Start/Evaluate

Is making mind maps "difficult"?

The problem may lie in the meaning for this concept

The impact of a single meaning on life

We had visitors, a couple and their 7-year-old son. I was playing a ukulele we had given our grandson when the boy approached, curious.

I thought I'd teach him something; I don't play the instrument but I knew some chords. Trying to be didactic, I chose the simplest chord I knew—just one string, played with a single finger. It didn't work; I showed him how to do it, he tried it once, exclaimed "Too hard!" and left.

Now think about how this narrow idea of “difficult” might affect the rest of the boy’s life. If he encounters something that feels hard by the same standard, he’ll likely give up. If giving up is an option, he’ll take it. If it’s not, he’ll feel inner conflict. What makes it worse is that this understanding is unconscious—until he becomes aware of it, he’ll stick with that meaning by default. And until he changes it, he won’t really have a choice.

If you’re considering bringing mind mapping into your life, you may be wondering: Is it difficult? To answer that, let’s explore what “difficult” really means—and how that shapes our thinking and decision-making. Then you’ll understand why I used quotation marks in the title of this section.

Possibility 1: complex

I once visited a submarine in San Francisco and was impressed by its complexity, the size of the structure, and the plethora of details required for it to function. In it there was a torpedo cut to see its interior: it had more structure and details by itself.

I also saw a drawing of a human head with a cut: the amount of complex systems "packaged" functionally and harmonically in such a small space was also impressive. Of course, the entire human body is like this.

Some things may seem difficult because they are very complex, that is, they have many elements and these elements have many relationships with each other. The fact that something is complex in its very nature is then the first possibility for something to seem difficult to know, to understand and to do something with this knowledge.

Difficult (1): complex; which involves many elements with many relationships with each other

Possibility 2: Insufficient Skill

We all have motor coordination, the ability to control the limbs and other parts of the body. Each simple movement involves the coordinated actuation of multiple muscles. There is basic motor coordination, for balance and general use, and other more specific ones, such as singing, whistling, riding a bicycle and playing an instrument.

Speaking is also extremely complex. In addition to specific motor coordination to control the muscles of the mouth and lips, there is a whole non-verbal part that can even involve postures, that is, many other muscles are activated and coordinated to follow what we say.

Speaking is even more complex than motor coordination because it involves thinking, which includes defining what will be said, in the form of sentences, using a vocabulary in which there are thousands of words, plus grammatical rules with their exceptions, not to mention intonation.

Even though using the body and speaking are technically very complex things to do, we all not only learn to do these things, but we do it without any specific instruction, that is, only with the innate ability to learn. It takes years to master it well and there are those who master it better, of course, but there is no one who has a normal body that can't. This is characteristic of skills. Mastering skills requires minimal technique, knowing how to do something, and practice, repetition that will lead to faster execution.

Trying to do things without having the necessary skill minimally trained will most likely result in failure. A person who doesn't have a good awareness that something is a skill and requires training may then consider it to be "difficult."

But sometimes we do not have a precise awareness of what we do not know, that is, we do not know that we do not know. I once saw a boy playing ping pong who tried to cut all the time. Saying that he made mistakes is not enough, the ball would "take off". It was evident to me that he was trying to do something for which he had no ability, without being aware of it.

Difficult (2): Insufficient Skill

An exception is when we are able to improvise behaviors based on the skills we have.

Possibility 3: Inadequate didactics

Do you find juggling "difficult"? Several people I asked this question said yes.

But if you look at basic juggling with three balss in terms of the movements that must be learned, you will find that it is just one movement, throwing a ball to the other hand, in two variations, from right to left and vice versa. The additional element is the synchronization of these throws.

Compare this to driving a car with a manual transmission: steering wheel, pedals and gearbox control, as well as observing the environment by noticing the road, other vehicles and pedestrians, among other possibilities, all with only tenths of a second to make certain decisions.

Now imagine that you are going to learn juggling and do it like this:

• It starts by just holding a ball and feeling its size and weight.
• Throw a ball a few times up with one hand, at varying heights.
• Then practice throwing it at eye level.
• Then practice throwing it to the other hand.
• Do the same with the other hand.
• When you have mastered these movements reasonably, you practice the beginning, which involves throwing two balls in sequence.
• Then practice synchronizing.

In some segment, if you notice that something is not good, you go back and practice only that segment more. When you make a mistake, you look for where you are and what was the cause of the mistake to guide your exercise plan.

In doing so, what is your perception of the feasibility of learning the basic juggling cycle in a reasonable time?

One of the possible reasons why juggling and any motor skills seem difficult to people is that they try to start by executing the cycle of movements as a whole. If you break down the movements until you get to the simplest movements you can perform, you can learn just about anything.

