• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Resources

Visual Productivity

When you look at it, it just makes sense!

  • Mind Mapping
  • Productivity
  • Persuasion
  • Motivation
  • Lifestyle

Mind Mapping

The Xtremely Good XMind Interview – YMM #28

May 10, 2013

http://traffic.libsyn.com/ymm/YMM028-The-Xtremely-Good-XMind-Interview.mp3

Right click to download podcast

Key Points from the XMind Interview:

XMind InterviewIn this episode of your making me podcast we go over some of the key points from the XMind interview I did with Steve Yang on a number of mind mapping topics.

I wanted to use the podcast to go over a couple things that I thought were really important from the interview, and I wanted to also let you know about something new I'll be doing this week.

This coming week I'm doing a 3-day blitz for my new mind mapping book. It's going be a lot of work, but I'm very excited about it and I can't wait to share the results next week.

In the podcast I also call for submissions. If you done something awesome this week, feel free to share with me. Head over to YoureMakingMe.com/episode28 and leave a comment.

You can also now leave audio feedback on the site so love to get your feedback there as well.

Other items mentioned in the podcast:

Fulll XMind Interview (In case you missed it)

How to Delete Revisions in XMind

Episode 27 of the YMM Podcast on 3-Day Blitzes

Listening Options:

  • iTunes
  • Stitcher Smartphone App (iOS and Android)
  • YoureMakingMe.com – Choose: Just the Friday Podcast or the Full Feed (1-3 posts/week)

Filed Under: Mind Mapping, Podcast

Exclusive Mind Mapping Interview With XMind

April 22, 2013

XMind-mind-mappingI managed to get an interview with Steve Yang from XMind and I'm excited to share it with you. Xmind produces Mind Mapping software with both free and paid versions.

Here's the quick backstory:

I've been using Xmind for the last 6 or 7 years and have been really happy with it, but I wanted to make sure that I was still using the best software, so I thought I'd put it to the test.

That led me to do a series of 7 mind mapping reviews, which I aptly dubbed 7 Reviews in About 7 Days (That link goes to YouTube so you can check them out).

I had a great time trying out all sorts of software and apps.

In the end, I was STILL very impressed with XMind, and it got me talking to their Marketing Manager Steve.

I asked a million questions and got some great answers, so I thought I'd share some of the results. We talk about a new version, iOS/Android, free and paid versions, and much more.

Here's the interview:

Why the free version?

Kevin: I’m blown away by what XMind offers in the base version. I guess my question is, why do you give so much away for free?

Steve: In my opinion, mind mapping is an very intelligent way to boost productivity and creativity. However, we know that most software tools are hard-to-use or very expensive. In 2008, we decided to release XMind as open source. So we made that decision to offer a free XMind with all basic mind mapping features.

The current version, XMind 2012, is powerful and easy-to-use and plays well for multiple contexts.

Any new mind mapping products in 2013?

[Read more…] about Exclusive Mind Mapping Interview With XMind

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

Mind Mapping for Productivity – YMM #26

March 23, 2013

http://traffic.libsyn.com/ymm/YMM026-Mind-Mapping-for-Productivity.mp3

Right click to download podcast

mind-mapping-for-productivityIn the last episode of the You're Making Me Podcast, we talked about the WHAT of mind mapping. What is it and WHAT can you do to get started.

This podcast episode focuses on the HOW of mind mapping for productivity.

In The Big One, I talk about the importance of the data in your mind maps.

The Top X of a Topic this week is a countdown of two. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's packed with plenty of good stuff. We'll go over the Top Two Ways to Use Mind Maps for Productivity.

In this episode you'll learn:

  • When you should avoid Word documents
  • How to get your mind mapping questions answered during my upcoming exclusive interview
  • How I lost 3 months worth of work
  • How to keep your day-to-day list “Clean”
  • How to implement the Top 3 ideas from last episode's Top X of a Topic [Read more…] about Mind Mapping for Productivity – YMM #26

Filed Under: Mind Mapping, Podcast

What is Mind Mapping, and Why Do You Need It? – YMM #25

March 15, 2013

http://traffic.libsyn.com/ymm/YMM025-What-is-Mind-Mapping-and-Why-Do-You-Need-It.mp3

Right click to download podcast

In this episode you'll learn:

  • mind-mappingWhat is a mind map?
  • How Mind Maps relate to the 3 Phases of Work (from Episode 23)
  • Why you should be on the lookout for Toni Braxton
  • What I consider a mind map my first line of defence in my productivity system
  • The 3 Basic ways to mind map
  • Why some Mind Mapping systems will make you look like an amateur
  • and much more

What's in this episode:

1:50 – The Big One: Why bother with mind maps?

