How Visual Mind Mapping Can Help in Decision Making

Making an important decision is something that many people dread. Often, the dread stems from wondering if you are making the right choice. In order to facilitate the decision making process, many people list the pros and cons of choosing one path over the other. While one can use a traditional listing format to outline the beneficial versus negative aspects of a choice, doing so will not be as conceptual and intuitive as using a Visual Mind Map. With Visual Mind Mapping, you can list all arguments regarding a decision in one, spatially constructed diagram. This spatial layout allows the mapper to view the information he or she has listed more easily and in a way that is advantageous for mental processing. Moreover, Visual Mind Maps allow users to add colors and other visual images, making the map more associative for the user. Thus, those facing a tough decision can find Visual Mind Maps a useful and effective way to sort through the pros and cons of making the decision.

What are Visual Mind Maps and How Are They Created?

A Visual Mind Map is “a means of organizing information that allows individuals to create diagrams, pictures, and other graphic visuals in order to show the relationship between ideas or other types of information”. With a Visual Mind Map, the creator makes use of colors and symbols to construct the map and represent his or her ideas in a non-linear format. When creating a Visual Mind Map, the individual usually begins by showing the key concept or main idea of the information as a graphic image, located in the center of the map. Any themes surrounding the main idea are shown on “branches” that are attached to the central image. Subsequent themes of less importance are then attached to these branches using “child branches”, and so on. The resulting diagram is a “map” of the ideas and information presented that includes the images, visual graphics, and colors the individual associates with each of the themes and ideas.

Using a Visual Mind Map to Outline the Pros and Cons of an Important Decision

Imagine a couple that is trying to decide whether or not to put their house for up for sale. They desperately would like to move to a bigger house in a new area, but are aware that the current real estate market might not be the best to enter into at this time. In order to make their decision, the couple decides to list the pros and cons of putting their house up for sale by using a Visual Mind Map. They begin their map by placing a graphic representing their house in the map’s center. They then divide the map into two sections, “pros” and “cons”, via “branches” that they attach to the central image. On “child branches”, the couple lists all arguments they can think of for either selling or not selling their home. Throughout the Visual Mind Map, the couple also uses colors and images alongside listed arguments to make the map more conceptual. When they have completed their map, it may resemble something like the attached Visual Mind Map diagram.

Making a Decision Using the Visual Mind Map

The couple, thanks to their Visual Mind Map, now has all the pros and cons of selling their home neatly “mapped out” in front of them. The spatial construction and visual imagery of their map, moreover, allows them to view the decision pros and cons in a highly conceptual and intuitive way. Thus, the couple can more easily process each argument than if they had simply listed the arguments out linearly. After reviewing their Visual Mind Map, the couple is now able to reach a decision about selling their house. Visual Mind Mapping, therefore, aided the couple in naturally thinking through the benefits and negatives of selling their home, and allowed them to arrive at their decision quickly.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites