Mind mapping

What is mind mapping? Meaning and definition

Mind mapping means laying out your thinking as a diagram, with one main idea in the middle and related ideas branching out from it. The diagram is called a mind map, also written mindmap, and sometimes called a spider diagram.

Picture a job offer that arrived on Monday. It would mean a move, your partner has questions, and you still have a talk to give next week. Every time you try to think it through, you start on the money, end up on the flat, and lose your place. Put "Take the job?" in the middle of a page and give each of those thoughts its own branch, and you can see the whole thing at once.

A map doesn't have to be tidy or finished, and you can draw one on paper or in an app. Its job is to show you what's there.

When does mind mapping work well?

Mind mapping tends to suit things that have many parts, when you can't yet say how the parts fit together.

• Something complex. The job offer, where the money, the move and the people all pull on each other.
• Something you're starting from nothing. The talk you have to give, before you know what its sections are.
• Something you'd like to see whole. A map shows you what's crowded, what's missing and what keeps coming up.

It suits clear, ordered jobs less well. If you already know what the talk will say, an outline is quicker. Plenty of people prefer to think in sentences, and that works just as well.

Mind map, note or list: how to choose

Here's the same job offer in each form.

The difference is how much you already know. A list asks you to know the items, a note lets you find out what you think by writing it, and a map lets you find out how things connect.

If you're not sure, start with whichever feels easiest. You can move between them, and one problem often passes through all three.

How to do mind mapping

All it takes is a sheet of paper, turned sideways.

1. Write the real question in the middle. "Take the job?" gives you more to work with than "Job".
2. Add a branch for each main part. Three to five is plenty to begin with, in whatever order they come to mind.
3. Let each branch grow. Use a few words per idea, so that you keep moving. If something doesn't belong anywhere, give it a new branch.
4. Stop and look at the whole page. Notice what appears twice, what's connected, and which branch is nearly empty. Move or merge things until it makes sense to you.
5. Mark what comes next. Circle anything you could do or find out, and copy those onto a list. The rest can stay on the map.

A complex decision, from map to tasks

Here's one way the job offer could go, and the choices behind it.

• The middle stays a question. "Take the job?" keeps every branch pointing at the same thing.
• "For" and "Against" come off. They were the first two branches, and they made the map a list in two columns. Before you've looked at the parts, you often can't say which side something belongs on. The rise could be a reason to go, and it could disappear into the rent.
• Four branches stay. The work, the money, the move and leaving.
• The new flat's furniture comes off. It only matters if the answer is yes, so it can wait.
• Two worries become one. "Commute" and "time at home" kept appearing on separate branches, and they turned out to be one question about where you'd live. They now sit together under the move.
• Three items become tasks. "Who would I report to?", "Get the offer in writing" and "Check rents near the office" are things you can find out this week.
• One branch doesn't become anything yet. Leaving isn't something you can look up, so it stays on the map for now.

The map hasn't made the decision. It has shown you what the decision depends on, which parts you can find out, and which part is a matter of how you feel. If you'd like to go on and weigh the options, that's the job of a decision map.

How to use Xale for mind mapping

You can draw a map on paper or in most mapping apps. In Xale, a map also doesn't have to stay a map: any node can become a task, habit, event or project, and the whole map can be linked to the parts of your life it touches. The examples are shown in Xale, with a way to do each one elsewhere underneath it.

Map a complex decision

Try this when you keep going round the same decision, and you'd like to see all of it at once.

1. Start a new Mindmap, and type your question in the middle, such as "Take the job?".
2. Press Tab to add a branch and Enter to add another beside it. Give each part of the decision its own branch.
3. Under each branch, type what's involved in a few words. Drag a piece to another branch when it fits better there.
4. Look at the whole page, and leave it as rough as it is. These pieces don't have to become anything to be useful.

In other apps: Coggle, MindNode or FigJam all work. On paper, turn the sheet sideways and start in the middle.

Make a task from a node

Try this when a node is something you could find out or do this week.

1. In your map, right-click a node you can act on, such as "Check rents near the office", and choose Make task. The node stays on the map, with a link to the task.
2. Right-click the node again, and choose the task's name. Its panel opens over your map. If its title is still a question, reword it to say what you'll do.
3. Choose a Due date that leaves you time before you have to answer.
4. In Deliver to, choose whoever's counting on it. For the rents, that may be your partner, who's moving too.

In other apps: copy your next steps into your task list, and add a date and a name. On paper, circle them.

Make a habit from a node

Try this when a node is something you'd like to keep doing, rather than do once.

1. Right-click the node, such as "Lunch with the old team", and choose Make habit. The form opens with the title filled in.
2. Choose how often, such as once a month.
3. Add the habit. It keeps a link back to this map, so you can see where it came from.
4. Look for it beside your day. It waits there as a suggestion until you place it.

