by Jon Allo
A mind map is a process of writing things down in a way that makes a map of your ideas and thoughts. You can use shapes, symbols, and more to represent different points and ideas. This makes it easy to look at and digest quickly because it makes your main idea the central part of the map.
Change It Up
When problem solving, you want to change a few things. For example, you’ll want a new solution to the problem to be the central idea of your mind map. Ensure that you add resources for solving the problem. For example, money, people, and technology.
Remember that one problem may have more than one solution. By separating out each solution, including all the resources you’ll need, and noting the roadblocks, you’ll be able to choose the right solution for your problem more easily.
Once you notice the main solution that you need to implement, or you’ve identified a couple of solutions that work together, you can make more branches to the details of the solution and how you want to implement it.
Understanding The Bigger Picture
Putting all the information in one spot is going to help you look at the problem through new eyes that understand the big picture more. Using an online cloud-based mind mapping solution can also help you make a cleaner more useful mind map, because you won’t have anything marked out when you look at it.
Mind maps are good for both big-picture thinking and narrowing down things to target. For example, on a solutions mind map, you’re going to end up with steps to the solutions you’ve chosen, and then be able to go right out and start adding tasks to your calendar so you can be successful.
Even if you’re not naturally creative, you can learn to be more creative by developing your creative thinking and problem-solving skills.
Problem Solving is A Process
Problem-solving skills are important both in the workplace and in your private life. Whether you work for yourself or others, you’ll need to be open to solving problems. You’ll want to develop your mental, analytical and creative skills if you want to be a good problem solver because you’ll need to be able to think logically, put things in order, and evaluate whether a solution is right for a problem or not.
When you can identify issues, understand the stakeholders’ points, list all the solutions you can think of, evaluate them, and then select one (and one step further – implement it), then you’re going to be a good problem solver that others seek out. Being creative helps because your mind will be more open to new possibilities and potential.