3:55 – BiggerPlate.com

4:35 – Mind Mapping Reviews (7 in 7)

8:02 – Top X of a Topic: The 10 Reasons You Should Use Mind Maps

Other items mentioned in the podcast:

BiggerPlate.com

Kevin's YouTube Channel

Mind Mapping Demo

Other Listening Options:

iTunes
Stitcher Smartphone App (iOS and Android)
YoureMakingMe.com – Choose: Just the Podcast or the Full Feed (1-3 posts/week)

Filed Under: Mind Mapping, Podcast

The Best Mind Map Software for 2012 – XMind

September 28, 2012

XMind 2012 has just been released, and it has some cool features. Most are small tweaks to the system that make an already good program even better, but I think it ranks high as some of the best mind map software out there.

If you're not familiar with XMind, you should consider checking it out.

The free version still kicks butt. It's not a trial. It's actually free. 85% of you reading this will find the free version is perfect. The Pro Version obviously adds some sweet things, but try the free version first.


Direct Link to video on YouTube (In case the video doesn't show).

 

Updated features in XMind 2012

[Read more…] about The Best Mind Map Software for 2012 – XMind

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

Are Your Ideas Like Statues? They Should Be!

March 28, 2011

michelangelo-bless-you-all Have you ever wandered beside one of those old, half-completed statues and wondered if the artist ever planned on finishing what he or she started.

Did you actually prefer the statue how it was? Not so much because of what had been chipped away, but instead due to the mystery of what was still unrevealed.

You can’t put it back

When crafting a statue, once a piece of stone has been chipped away, there’s no way to put it back.

The same goes for ideas.

When you think new ideas, you’re chiselling away at, and further defining your personality. The ideas you have determine who’ll you become over the next 5-10 years. Whether that change is good or bad depends on the quality of your ideas.

A great starting point to having better ideas is to use a technique called mind dumping. It’s where you sit down and write down all the ideas you’ve been thinking about. You’ll be amazed how well this works, since much of what you think about each day are simply the same ideas rehashed over and over.

Here’s a link to a Mind Dumping Post I did with more information.

Your only two choices are to continue or stop

The reality of great ideas is this; you need to come up with a lot of bad ideas in order to get one good idea.

For most ideas, it’s best to simply discard them right away and that’s fine. The important thing is that you’re using your brain to think and exercising it like a muscle.

Other ideas will improve with effort and clarification. Your goal is to single out the ideas needing more work, and then work to refine them.

A great way to help direct your thoughts is to use a technique I call a Daily 21. In essence, you ask a question to yourself, and then write out the first 21 solutions that come to mind. It’ll clear your head and help you practice coming up with good solutions. Here’s a post on how to be more creative with a Daily 21.

It’s the refining process that differentiates your ideas from others

Great ideas are rarely thought of all in one sitting.

You may have had an idea floating around in your head, but it’s not until you sit down and refine your thoughts that the greatness really comes out.

I suggest using mind mapping to further refine it and flush out the relevant points. It’s remarkable how much further you’ll get by taking a few extra minutes to think about your ideas. Check out my post on free mind mapping tools.

OK, so I have all these great ideas. Now what?

Once you have a lot of ideas, you can either use them immediately, or save for later.

Part of what you’re doing is working to improve your process of solving problems. It takes practice, like any other skill, and the more you work on it, the better you get.

Hopefully, if you’re working on relevant topics, much of what you come up with will be useful to you in your daily life. You should remember that it’s people who can come up with good ideas quickly, that become known in their organizations and industries. With some practice that person could be you.

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

The Best Free Mind Mapping Tools

March 17, 2011

What’s a mind map?

mindmapA mind map is simply a visual way of organizing data.

Some people say mind maps are a more intelligent way of grouping information, because it lays everything out in a way that’s easier for our brains to understand. I’m not sure if that’s really true or not, but I’ve found that I’ve made gains in my productivity by using them.

Who created it?

According to Wikipedia, the techniques underlying Mind Mapping have been around for thousands of years. The first well regarded use was during the third century when Porphyry of Tyros graphically represented the various categories of Aristotle’s work.

Tony Buzan, an intelligence and memory author, coined the term Mind Mapping and trademarked it in the the 70’s. His marketing efforts are probably the reason why you’ve heard of Mind Maps.

