Do you sometimes get the point that you have so much to do and so many problems that you not only don't know where to start, but you mind is so addled that you can't even think straight?

I know I sometimes do, and I think it would be safe to say that most of us reach this point from time to time, with the possible exception of those people who are just naturally very organised, or have worked very hard to make it second nature.

I've written before the value of writing things down and working from lists. This can be a great way of getting more done. It's been said that this simple act of writing a 'to do' list and ticking things off as completed, instead of just keeping things in your head, can increase the amount achieved in a given time frame by 100% or even much more!

From personal experience, I believe this is definitely true. However, for those times when you feel overwhelmed or stuck on a problem, a linear 'to do' list may not be the best option. This is simply because our minds don't actually think in straight lines.

There is another extremely effective method for putting things in writing that you may have heard of called Mind Mapping. This method was developed by Tony Buzan, one of the world's leading experts on brain research. I use this method from time to time and whenever I do I kick myself for not using it more often.

I've been very busy for the last few weeks, and on top of that I had some bad news a couple of weeks ago. I'm fortunate to own a flat in London that I used to live in and now rent out. I've had an excellent tenant for the last few years and he unexpectedly advised me that he would be moving out as he was leaving the country.

This was a blow as I knew there would be a lot involved in getting a new tenant. The flat would need decorating and some repairs, should I pay someone to do this or do it myself? Would I use an estate agent to find a tenant or advertise it myself? What was the market like and how long would it take to rent?

There would have been enough to deal with if I was still living in London, but as I'm now living in Ireland, that makes it a lot more complicated. I would have to go over to deal with the departing tenant. How long do I need to go for to get everything done? How long can I afford to be away from my other commitments? Do I need to hire a car and for how long? What do I need to take with me?

For a day or so all these things were running around in my mind on top of everything else causing a sort of mental fog and certainly slowing me down.

So, I sat down with a blank sheet of paper to draw a Mind Map. If this is something you haven't heard of, it's actually very easy and quick to do.

The first step is to define the central issue, problem or desired outcome. If there are several complicated and separate issues, do one for each major item. In my case I wrote 'Rent flat for maximum rent to excellent long term tenant ASAP' and put a circle around it. Then, a couple of inches away, spread around the central circle I wrote down the major things I had to deal with to make this happen, put circles around each and linked them with a line from the central bubble so it looked a bit like spokes on a wheel.

Then from each of these I continued doing the same thing with the other items relating to each sub heading. And so on, adding items and sub items, until you got everything down. This is something like a brain dump.

In the end I had a sheet of paper covered with circles interconnected by lines that may have looked like doodling or scribbling to anyone else.

However, it contained everything I needed to do to achieve the central objective.

Not only that, I had clearly down on paper everything that I had previously held fuzzily in my mind, making it infinitely easier for me to see how to best take effective action. This gave me clarity and a framework from which to take action with confidence.

Once this is completed, you can work from this page, or put the items into one or more prioritised lists, or an action plan you can then work from. It's also likely you will find (as I did) that, once committed to paper and broken down, your problem will not seem as overwhelming as you thought it was.

There's another variation on this method, instead of putting the various items in interconnected circles, you can write the items on the lines branching out from the main subject in the centre of the page, and then on more lines branching out again into sub topics and related topics.

In this case you end up with a diagram that looks like many branches of a tree going in different direction from the centre. It's also remarkably like a drawing of how our brain cells interconnect.

Mind Maps are also excellent for taking notes of lectures or meetings, and for solving problems, which is really what my example above is. Because the information is laid out in a way more in line with how our brains work, Mind Maps also encourage creativity, stimulate our brains to help solve problems, and help us to remember information.

'Don't start your day until you have it finished on paper first.' - Jim Rohn