Building a mental map for learning material

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

This material talks about 3 different methods of creating mental maps . Which one is most relevant depends on the situation. What is hidden behind these words?

Generalization and assimilation are necessary if you want to quickly understand a certain topic, learn something new or highlight the main points, discarding irrelevant details.

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 indicators, strategic planning or direct marketing;
• to all those striving to learn something new and learn the necessary knowledge in the simplest way.

This guide covers 3 different methods for creating mental maps. Which one is 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 material on the topic.
• Method 2: the shortest path; for those who need only basic information.
• Method 3: unhurried; Suitable if you are willing to spend weeks / months / years learning new knowledge.

Method 1: point by point

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

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

• find 3-5 interesting sources;
• read / listen / study each 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 sector, where a thorough study of issues is necessary.

Let's move on to the details.

1. Find 3-5 sources

Suppose that resources are not imposed on you by a 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 ways they are similar to books, but they 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 find out. It doesn’t matter whether you are attending a seminar or talking with a mentor who is knowledgeable in your area of ​​interest. People are an invaluable source of knowledge.

The last type of resource is online articles. Their only minus is brevity. Therefore, in order to obtain truly deep knowledge, you will most likely have to “shovel” not 3-5, but much more notes. Well, or find some comprehensive reviews like this.

2. Read / listen / study

The obvious step: getting to know each of the selected sources.
This should be done in tandem with paragraph 3.

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

Mainly, a 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). It is also possible to highlight sub-items and establish links between them.

4. Generalization of mental maps

The last step is to combine the received mental cards into one.

To do this, postpone studies for 2-3 days. Sleep, meditate, eat, relax. Let your subconscious mind do its job and form neural connections in your brain.

Reason is an incredibly powerful device for processing information that can act independently if you leave it alone.

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

Most likely, you will highlight 5-10 points.

These 5-10 points should be used as the basis for the construction of a new, generalized set of knowledge. It is very likely that filling each of the points with the information suggested by your mind, you will be surprised at the volume of your own knowledge.

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

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

Method 2: The Shortest Way

It is you who use it when you only have 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 resume articles;
2. start creating a mental map by choosing the most important ideas;
3. examine each of the items and add the necessary number of details;
4. “intuitively” check if there are enough details.

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

1. Chat with an expert OR read resume articles

The easiest way to get to know the topic is to speak with an expert in the 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 its most important aspects and secondary details.

And if you can’t find a specialist, you can read articles on the Internet. Wikipedia is great for this, as well as blogs and sites specializing in specific 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 the construction of a mental map and fill it with those 7-10 basic ideas that you learned from talking with an expert or reading articles.

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

3. Learn the details

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

You can start with Wikipedia or read a separate chapter in a book devoted to more general topics. It is also worth paying attention to other online articles or chatting with several other experts in this field.

The main thing is selectivity: you do not need to read the entire book if only 5-10 pages are relevant to the item under study. Useful and quick reading technique will be useful.

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

4. "Intuitive" verification

When you put a fair amount of detail on the map, you will want to check if you have enough material studied.

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 - excellent, if not - then you can always repeat step number 3 and make additions.

Yes, this method of assimilation of material is less circumstantial than the point-by-point method. But it allows you to save a lot of time, especially if there is an expert nearby who can communicate with you 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 research it seriously, without fear of spending months or even years on it.

It is perfect for large 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 roughly the same results.

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

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

1. Draw 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

Starting to master the field of knowledge, gradually formulate points and fill them with data and key ideas. The more resources, the more records. Continuing the research, form subparagraphs and the relationships between them.

The bottom line is not to limit yourself . Your card can be of 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 the most different types: books, seminars, communication with experts, articles, courses, etc.

3. Constantly summarize

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

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

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

Another example will be the generalization of ideas related to income and expenses, in one paragraph "main figures".

The third example is the merging of tasks, actions and results into more general “goals”.
Since this process proceeds slowly, you can repeat steps 2 and 2 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 the acquired knowledge.

Remember:

• Method 1 comes in handy 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 self- development - Learning to learn: simple and effective ways .

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