In other apps: add a repeating calendar event or a reminder. On paper, write "monthly" beside the node.

Make an event from a node

Try this when a node has a date and a time of its own.

With Xale Pro:

1. Right-click the node, such as "Visit the new office", and choose Make event. It opens with the title filled in.
2. Set the date and time they've offered you, and save it.
3. Find it on your Events page, under Coming up, and on your Day when the time comes. It keeps a link back to the map.

Without Pro, choose Make task and give it a Due date, or drag Quick block from the tray to that time in Day.

In other apps: add it to Google Calendar or Outlook, and paste a link to your map into the event. On paper, write the time beside the node.

Make a project from a branch

Try this when a whole branch turns out to be a piece of work with several steps.

With Xale Pro:

1. Right-click the branch, such as "The move", and choose Make project.
2. Xale creates the project with the branch's name and takes you to it. It starts with the map's Areas, keeps a link back to the map, and joins the rest on your Projects page.
3. Add the steps you want. The smaller nodes stay on the map, so you can choose which ones are really steps.

Without Pro, right-click the branch, choose Copy outline, and paste it into a List. Each node becomes a row, and you can make tasks from the rows that need them.

In other apps: start a project in Asana or Todoist with the same name, and copy the steps across. On paper, give the branch its own page.

Link a map to Areas and People

Try this when a decision touches more than one part of your life or involves someone else, and you'd like to find it from either place.

1. Open the menu at the top of the map. Link Areas and Link People both link the whole map, rather than one node.
2. In Link Areas, tick each Area it belongs to, such as Work and Family. Each tick saves straight away.
3. In Link People, tick whoever it involves, such as your partner and the recruiter. If someone's missing, choose + New person….
4. On your Mindmaps page, use Area to see only the maps for that part of your life.
5. Open People, and click a name. Their page gathers the mindmaps, notes, tasks and habits linked to them, so the map is there before you next talk.

In other apps: use folders or tags, and add the person's name as a tag. On paper, write the areas and initials at the top of the sheet.

What to do if a map isn't helping

• If the page stays empty, try the question out loud, and write down the first nouns you say. Those can be your branches.
• If it keeps spreading, start a new map with the busiest branch in the middle. A map that won't fit on a page may be two maps.
• If you keep adding and nothing changes, stop adding. Pick the one thing on the page you could find out today.
• If every branch wants a paragraph, a note may suit you better, at least for today.

How to get better at mind mapping

• Practise on something smaller. The talk you have to give is an easier first map than the job offer, because less is riding on it.
• Give the first pass a short limit. Ten minutes keeps you adding ideas instead of arranging them.
• Leave it, then come back. A day later, you may see a missing branch or a connection you couldn't see before.
• Show it to someone. Ask only what they think is missing. Your partner may spot the branch you've been stepping around.
• Notice what you reached for. After a few maps, you may have a better sense of which problems want a map, and which only wanted a list.

Prompts to try with an AI assistant

Paste these into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, and fill in the brackets.

Find the branches you've missed

I'm mapping this question: [question]. My branches so far are [branches]. Don't give me advice or an answer. Ask me up to five questions, one at a time, about parts of this I may not have looked at.

Find what's connected

Here's my mind map as an indented outline: [outline]. Show me where the same concern appears on two branches, and which items are really questions someone could answer. Use my words, and add no new ideas.

Pull out the next steps

Here's my mind map as an indented outline: [outline]. I have until [date] to [what's due]. Pick only the items I could find out or do before then, and word each as a next step that takes under [30 minutes]. Then tell me what you left out and why.

Mind mapping: common questions

What's another word for a mind map? A mindmap is the same thing written as one word, and a spider diagram is another common name. A word web is usually a simpler kind of the same thing.

What's the difference between a mind map and a concept map? A mind map grows out from one centre, like a tree seen from above. A concept map can have several main ideas, with labelled links that say how they relate. It often suits explaining something you already understand, where a mind map suits working something out.

Who came up with mind mapping? Tony Buzan popularised the term from the 1970s, and he used the phrase radiant thinking for the way ideas spread out from a centre.

Do I have to use colours and pictures? No. Some people find they make a map easier to read and remember, and they're part of how the method is often taught. If choosing colours gets in the way of thinking, leave them out.

Does mind mapping help you remember things? It may, for some people and some material. The evidence is limited and mixed. Try it on something you're learning, and see whether it helps you.

Can a mind map be a journal entry? Yes. One word in the middle and whatever grows from it can do the same job as a page of writing, on days when sentences don't come.

Related topics

• Compare with Brain dump: writing everything out with no structure, often a good step before a map.
• Compare with Brainstorming: it's about producing ideas, where a map also shows how they connect.
• Put it to a specific use with a Life map, Goal map, Decision map or Study map.
• Turn a map of a talk into a Presentation outline.
• Group what's on the map with Chunking, and turn a branch into steps with Task decomposition.