• 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

Visual Productivity Content Audit

September 19, 2016

 

content audit

I performed a content audit on Visual Productivity because I wanted to make sure that every post and page on my site will provide you with exceptional content. I've gone through each post and left some alone, queued up some for re-writing, and marked several others for deletion.

If you find yourself being redirected to this page, there's a good chance it was from a page that no longer exists.

Why would I delete anything?

I'm deleting a lot of posts, because I've made a lot of changes to this blog since I started it in 2007. The name has changed, from YoureMakingMe to Visual Productivity, and the topics I write on have changed a few times.

When I first contemplated deleting posts I dismissed the idea – telling myself it was crazy.

I figured that more content was better than less content. That argument seems logical, but it's actually wrong. It's much better to have fewer posts, but make sure they're higher quality. I've grown a lot as a writer over the past several years too. I'm not perfect by any means, but as I look back on some of the content I've produced, I know I can do it better now. That's why some post will be deleted, but others will be rewritten to improve upon ideas that I still think are great. My goal is to make my older posts as enjoyable to read as my newer content.

When will the rewrites be done?

There are several dozen posts that I've marked for rewrite, so the process will take a while. I'll check in from time to time to let you know how things are going. I still plan on posting new content regularly and upping my video production significantly going forward, so I'll be clear that the rewrites will be done, but everything will happen in the order that it's prioritized.

New topic breakdown

All posts will be gradually transferred over into one of four different categories:

  • Visual Mapping – All things visual. Mostly visual mapping and definitely including more software brands than I have in the past.
  • Learning – I'll set out a series of learning challenges. You can follow along as I challenge myself to learn new skills and information. I'll be sharing the tools I use and the results I achieve.
  • Creativity – This is all about coming up with great ideas and innovative solutions.
  • Productivity – I'll still be sharing a lot of ideas and tips about being productive.
  • Reviews (maybe)– I may add a section to showcase the most current reviews. I'm not completely sure, but we'll see what happens once I've finished my updates.

The content on the site will be similar in some cases, and completely different for other categories. I'm very excited about what's in store going forward.

The Stats

Visual Productivity Posts

Starting # of Posts: 267

Ending # of Posts: 185

Posts deleted: 82

Posts rewritten: ???

YouTube Videos

Starting # of videos# 157

Ending # of videos: 110

Videos Deleted: 47

 

 

 

Filed Under: Productivity

How to Split The Screen in XMind 7

April 29, 2016

One of our blog readers sent in a question. Maria asked how to split the screen in XMind 7. This is a tip that you're probably not aware of, so I figured it was time to make a video showing how to do this.

There are actually two ways. One requires some basic drag and drop skills. The other uses an often-forgotten member of the XMind family to help us out.

Here's the video:

YouTube Link

Two ways to split the screen in XMind 7

Option 1 – Split existing window

resize in existing window

1.                 Option 1 – Split existing window

1.1.      This is shown in the first half of the video

1.2.      Make sure you have at least two workbooks open

1.2.1.                 Workbooks are the tabs at the top of the screen

1.2.2.                 They're the different XMind files you've created

1.2.3.                 This won't work for the tabs at the bottom of the screen

1.3.      Left click on the tab you want to move AND hold the button down

1.4.      Bring your mouse down into the map window

1.4.1.                 You can move it to the right, left, top, or bottom

1.4.2.                 There are some white lines that will show on the screen to show where the workbook will go

1.4.3.                 The lines can sometimes be hard to see

1.5.      Let go of the mouse button

1.5.1.                 XMind will move the workbook to the side of the screen you've chosen

All other workbooks will be moved to the other half of the screen

Option 2 – Use XMind Portable

use xmind portable

1.1.      Shown 2:00 into video

1.1.1.                 Here's a link to the exact spot

1.2.      Download XMind Portable

1.2.1.                 Link to XMind.net download page

1.3.      Unzip XMind Portable

1.4.      Put the files somewhere on your computer

1.4.1.                 You can just stick them in the Program files folder

1.4.1.1.    I have having things like this on my desktop

1.4.2.                 I would rename it in case you ever need to find it

1.4.2.1.    XMind 7 Portable

1.5.      Create a shortcut

1.5.1.                 Go into the folder you've created

1.5.1.1.    And into the folder of whichever version you're using

1.5.2.                 Right click (Command click) on the Application

1.5.3.                 Choose “Create Shortcut”

1.5.3.1.    Rename the shortcut so you don't confuse it with the regular version of XMind

1.5.3.2.    XMind 7 Portable

1.5.4.                 Drag the shortcut to your desktop or some other handy page

1.6.      Open one map in the regular version of XMind and the other in the portable version

This tip is available in the XMind 7 cheat sheet

If you don't already have your copy of the XMind 7 cheat sheet now's a good time.

