Example: Motivation

Assume that you read a text on the subject of motivation and would like to write out the most important content in the form of a Mind Map. I now present a few sentences which I’ve taken from this text as an exercise.

You’ve already read a bit of the text on motivation:

The first section contained a definition of motivation.

The second section is now concerned with the preconditions for motivation.

I’ve presented these two themes in Figure 6-1.

So you’ve reached the section on the preconditions for motivation which I’ve already indicated with a main branch in Figure 6-2.

You then encounter the following sentence:

‘A precondition for developing motivation is personal interest.’

Now imagine that you have to select just one keyword from this sentence and write it as a sub-branch after your ‘preconditions’ branch.

I expect you’re wondering how to choose the best keyword. Use a process of elimination and first cross out any words that, in your view, add little to the meaning of the sentence.

You’ll probably strike out the following words:

‘Precondition’, since this word is already on the main branch.

‘Motivation’, since that’s the Mind Map’s main theme.

‘A’, ‘for’ and ‘is’, as these are words necessary for fluent reading of the text but don’t contain any particular meaning.

This leaves you with ‘developing’, ‘personal’ and ‘interest’.

Which word do you choose to write as a keyword on your sub-branch? There’s no obvious rule for this. Which word you choose depends on:

How the text is structured.

How you interpret the text.

What you personally consider to be important.

How you’ve structured the Mind Map so far.

Now take a look at how your Mind Map might appear in each of the three variants.

Variant no. 1: ‘Interest’

Figure 6-2 shows how the Mind Map might look if you select the word ‘interest’.

Now write the word ‘interest’ beside the ‘preconditions’ branch. You can then insert the word ‘personal’ as a sub-branch of ‘interest’ and proceed to add further details.

Variant no. 2: ‘Developing’

Figure 6-3 shows how the Mind Map might look if you choose the word ‘developing’. I’ve added further details after the word ‘developing’.

You’ve now entered the first sentence in your Mind Map. Next I present another sentence which is also taken from the section preconditions:

‘A further factor in developing motivation is the personal esteem shown by one person to another.’

Apply the process of elimination here too and cross out any words that you feel don’t add significantly to the meaning.

In my opinion the central concepts in this sentence are ‘esteem’, ‘personal’ and ‘another’.

Again you have to choose from several keywords. In Figure 6-4 I present a possible variant based on Figure 6-3:

I’ve now added ‘esteem’ as another sub-branch of the ‘preconditions’ branch. I’ve also entered a small symbol which tells me that I’m the one being esteemed. On another sub-branch labelled ‘esteem’ I’ve put the word ‘other’ to make it clear that the esteem is directed at me by other people.