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Have you seen Walt Disney's Mindmap?

Wednesday 30th June 2010 | 9 comments

I have spoken about mindmapping before, and I teach it almost every time I present, because I truly believe it is THE most useful thinking, planning, connecting and clarifying tool around.

To recap, this is a mindmap about how to mindmapping, which says it all:

Various people claim to have 'invented' mindmapping, usually fairly recently. There are certainly some giants in this field, such as Tony Buzan. His books and software are most excellent.

But did you know that Walt Disney did a mindmap in 1957? OK, some would quibble and call it more like a concept map, but whatever you call it, it's certainly interesting...

What do you think about the Disney map? What do you think about mindmapping as a tool?

Tags: creativity, mindmapping

Comments

1. Nice cultural reference, Joanna!

   I have an irrational fear of coloured mind maps, so I've never actaully tried one.

   I do, however, use 20, 16 & 12 pitch headers to map out my articles vertically. Does that count? :)

   Posted by Paul Hassing | Thursday 1st July 2010 @ 8:52am

2. Thanks Paul, very interesting - not sure if you should talk about this irrational fear to someone? On second thoughts, maybe best not :)

   Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Thursday 1st July 2010 @ 9:26am

3. I have been trying to find the Disney map since you tweeted it a little while ago Joanna as I have been telling others about it. Now I can just send them to your site.

   I like the use of colour as it makes it easier to see the different parts especially when using it with clients.

   Posted by Susan Oakes | Thursday 1st July 2010 @ 4:52pm

4. Always happy for you to send people to my site, thanks Susan :)

   And yes I like colour too, never leave home without a few Textas I say...

   Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Thursday 1st July 2010 @ 4:57pm

5. Hi Joanna,I'm a "list"person. As a business coach, I focus a lot on my client's accountability.I have always liked the concept of mind maps but it wasn't until two of my clients had "breakthroughs" using them that I belatedly realised how powerful a tool they can be. My structure just wasn't working for these clients. I also strongly recommend mind maps as an unblocker.Getting all those seemingly disjointed and unconnected thoughts out on the table throws the real issues to the forefront.

   Posted by Alan Glasby | Thursday 1st July 2010 @ 5:28pm

6. Hi Joanna

   As you know I am a big fan of mindmaps, so I really appreciated your latest posting. I love Disney's concept map. It reminded me of Willa Wonka's Chocolate Factory, pipes going everywhere, frothing over, cartoon characters whizzing around. It's a map of an eccentric, a true creative.

   I use the software program novamind for mindmapping and it helps enormously with all sorts of projects... especially the big ones which threaten to make your mind explode (or expand into a giant blueberry like Violet Beauregarde in Dahl's juicy tale!)

   Posted by Claire Scobie | Friday 2nd July 2010 @ 8:45pm

7. Isn't the map fun? And yes, I love using mindmapping software for all sorts of projects, very helpful!

   Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Friday 2nd July 2010 @ 8:49pm

8. I love mind mapping. As you well know, it's the visual representation of how I think. Of course being a visual person, colour makes it so much easier for me to understand.

   Love the Disney mind map. I've never actually seenit before.

   Posted by Jill Adams | Tuesday 6th July 2010 @ 4:04pm

9. Thanks Jill. I only found the Disney map fairly recently and was fascinated by the insight into his thought processes. I wonder if it was originally in colour?

   Posted by Joanna Maxwell | Tuesday 6th July 2010 @ 4:12pm