We summarize this as a principle: the learner learns by doing what they know how to do. This principle, in addition to guiding the structuring of training, opens possibilities for a more objective understanding of errors, such as, for example, "I couldn't because I don't know, and I don't know because I didn't train", instead of "I couldn't because I'm _________", the gap being filled by some limiting and unproductive concept/label.

Thus, in the context of learning, something will seem difficult when the didactics are inadequate. This applies when there is a teacher or instructor and also when you are the teacher of yourself, that is, you are being self-taught.

Difficult (3): Inadequate didactics

Possibility 4: Insufficient preparation

An established violinist once said that for every second of music he would perform, he needed to practice 3 minutes. The fact is that, even if we have skill, we may still need to prepare ourselves to do something specific. This is not a rule, it depends on the level of mastery of the skill; there are people who sit at a piano and play a sheet of music that they have never seen before. Although we make decisions every day, we eventually come across some that challenge us, that are beyond the current limits of our abilities.

Without adequate and sufficient preparation, something may seem difficult to us, even if we have the skill to do it.

Difficult (4): Insufficient preparation

By the way, an interesting aspect of finding a limit is that it reveals a point of improvement. This will naturally be relevant information for those who intend to improve themselves.

Possibility 5: A long way

Now consider a problem on your computer, the solution of which requires configuration or a specific action. The first time, it may take time before you figure out where it is and what the setting is; in the next ones, already knowing what to do, you solve the problem in seconds.

An example is on Windows: when a video, for example, is in full screen, sometimes the taskbar is on top of it. The solution, or at least a solution, is to go to Task Manager and restart Windows Explorer.

The solution to this type of problem is not really difficult, but the path until we discover the solution can be a bit long, uncertain and perhaps tortuous. This also applies to when we seek some result, without necessarily having a problem.

Difficult (5): A long way; not progressing as quickly as desired or expected in search of a solution or an outcome

Possibility 6: Insufficient strength

Something that many of us do is open the lid of glass jars, for example olives and hearts of palm. Is opening lids easy, difficult, or somewhere in between? Of course, it depends on how the lid is and the resources at our disposal. Some we can open only with our hands. For the hardest ones, there is a specific instrument (figure).

Difficult (6): Insufficient strength

There are usually possibilities to cope with difficulties such as insufficient strength. I once had a lot of difficulty opening the lid of a jam jar. Not having the instrument mentioned above, I managed to open it by heating the lid. Then I noticed that I had made this task more difficult by putting it immediately in the refrigerator, where the contraction due to the cold tightened the lid even more – basic Physics knowledge. From there, I started to open everything with a lid for the first time before putting it in the fridge.

Possibility 7: Insufficient time

Something may also seem difficult to us due to the time available to dedicate to it: preparing a lecture on something we have mastered is relatively easy and can be done perhaps even for the next day; for something in which we are not initiated, it will seem difficult.

In this type of case, "difficult" expresses the idea that it does not seem that something can be carried out on time with the defined or expected quality. In other words, it is unfeasible within the defined period. This time limit can be external or self-imposed; In this second case, of course, there is the possibility of adjustment.

Difficult (7): Insufficient time

The difficulty level can then be changed by setting more time when possible.

Possibility 8: Harder

I once did a 12-kilometer hike on a trail with difficult sections, such as a strong climb that "had no end" right at the beginning. In the months that followed, I walked along a stretch of about 2 kilometers flat and paved quietly as if it were short.

And a friend told me that she took care of her father for months when he was very sick and that it was very, very difficult. From then on, she did not consider many problems that other people consider so difficult.

The fact is that, in our thinking, we make comparisons, and this makes many things relative, including obstacles and even pain. Thus, something may seem "difficult" a lot due to being compared to something else that seems easy or less difficult.

Difficult (8): Harder; sensation felt when something to be done is compared to something that seems easy or less difficult

This meaning allows us, for example, to better understand people who find it difficult to do things that seem easy to us: the point of reference of what is difficult is the person's, and comparing it with our own reference does not seem very appropriate to me.

Possibility 9: Unlikely

Another possible meaning for "difficult" occurs when something that is out of our control needs to happen in order to succeed. For example, a son will ask for something from his father who has denied the same thing before. In this case, the essence of the meaning is improbable.

Difficult (9): Perception of the outcome as unlikely

Possibility 10: No Process

If you have to illustrate something in a document, you must know how to take the image or how to produce it, how to change it, and how to insert and position it in the document.

When you take a shower in your home, you know exactly what to do and where the resources you are going to use are, such as soap and towels.

(www.freepik.com)

If you work in a company, it has the ways of working defined: the applications, the documents to be produced, permissions and restrictions.

