Painters tend to step back from the canvas on a regular basis when creating a painting. Why do they do this? Why do you need to do the same when creating a mind map?
Quite simply, painters do this to gain perspective on their work – to determine if the strokes that they have laid down on the canvas correspond to their vision for what they wanted to create. In the same way you need to take a step back from your mind map for a period of time. Doing so has several benefits:
- Although you may have stepped away from your mind map physically, your subconscious mind continues to work on it. When you return to it you will inevitably have fresh insights and new ideas.
- Whether you return to your mind map 5 hours or 5 days later, you will do so with a different perspective. Your mind will be in a different place than it was when you created your initial draft of it.
Creating your mind map is best approached as an iterative thinking technique. Whenever possible, plan to build up and refine your mind map over several days, rather than trying to “pound it out” in one sitting. I think you’ll find that the mind maps that have had some extra “think time” will generally be of better quality than those that didn’t.
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