Increase your productivity with mind maps

When new information comes in, I recommend organizing it right away, and this is where mind maps shine. You can use them to organize your life and also use them to take action on the most important of your tasks.

You can also plan upcoming projects by writing your major goal in the middle and then listing all the actions required to complete that goal as sub-categories.

When you’re done, you can easily see what you need to achieve each of your results.

Free mind mapping Software

Xmind

Price: Free and paid versions

Demo: Here's a video of me showing some of XMind's features.

This is what I use.

Xmind has made the whole mind mapping process simple and easy for me. I love it, and run a lot of my life from it.

The mind maps look nice, and the interface is easy to use.

notes-view The #1 feature that makes this a must have tool is the ability to add notes. You can add huge amounts of text into the notes field and save for later. The benefit of using notes, is that you can keep the stems for the mind map very short, but you can then go in depth using the notes field. It’s similar to keeping a bunch of word documents in a folder, but this is more visually appealing, as well as quicker and easier to use.

FreeMind

Price: Free

This is the free mind mapping program most people talk about online. I used it for a while, but could never really get into it.

The graphics are a bit ugly and it took me a while to get comfortable with it.

The great part of FreeMind is that it’s written in Java, so you don’t even have to install it to try it. It works with Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Free Mind Mapping Websites

Bubbl.us – A simple website that lets you create and share online mind maps.  You can try it out without having to signup.

Mind42.com – Nice online mind mapping tool. The site name is supposed to be read, Mind for Two.” It’s all about collaborating with others online. The site has a clean look and was easy to use when I tested it. A nice feature is the ability to attach sticky notes to the page to clarify or add emphasis wherever you need it. Sign up required, but it’s free.

Touchgraph – This is pretty cool. You can do a web search for anything, and see the results grouped together in a mind map. Note: The requires Java to load, so it may take an extra minute for the first search.

Text to MindMap – Let's you type out your ideas into an text editor. It'll automatically convert the text into a mind map. This works great, but it uses tabs to determine relationships, so you might need to take a few minutes to format the data before putting it through the site.

Wikimindmap – Searches Wikipedia for areas relating to your topic. The idea is cool, but the search results seem a bit limited to me.

Dropmind.com – You can use the web interface or downloadable client. This site works with Microsoft Silverlight so it looks sharp and has good functionality. If you want things to look pretty, check this one out. Free and paid versions available.

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

6 Ways You Can Be More Creative With A Daily 21

November 3, 2010

creativity A Daily 21 is a term I came up with that means asking a question and then writing down at least 21 solutions. Once you start, you don’t stop until there are 21 or more solutions. It’s an excellent way to wake your brain up in the morning.

How I got the idea

I came across the idea years ago when I heard motivational speaker Brian Tracy talk about the concept of “Mindstorming.” He said to ask a question and write out 20 answers to the question.

Then, a few years later, my sales coach Anne got me to do a similar technique. Anne personally used her technique every day to come up with some of the most insane and creative ideas I’ve ever heard of. People in the area flocked to her for business solutions.

How to do a Daily 21

When I sit down to answer my question I don’t get up until I’ve written down at least 21 ideas. I don’t like 20, because it seems like the typical amount you would set for a goal. I always like to go past my goals, so the 21st idea feels like a bonus to me.

Some days the ideas seem to flow and I can go on for pages, but other days I get stuck and have to think hard for the last five or ten. It’s great mental exercise and often times, the answers you come up with are immediately useful. If I have more than 21 ideas, I keep going, but if I’m struggling to get to 21, I force myself to keep at it until I hit the magical number.

How to think great ideas

The goal in a Daily 21 isn’t to have perfect ideas, but rather to sit down and think a lot of thoughts. Brilliant thinkers do just that. They think about a lot of things and can then select their best ideas from there.

unlimited-imagination6 Ways to Be More Creative With A Daily 21

1. It gets the old ideas out of your head so you can think new ideas

The simple act of writing or typing out your ideas helps flush them out of your mind so you can stop focusing on old ideas and start thinking about new and better ones. Just try it. Once you write down the five or ten ideas that you constantly think about a subject, you’ll suddenly find better ideas come out.

2. The first few ideas start normal, but the last few get creative

I bet the first five or six responses will come right off the top of your head right away. They’re the generic answers that float around in the front of your mind. It’s usually not until the 18th or 19th ideas that the gems start to come out. That’s when you start stretching your mind and come up with something new.

