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By Polly Obusan
Coming face to face with the man
hailed to be the holder of the world’s highest IQ is most
certainly an unusual way to spend one lazy Saturday afternoon. But
nothing is most certainly usual with the man, considered as the
world’s top guru on mind power and creativity, as well as the
originator of Mind Maps and pioneer of the mental literacy concept.
Tony Buzan is an international best-selling author of more than 90
books translated in 32 languages and published in 125 countries,
most notable of which is the best seller Use Your Head which
promotes the use of mnemonic systems and his very own mind-mapping
techniques. Other best-selling titles to his name include the series
of books: Use Your Memory, Master Your Memory, The Speed Reading
Book and The Mind Map Book.
For the past 30 years, Buzan has
been traveling all over the world for the main purpose of helping
people unlock and discover their creative intelligence and providing
them with tools to properly use it. He has spoken to a broad
spectrum of audiences, from 5-year-old preschoolers to university
students to industry giants and world leaders, each time with the
same passion and dedication to share techniques on how to use
creative brainpower as a means to improve one’s professional and
personal life.
During these travels, he was also
able to establish Buzan Centers all over the world, with the
objective of providing people of every race or color with training
opportunities to discover, develop and enhance their inherent
intelligence. He was in Manila for a rare 2-day transformational
workshop entitled “Unleashing The Genius of Creativity and
Innovation for a Competitive Edge,” which is part of ITD
Consulting Group’s Mega Guru Event (the same workshop series that
brought William Rothwell and Jack Canfield in Manila) and a special
book signing session hosted by Powerbooks Greenbelt.
First impressions
This is his first time to visit
the Philippines and he is abundant with praise for the Filipino
people whom he describes as “very friendly and very creative.”
Part of his continuing advocacy to impart knowledge to as many
people as possible and strengthen the presence of Buzan training
centers worldwide is the immediate launching of a Buzan Center in
Manila, as well as in other parts of Asia including India, Vietnam,
Malaysia and Cambodia in the coming months.
He doesn’t look any different
from his pictures, although in person, he seems to exude an even
gentler and kinder demeanor. He pauses reflectively before answering
questions, seemingly choosing his words yet displays unusual humor
and revered wit for a man his age and stature. He is not as well
known here in the Philippines as he is in most parts of US and
Europe, but he is confident that he will touch base in no time with
a wider audience worldwide, thanks to his YouTube videos which can
be accessed by just about anyone in the globe.
Simplifying complications
At hindsight, his mind mapping
techniques seem quite complicated to the uninitiated, especially for
most of us who are used to linear thinking and traditional
note-taking processes. But it becomes easy, according to Tony Buzan,
if we remember the basic principle that images, and not words, are
the language of the brain. And that we process thoughts, not by
words, but by associations. Simply put, “without associations,
there would be no connection; without connections, there would be no
memory; and without memory, there would be no thinking.”
It is easy to be intimidated by
anything new, or by anything that poses a challenge to what is
considered to be the norm. And that is basically the case with Mind
Maps. With several best-selling books and worldwide lectures devoted
to it, not to mention a sleek software edition called iMindMap
launched in December 2006, it may seem like it was conceptualized
mainly for high-level thinking activities such as studying for
exams, preparing for business presentations, planning corporate
strategies and all that highbrow stuff. But Tony Buzan was quick to
affirm that it is not actually as complicated as it looks like and
that it can also be used for other activities such as planning
weddings, parties, holidays and even mapping your child’s future
education path. Proof of its high applicability is the fact that
Tony Buzan himself has already applied mind mapping to all aspects
of his life that requires thinking.
But then, is there any aspect of
our life that doesn’t require thinking? I don’t actually think
so. Even doing the grocery list requires some level of thought, as
well as looking for a parking area in the mall in the middle of the
day. He recalled one instance in one of his lectures wherein someone
declared that Mind Map is not actually useful. This piqued his
interest, ready to defend the merits of his tried and tested
technique, but got the laugh of his life when the same person added
that “it is not actually useful if we are not required to learn,
if we are not required to plan, and if we are not required to
think.”
As an added bonus, I was even
able to sneak in a mini-workshop on mind mapping, directly from the
mind power guru himself. After the initial feeble attempts at
scribbling images to resemble a Mind Map skeleton, I gradually got
the hang of doing it on my own, and before we ended the interview,
even got Tony Buzan to sign my very first Mind Map with the words
“A brilliant start!”
Secret to success
For someone of his age and
stature, one wonders what still keeps Tony Buzan so passionate to
his causes up to this very day when he could very well enjoy his
success and his wealth in a private secluded life if he so desires.
But he disagrees by saying that he doesn’t feel the pressure of
getting up and going to work everyday because he doesn’t consider
work as work per se. “Work should be play, that is the secret,”
he says with youthful enthusiasm and affirms the fact that if you
love what you are doing, then it stops being work. As for the idea
of retirement, given that he has already achieved milestones in the
field of mind power and psychology for the past 30 years, he dispels
the idea that his objectives has already been achieved by humbly
stating that “as long as there is still a child who doesn’t know
how to use his brain, then my work is not yet done.”
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