The fact is, we know how to do things when we have adefined work process; for smaller things, I prefer workflow. When we don’t have a process, we must first define or figure out how to proceed.

For example, if you want to shower at the gym, you will have to set up your own workflow, carrying what you need in the bag and eventually even choosing a shower more to your liking.

Trying to do something new without having the definition of how to do it, therefore, may seem difficult, and we then have another possibility of meaning for this concept.

Difficult (10): No Process

On the other hand, defining workflows and work processes may not be easy. If you, for example, started to live alone and had to define how things would work in your new residence, you should have a good idea of what I'm saying. If you have changed companies, you’ve had to relearn how to work where the process was different.

I knew how to fry sliced potatoes in such a way that they delivered predictably dry and crispy; not having the same pan anymore was enough to have to adjust my workflow to get the same results.

Of course, I found this out by not having the same good results. Therefore, being able to have starting points, for example the processes of other people, can be very interesting.

An interesting use of this meaning is to have the understanding that something is looking difficult because, at the end of the day, you just don't have a definition of how to do it. This understanding immediately directs us to what we seek next and thus allows us to be more objective.

Possibility 11: laborious

Some things are not complex, they can be mastered but they are big, they involve more dedication and are not subject to automation, and so they can be called difficult. The essence of the meaning for "difficult" in these cases is that it is laborious.

Difficult (11): Laborious

Idea tree

Below is a quick hierarchical view of the possibilities presented for the meaning of the concept of difficult.

Enriching

The notion of "difficult", therefore, is totally and fully relative. In the case of things we do with our bare hands, relative to our strength and dexterity. In other cases, it will be relative to the resources that we have or can get. And this notion is also subjective, it depends on the meaning we have for the concept, which usually has one or more experiences as references.

One advantage of having a richer meaning for a concept is that it increases the possibilities of response – inspiration for what to do about it – when something fits the concept. Some possibilities:

• If something seems difficult because time is insufficient, we seek to give ourselves or negotiate more time.
• If we lack skill, we know that we need to train if we want to get better results.
• If the road is long and uncertain, we know that we don't have enough to create an expectation for the arrival.
• If it seems difficult because it is unlikely, we can ask ourselves what we can do differently on the next try.

For the last possibility in the list above, and for example, in the case of the request to the father, there may be a way to make the request to which the father would respond best. One idea is to make an exchange: what the son wants in exchange for a promise that he will dedicate himself to something that the father considers important.

In my understanding, the most counterproductive aspect of the meaning that someone has for the concept of difficult is when that meaning is static, that is, the references are memorized, memorized: playing an instrument is difficult, climbing a mountain is difficult, getting certain things from their father is difficult. Associated with the non-awareness of its relativity, the person will miss many opportunities.

A general principle to make things easier

One of the things we all do is divide something to do into parts that, executed separately, will lead to completing the whole:

• When washing dishes, wash glasses first, then plates, cutlery, pans.
• When studying for a course, divide by subject. When studying a subject, divide by topic, perhaps by chapter of a book.
• When planning lessons, do so by topic of the syllabus.

This approach to division is known as the principle of divide and conquer. We have already given an example of this principle in the Possibility 3: Inadequate didactics, specifically to target a technique.

In fact, anything we do can be divided and subdivided until we reach parts that can be executed. This applies even to a simple mouse click to trigger a button on the toolbar: locate the button, position the mouse, click. A great example is copying a drawing using a grid (figure).

Anything that seems difficult, therefore, can be broken down into smaller parts that can be worked on separately.

And mind maps are really a tool for this division: instead of working only with the text, for example, we map its structure, generating a kind of "map" even if it guides our memory and our thinking. That's why in some cases I refer to the principle of structuring to conquer. This is an even more useful principle, but deepening it does not fit in this work.

Are mind maps "difficult", after all?

So if you are inclined to ask if mind maps are hard, the answer is similar to the same question for so many other things we learn and do: it depends. You will have the feeling of "difficult" when dealing with mind maps in the following situations, for example:

• A very large mind map
• Trying to do it without being trained
• Trying to learn from inadequate didactics
• Having expectations beyond what you can do at the moment
• Not having or not giving yourself enough time for what you have to do
• Comparing the present experience with a previous easier one and expecting the current one to be of the same level
• Not being in the mood to do what needs to be done
• Not having defined workflows for drafting and solving problems
• Not having specific preparation, such as techniques for mapping very wordy texts

Regarding didactics, I think one of the best ways to facilitate the elaboration of mind maps for beginners is to use templates, mind maps which have a structure that you complete with your own content, much like a form. If a template has examples for the content, even better. As a simple example, if you see a topic like “Foods I like most”, it’s easy to find subtopics.