Building a mental map for learning

In the modern world, mental maps are used very widely. In this article, I would like to highlight only one area for which they were originally intended: the assimilation and synthesis of the material .

This article describes 3 different methods for creating mental maps . Which one is the most relevant depends on the situation. What is behind these words?

Generalization and assimilation are necessary if you want to very quickly understand a particular topic, learn something new or highlight the main points, discarding irrelevant details.
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This process can benefit:

• students of universities and other educational institutions;
• businessmen who want to immerse themselves in a new professional field, for example, to study financial performance, strategic planning or direct marketing;
• all those who seek to learn something new and learn the necessary knowledge in the simplest way.

This manual describes 3 different methods for creating mental maps. Which one is the most relevant depends on the situation.

Before you get down to business, you need to decide how deeply you want to dive into the subject of research. And also do not forget about the difference between applied knowledge and knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself.

Short review

• Method 1: point by point; appropriate if you need to be very thorough, or you have to read a lot of materials on the topic.
• Method 2: shortest path; for those who need only basic information.
• Method 3: leisurely; suitable if you are ready to spend on mastering new knowledge of the week / month / year.

Method 1: Point by Point

This method is most often used in traditional education and is quite straightforward.

In the most general form, the process looks like this:

• find 3-5 interesting sources;
• read / listen / study each one of them;
• create separate mental maps for each of the resources;
• combine them into one common.

It is great for students who receive knowledge in lectures and seminars, from tutors, from textbooks and other sources. The same method is also good for the business sphere, where a thorough study of the issues is necessary.

Let's go to the details.

1. Find 3-5 sources

Suppose that resources are not imposed by your curriculum or professional organization, and you can choose them yourself.

Personally, I prefer books, recommendations can be found on reputable sites or ask friends / mentors.

Also, specialized training courses, such as Productivity Blueprint, are good sources. They give a fantastic result: in many respects they resemble books, but are more “concentrated”. Usually they are a mixture of audio, video and other media formats, which allows you to look at the issue from different points of view.

Another type of resource is people. This is probably the fastest way to learn something. It doesn't matter if you are attending a seminar or talking to a mentor who is knowledgeable in the area you need. People are an invaluable source of knowledge.

The last kind of resources is online articles. Their only minus is brevity. That is why for obtaining really deep knowledge you, most likely, should "shovel" not 3-5, but much more notes. Well, or find a few detailed reviews like this.

2. Read / listen / study

It is an obvious step: to get acquainted with each of the selected sources.
This should be done in tandem with clause 3.

3. Create a mental map for each of the resources.

The main mental map, “drawn” after reading a book or attending a seminar, is used to summarize the material studied and turn it into key ideas (usually there are no more than 10 of them). It is also possible to select sub-items and establish links between them.

4. Generalization of mental maps

The last step is to merge the received mental maps into one.

For this you need to postpone your studies for 2-3 days. Sleep, meditate, eat, rest. Let your subconscious mind do its work and form neural connections in your brain.

Mind is an incredibly powerful device for information processing, which is able to act independently, if left alone.

What to do next? Review each of the mental maps, think for a minute, and then answer the question: “What are the main questions of the topic?”

Most likely, you highlight 5-10 points.

These 5-10 points should be used as a basis for building a new, generalized set of knowledge. Chances are that by filling out each of the items with information suggested by your mind, you will be surprised at the amount of your own knowledge.

When you need the details, you can return to any of the maps of individual resources and extract additional data from there.

Having finished this work, you will receive a very concentrated mental map of a specific topic, where you can quickly find answers, because it was created precisely by your mind. Each of the items will trigger associations associated with each other and with the information in your memory.

Method 2: the shortest path

You use it when you have only a couple of days to master a topic, or you want to save time.

Here's how it works:

1. chat with an expert OR read many articles and abstracts;
2. start creating a mental map, choosing the most important ideas;
3. explore each of the items and add the required amount of detail;
4. "intuitively" to check whether enough details.

