Sight the Target, Map the Path

While free association, brain and thought mapping sound good, they are only a step in the process, not the process itself.  Using these techniques is appropriate when you define the end result, goal or objective.  It can be compared to using boat-building as the  tool to get to every new world, regardless of what the appropriate path to the new world may be.  The most important paradigm to consider is “Ready, Aim, Fire,” rather than the excessively used “Ready, Fire, Aim”