Simon Ash is another Mind Mapping user who shares with us his interesting background as a former bomb disposal officer and who is now helping teams and individuals to be more effective especially in decision making, strategic planning, change, safety and security and organisational development.

 

He is also the founder of the website "The Right Questions" as well as the book of the same name.

In this interview, you will find out how he got to know Mind Mapping and how it helped him advance his military career and develop his current career.

You will also discover valuable insights such as how doing Mind Maps is better than taking linear notes, why a mind map shows a reflection of your character and personality, and how his cynical colleagues were naturally drawn to his mind maps.

By the end of the recording, you will even find more uses of the Mind Mapping technique and realise its versatility and usefulness in a variety of different situations.

……Here is what else you will discover.

How Using Mind Mapping Helps You Keep Engage With A Topic Or A Subject Much Better Than Linear Note Taking
How You Can Balance Logic and Creativity With Mind Mapping
How You Can See Things In A Different Way To Help You Make Better Decisions
How Mind Mapping Reveals Your Personality And Character
The Right Questions To Ask To Help You In Managing Projects

Episode Show Notes
01:53 - Simon shares his army background as a bomb disposal officer

04:45 - How his work is somehow similar to the movie "Hurt Locker"

06:57 - He talks more about munitions

09:32 - How Mind Mapping peaked his interest

11:06 - How he does his Mind Maps

11:54 - Why Mind Mapping is better than taking linear notes

13:19 - Why he thinks it's a reinforcement technique and why it's a reflection of your character and personality

14:03 - How his colleagues reacted to his Mind Maps and how they started using them as well

15:38 - He shares with us how one can naturally share this tool with people

16:47 - Some of his uses for Mind Mapping

18:26 - He tells us why this technique is so powerful

19:34 - How Mind Mapping engages both sides of the brain (the logical and the creative sides)

22:05 - He shares with us his journey after he left the army

23:52 - What his book, "The Right Questions" is all about and how you can use this to help you in any situation and develop a plan

26:54 - Simon talks about where the beauty of Mind Mapping lies

28:02 - How he uses Mind Mapping and how he tells us how versatile it is

29:10 - His ideal use of it

30:51 - How to use the Mind Map to develop your future career

31:52 - His different uses for Mind Mapping by hand and by software (He shares with us his preferred Mind Mapping tool)

33:32 - A brilliant iPad app called Noteshelf which you can use to create colored paper Mind Maps

34:40 - His advice on using Mind Mapping whether you're left-brain or right-brain oriented

35:37 - What he thinks is the biggest benefit of this powerful technique

In this interview, Simon talked about how he has been using the Mind Mapping software iMindMap by Tony Buzan, the originator of Mind Mapping as he found it is the closest software to the original idea (which is really no surprise). You can download and purchase the software over at their website.

He has also written a book called The Right Questions which asks the questions What, Why, Who, Where, Which and How and you can find more about it at his website.