This method is good if you need to prepare a presentation, a speech or a short note in 3-4 days, or you just want to “run through” on the main issues of the topic. It can also be useful when studying a completely new branch of knowledge , becoming a kind of “intelligence” before diving.
So, more.

1. Chat with an expert OR read articles and abstracts.

The easiest way to get acquainted with the topic is to talk with an expert in this field. You can go to a seminar or chat with a friend or mentor. Why? The expert has already spent years studying the issue, and he knows both the most important aspects of it and the minor details.

And if you can not find a specialist, you can read articles on the Internet. Wikipedia is great for this, as well as blogs and websites that specialize in certain areas of expertise.

The main goal of this step is to isolate 20% of the most useful information and discard 80% of less important information.

2. Start creating a mental map

The second step is to take up building a mental map and fill it with those 7-10 main ideas that you learned from an interview with an expert or reading articles.

Yes, it will be the “most likely assumption”, but at this stage it is quite enough. As you move forward, you can always edit it.

3. Learn the details

Having an indicative plan, and finding out exactly what interests you, you should conduct some brief surveys.

You can start with Wikipedia or reading a separate chapter of the book devoted to more general issues of the topic. You should also pay attention to other online articles or talk with a few other experts in this field.

The main thing is selectivity: you do not need to read the entire book if the item under study contains only 5-10 pages. Possession of fast reading techniques will also be useful.

Repeat this step until you have considered all the main points “in sufficient detail.”

4. "Intuitive" check

When you plot a fair amount of detail on a map, you will want to check if you have enough of the material you've learned.

The best way to do this is to “sleep” with the information, allowing the brain to process it.
Returning to your map after this, you will understand whether it is sufficiently detailed. If yes - great, if not - then you can always repeat step number 3 and make additions.

Yes, this method of mastering the material is less thorough than the “point by point” method. But it allows you to save a lot of time, especially if there is an expert nearby who you can talk to at the very beginning.

Method 3: Leisurely

This method is ideal if you have an unlimited amount of time that you can devote to studying the issue, or you are ready to explore it seriously, without fear of spending months or even years on it.

It is great for volume areas - a foreign language or technical disciplines.

Note: you can use the “point by point” method and simply stretch it for a longer period. So you get about the same results.

Here's how the “leisurely” method actually looks like:

1. take a new mental map;
2. create items and fill them with information as you study;
3. constantly compile data.

1. Take a blank card

The implementation of the "leisurely" method begins with a clean slate, on which there is nothing but the name of the topic in the center.

2. As you study, create notes and enter information.

Having begun to master the field of knowledge, gradually formulate the points and fill them with data and key ideas. The more resources, the more entries. Continuing the research, form sub-items and links between them.

The bottom line is not to limit yourself . Your map can have any size and be as detailed as you want, because time in this case does not play any role.

In addition, you are completely free to choose sources. They can belong to a variety of types: books, seminars, communication with experts, articles, courses, etc.

3. Continuously summarize

Constantly (after studying each of the resources) generalize the knowledge gained.

This can be achieved by finding interconnected items with identical ideas, and combining them into a single concept. Here you should trust your subconscious, because it knows what it does.

The thought process that provides such a generalization is called spin up.
For example, apples and oranges are fruits. If for each of them there is a point on the map, then you can combine them under the sign "fruits".

Another example would be a synthesis of ideas related to income and expenditure, in one paragraph, the "main numbers".

The third example is the merging of tasks, actions and results into more general “goals”.
Since this process is unhurried, you can repeat steps # 2 and # until the amount of knowledge on a particular topic satisfies you.

Conclusion

All 3 methods discussed in this manual are good. Which one to choose depends only on the amount of time you have and how you want to apply this knowledge.

Remember:

• Method 1 is useful when you need to thoroughly understand the issue.
• Method 2 is good for situations where you have to act quickly.
• Method 3 is ideal if you are willing to spend a lot of time researching a specific area of ​​knowledge.

PS We recommend another useful article on the topic of work on yourself - Learning to learn: simple and effective ways .

The author of the translation is Vyacheslav Davidenko, the founder of the TESTutor company.