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Mind Mapping your to-do list is the most common use of Mind Mapping, so we have created a video to teach you exactly how to use NovaMind to create and manage your to-do list:

NovaMind makes it easy to organize the things you need to do, and you can categorize by whatever makes sense for that particular list.

Sometimes you will want to create a to-do list that is time based, like this one which is used to organize your week. Other times, you will want to organize according to your objectives or goals.

You can use the adornments to visually categorize the tasks on your Mind Map, and you can use the colors and shapes of the branches to form visual associations too.

If there are logical associations between the tasks, you may like to indicate them using link lines.

And of course if you are using NovaMind Pro or Platinum, you are likely to want to put checkboxes on the branches. The checkboxes are three state checkboxes where the is an on, or checked state, an intermediate state which indicates that the task is partly done, and an unchecked state which indicates the task hasn’t been started.

There are two ways that the checkboxes can operate. They can be set to operate independently, or so that the state of the checkbox on a parent branch is determined by the state of the checkboxes on it’s children. This is set up using the “Automatic checkboxes” option in NovaMind. If you turn it off you can check or uncheck or partially check any branch independently of all the other branches.

With the “automatic checkboxes” option on, when the children are all unchecked, the parent is unchecked. As soon as one of the children is partially or completely checked, the parent is partially checked, because the task has been started. And when all the children are checked, the parent is checked too. If you have completed all the tasks under a parent task, you can actually click on the checkbox for the parent task and it will check all the children branches too. This is really useful if it’s been a while since you updated, and you have completed all the children tasks.

These inheritance settings also work down multiple levels of children and grandchildren branches.

One of the uses of this automatic checkbox states is that if you hide the children branches, you can still see the overall status of that task, and if you need to look at the detail, you can just expand it.

If you have more extensive task management needs like seeing the percentage complete, setting priorities, assigning resources, start and finish dates etc, then you can do that in NovaMind Platinum.

All these features mak Mind Mapping in NovaMind a very powerful way of creating and managing your to-do lists.

 

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There are a number of key factors in learning how to mind map, like:

• Using just just key words rather than long sentences.
• Using images wherever possible to make your mind maps colorful.
• Start in the center with a clear title and where possible a strong visual image that shows the general theme of the map.
• Use color and boundaries to group branches, and colors to depict themes and make things stand out.
• Make ideas stand out using color, humor, images, fonts etc - it will then stand out in your mind.
• Use link lines (with arrows where required) to show secondary links between different elements.
• If you run out of ideas in one place, just move on to another area of the mind map.
• Record ideas as you think of them, wherever they fit. Don’t judge or hold back.
• Get emotionally involved. Have fun. You remember more when you are having fun.

These are just a few of the important factors to consider when making your mind maps.

I have written a full article about How to Mind Map which gives you everything you need to know to be successful with your mind mapping.

Gideon