I was in a training class today at work, not so much for the training itself but more as a guinea pig to help them evaluate the course and materials.
Anyways, I brought my laptop in with me to perform the exercises and to use for taking notes since my handwriting has degraded to the point where chicken scratches are probably more readable than what comes out of the tenuous relationship I have with writing utensils.
I’m not really too fond of note taking in the traditional linear sense, so instead of just writing my notes your generic text editor (or word processor) I use a mind-mapping tool. Just what is a mind-mapping tool, you might say?
Well I’m glad you asked. Mind-mapping is a technique similar to free-association, but instead of just letting your mind have it’s way with you with little to no input, you nudge your mind in various directions but don’t force it to follow a particular linear path. I’ve found this to be really useful in note-taking situations where you might want to shift back to a previous point once your mind has chewed on it, as well as when your trying to brainstorm or flush out a particular idea.
If you found that previous paragraph even remotely interesting, I heartily recommend using a piece of software called Freemind for all your mind mapping needs. Feel free to give it a download or check out their wiki, as I’m sure they do a much better job of explaining it than I do.
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