Abstract structures

After some time you’ll find that you’ve created yourself lots of different mind maps on many different subjects. You’ll find recurring structures in your maps but also many differences between them.

Mind maps look tree-like with branches growing out of the center of the map. A map typically starts as a list: you just write one idea after another without any structure. As you combine that list under a common topic it becomes a tree. If you create links between separate branches of the tree the map becomes a network.

Trees and networks

Is the map a tree or a network? Strictly speaking it is a tree only when there is only one path from any one item, or node, to another. If you connect two nodes in different branches you have changed it to a network, or a graph as it’s sometimes called.

Which one is better? You might be tempted to draw connections everywhere. After all, you can find some sort of a relationship between any two things in the universe if you just think long enough. They might be useful sometimes, but for the most of the time you don’t actually need them.

Nowadays I very rarely use connections between branches inside a single map. What I do though, is linking maps to each other.

Maps of maps

When you have more maps you probably start wanting to create links between them. As you do that, the collection of these maps itself forms similar structures as a single mind map. You can have a list of maps, each linking to next and previous one. Link the last map to the first, and you get a ring. Create an index map with links to many other maps and you have a tree.

I now have over 700 mind maps in my main map set. I only use a small subset of them actively, but if I need to I can reach any mind map from any other mind map by following the links I’ve created. Well, not always. Sometimes the links get broken over time, or I have a one-off map which I didn’t remember to link anywhere. If there are no links pointing to a map, it makes finding them hard and they often get lost.

By separating ideas in different maps connected by links you can manage even larger sets of ideas. You can still reach them all, while keeping the number of items considered at any one time low.

Stacks

A stack is just what it sounds like. You pile things on it. When you want to take things out, you start with the last one that you put in. You can use them to keep track of what you were doing, when you want to dig deeper into some issue or to take a side track. You can put the stuff that’s on your mind to a stack when you switch a task. When you switch back, you can review what’s on the stack and get back on track much quicker than just by trying to remember what you were doing.

I find stacks especially useful in the morning when I start working. Opening a mind map application is the first thing I do after my computer boots up, and the first thing I do with the maps is to write down the things that are on my mind into a stack. It helps me clear my mind and also to put personal thoughts and problems aside when working. If I don’t write them down those thoughts tend to pop up in my mind throughout the day and make it harder to concentrate on whatever I’m doing. I can do the same thing in the evening, too.

Dynamic-Static: Is this map alive?

I say that a map is alive when I do regularly changes in it, when it still evolves. Some maps are more dynamic, the evolve faster than others that remain more static.

Which one is better? Consider a to-do list. If it’s not changing then it’s not working very well, is it? Then, take an index that you use to store links to the most important things you need all the time. If you need to make changes to it all the time, it isn’t doing its job either. It’s like the main menu in any computer application. You want it to be the familiar starting point. You don’t want it to contain different items every time you access it.

Another way to look at this is through the distinctions of ‘read’ and ‘write’. A good index is almost a read-only map. On the other hand, a temporary map you use as a scratchpad is often more write-only. You use it once to make notes or organize your thoughts, but then forget about it. Keep an eye on write-only elements in your dynamic maps. They might end up blocking your maps and therefore blocking your thoughts.