Mike Giannulis on The Benefits of Mind-Mapping and Thought Journals

Journaling and mind mapping are powerful tools that anyone can use to organize and better understand their thoughts, relieve stress, boost their emotional intelligence, and visualize positive goals.

Keeping a diary is something many of us engage in for at least a short time while in school, but it often gets left behind later in life due to the false belief that keeping a diary is somewhat juvenile or useless.

That couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, journaling is a far more powerful tool in the hands of adults than it can be for most children says Michael Giannulis, who helps run the e-commerce startups and offers coaching services to a select group of clients.

What are the Benefits of Journaling?

Among journaling’s most important benefits according to Michael Giannulis is that a person can explore and express their thoughts, motivations, desires, and fears without risk of judgement from anyone else. It’s a great way for individuals to vent and express their frustrations, dreams, or general thoughts in a constructive manner.

Michael Giannulis says that many people are afraid to explore their thoughts for fear of what they may find but promotes journaling as an important tool to help them gain a better understanding of what makes them tick and how they can be successful in life. He adds that we tend to give our thoughts too much credit as being intrinsically part of who we are and that it’s not necessary to take ownership of everything that pops into our minds. Journaling can help immensely in that regard, allowing us to parse out how we think and feel about topics rather than just accepting the musings of our subconscious mind as gospel.

Mind Mapping Can Boost Creativity and Productivity

Mind mapping is another tool that can be used to somewhat the same effect, exploring the deepest recesses of the mapper’s mind to uncover their thoughts and the things or feelings they associate with different topics.

A mind map is essentially a diagram that starts with a central theme, which can be whatever topic the mapper wants to explore. From that starting point, the mapper draws lines that link to other ideas or themes that they associate with the main theme and can then further explore those subtopics if they desire. The result is a tree-like structure with branches of ideas shooting off in every direction from the central idea, or trunk.

Michael Giannulis recommends mind mapping for business and career-related topics, saying they can greatly boost creativity when it comes to promotional efforts or other brainstorming sessions, and can also help companies organize data into logical and manageable chunks.

Michael Giannulis says that mind mapping can be a powerful business productivity tool thanks to its ability to engage both the left and right sides of our brains, pairing the creative thinking side of our brain with the logical and rational side of it.

There are several different mind mapping programs and apps available that provide stylish visuals to go along with your data, further strengthening the connections that develop in your mind.