3. It only takes a few minutes, so if none of your ideas are good, you haven’t wasted much time

It’s rare that you’ll ever come up with 21 ideas that are all duds, but sometimes that’s the case. Luckily, a Daily 21 only takes five or ten minutes to complete, and it still exercised your thinking abilities. Here’s the real cool part. If you do another Daily 21 on the same topic the next day, or even later the same day, you’ll usually come up with better results.

4. Great ideas often come from crazy ideas

In most brainstorming sessions, when someone blurts out a funny or silly answer, someone else will usually say, “That’s stupid,” and kill the creative process. Making a list only for yourself lets you write out every idea, even the crazy ones. It gets the crazy ideas out of your head, and you’d be surprised  how many great ideas come from crazy ones. The secret is to take the crazy idea and try to make it ‘slightly’ more realistic.

5. If you tell someone, “I’ll think about that problem and get back to you,” you can follow through and actually help them out

If you tell someone that you’ll think about some sort of problem, you can take 5-10 minutes during your breakfast or daily commute and do just that. You can then pick the top two or three solutions out of the 21 to share with them.

6. Like anything, the more you do it, the better you get

Like anything, when you’re first starting out, you may get mixed results. After doing Daily 21s for a few days, or a few weeks, you’ll start to see some pretty cool results. Let me know how it goes.

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

Clear your head by MindDumping

April 13, 2009

minddump Here’s a little gem I like to use.  It’s called MindDumping and it’s a great way to ratchet up your productivity.  Most people have a lot of ideas, plans, and goals floating around in their head.  It’s great to have a lot of ideas, but if you never write them down, they just keep distracting you.

How MindDumping Works

The way to clear your head is incredibly easy.  Simply sit down with pen and paper or a blank word processor file (no spell checker).  Then, make a list of everything you can think of.  Write down actions, plans, desires, and dreams.  The order doesn’t matter, just the fact that you are getting ideas out of your head and putting them somewhere.  When MindDumping, your only goal is to write down every idea you can think of.  Keep going until you are seriously out of ideas.

If an idea come to mind again after you’ve already written it down, write it out again.  You can always cross it out later.  The key is to keep your pen moving the whole time.  Keep writing.    You will probably find that you can write for 20, 30, even 60 minutes before you run out of ideas.

Benefits of MindDumping

There are two benefits of MindDumping.

1. The most obvious benefit is that you now have a to do list with all the things you should be doing.  It will be a little messy, but is still effective.

2. The second benefit is that you’ve just gotten all the old, stale thoughts out of your mind and made room for new ideas.  The mere process of MindDumping will make your brain feel alive, but the true benefit is when you start coming up with new, fresh ideas.  These days, success is all about being fresh and innovative.  Here’s a tool to help you out in that department.

Where to do it

The best way to MindDumping is to keep a notebook with you and write down new ideas as they come to you.  You’re probably very busy, so if you don’t write the idea down immediately, it might be gone for good.

Airplanes are also great places.  I prefer putting my laptop away and taking out a pen and notebook.  I know that I'll need to copy most of it onto the computer again, but get some of my best ideas this way.

Another alternative is to do it when you’re waiting in line.

Can I use a computer or smart phone?

You can use anything you’d like to copy your ideas.  You could use an iPhone, laptop, or whatever; it’s your choice.  I’ve tried pretty much every option out there, but I feel I’m the most creative when I go off the grid and scribble in my notebook.  That’s why I use pen and paper about 70% of the time and electronic options for the other 30%.

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

4 Ways to Stimulate Your Imagination

November 26, 2008

Here is a great list of ways to stimulate your imagination.

It's from The Law of Success, Volume II: Principles of Personal Power (The Law of Success) by Napoleon Hill.

The Law of Success
4 Ways to Stimulate Your Imagination

  1. Counsel of Advisors.  Imagine yourself at a table surrounded by leaders you respect.  The secret is to ask each leader how they would solve the problem.
  2. Seek Random Inspiration.  Choose a book like the bible, a quote book, or a biography of an inspirational figure and turn to a page at random.  Ready the first sentence you see.
  3. Turn the world upside down.  Make a list of the 4 or 5 major components of your problem.  Underneath each one, write down what the opposite of that situation would be.
  4. Go away.  Sometimes too much focus on a problem can constrain you.  Going away will break up your thinking.

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Go to page 5
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

cheat sheet

Categories

  • Learning
  • Lifestyle
  • Mind Mapping
  • Motivation
  • Persuasion
  • Podcast
  • Productivity

Copyright © 2007–2023 Visual Productivity · Affiliate Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use