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Remembering 123

The individual who has done more than anyone to promote an
understanding of how your memory works is British expert Tony
Buzan. In books like the bestselling Use Your Head, Buzan provides
many practical activities to help you develop your memory. He has
also invented a way of visualizing thoughts, the mind map™.
To make a mind map, turn a piece of paper through 90
degrees so that its shortest side is vertical. Put the title of your map
or a picture in the center and draw an oblong around it. Pick out
the main topics or headings of whatever you are mapping. Draw
lines out from your central oblong toward the edge of the page and
label the line as you do it. Then draw smaller lines, like branches of
the trunk of a tree, from each of your main lines. You can also create
twigs off the branches if you think of something else that is part of
a branch. Once the basic shape of the map is taking place, you can
add connecting lines to link different branches. You can also anno-
tate the map with colors, question marks, underlining—anything
that helps you make connections.

"Our memory for images
helps
is better than our
memory for words."
Tony Buzan images
color coding
you to
not words
remember more
helps connect ideas Memory Visual can use symbols
to aid memory
Why
mind maps™
work

Families of ideas shows how ideas
relate to each other your thoughts

helps you structure
allows hierarchies of
ideas to develop