‘mountains’, ‘meadow’, ‘faithful’, ‘stupid’ and, of course, ‘lilac’ might occur to you.

Take another example of two words: ‘green and black’. Again, chocolate lovers may think of the connection with a certain chocolate brand. If each word was written separately, you open up your creativity ...