The cheat sheet is a collection of tutorials I've put together to answer common questions about XMind. The cheat sheet is and XMind workbook with links to dozens of videos I've done and includes detailed answers to many common questions. I just ask for an email opt-in so I can stay in touch.

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

How to Add a New Dictionary in XMind 7

April 27, 2016

adding a new dictionary in XMind 7I was recently asked a question by a fellow mapper about how to add a new dictionary in XMind 7.

I've personally never done this, so I did a little research and checked in with my contact over at XMind. I'll show you a way to do it in XMind 7, and I'll also drop some hints of what might be coming in the future.

XMind's suggested process

The current official instructions can be found over on XMind's helpdesk site.

Here's the excerpt:

How to add my own dictionary into XMind?

Last Updated: Apr 26, 2016 04:53PM HKT
In XMind, the default spell checking uses English dictionary (.dict). If English is not your major language, you can add your own language dictionary into XMind with the following steps.
  • Get your own dictionary (normally it will be .dict, .txt or .dic file),
  • Change the file extension to .dict, if it's not,
  • Launch XMind, open Preferences from Edit menu (it's under XMind menu on Mac OS X),
  • Open Spelling page (Preferences — Spelling),
  • Click Add button, select your .dict file and add into XMind,
  • Click Apply button to save changes in XMind.
The page also provides a link to some dictionaries that have been shared by a user of XMind. You might find the language you're looking for here – http://www.winedt.org/dict.html . I visited the site and found that some of the languages have been updated recently, but others haven't been changed in several years, meaning that some newer terms won't be included in the dictionary.

Some people having issues

I understand that some people have been having issues with trying to add a new dictionary in XMind 7.
From one of the articles on XMind's helpdesk it look like some people are having challenges getting various dictionaries to work when they're not in the UTF-8 format. There are a few suggestions mentioned. I haven't tried either of them, and I'm not vouching for the conversion software mentioned as I know nothing about it.
This isn't my area of expertise, so I'm mostly adding this post as a starting point, rather than a definitive guide to action.

Something Important to keep in mind

XMind currently supports only one dictionary at a time.
That means that when you add a new dictionary to XMind 7 you will permanently delete the default English dictionary. That may not be a big deal to you, but I want to make sure you're aware of it before attempting to make changes to your installation.

Looking ahead to the future

And finally. I had a good email conversation with the people over at XMind. My contact let me know that they're working on a dictionary fix for the next version of XMind. That means we'll likely see an update to this over the next few months.
In the meantime, keep mapping away.

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

I’m Updating to yWriter 6 for My Book Writing

February 7, 2016

ywriter 6

For some reason I felt like checking to see if there were any updates to one of my favourite pieces of software. I was happily surprised to find out that Simon Haynes, over at Spacejock Software has released yWriter 6. yWriter is the software I've used to write all of my books.

This is breaking news for me, but it turns out that the newest software was released in July 2015. I'm a few months behind the curve. Luckily, I finally figured things out. Yay!

My Story

I started using yWriter when I was writing my motivational fable, Diamonds and Silver back in 2008. Up until I found yWriter, I felt like I kept running up against a wall every time I sat down to write.

The book started out as ideas in a Word document.

As the file got longer, I found it hard to find my place whenever I wanted to add to my draft. I tried splitting up my book by chapters. That helped a bit, but I found I would sometimes get into that old Word Doc issue of having to open up five documents in order to find the place where I wanted to write. Writing was going slow, and so I started searching for a different solution.

At first, yWriter seemed like overkill. It has areas where you can describe your locations and characters. I've never used those tools, but instead focus on the things that work well for me.

I stopped using Word Documents for writing that very day

The first day I started using yWriter, I could see an instant transformation.

My book was finished in no-time.

Here's why. It was now incredibly easy to open the file, and be at the exact spot in the exact scene I wanted to write on in only a few seconds. Now, instead of trying to write the book from the beginning to the end, I was able to race to the computer when inspiration struck, and write scenes from different parts of the novel out of sequence.

It felt amazing.

On that first day, I also went through most of the Word Documents I was using to store information from the web and other sources. I organized it into several yWriter books, with chapters and scenes.

My two favourite yWriter 6 features

I know the software isn't focused on being a personal database, but that's exactly what it is for me. The organizational structure lets you prepare information for courses, research, news, and makes it remarkably easy to find what you've stored.

One of the biggest features for me how everything is stored. yWriter uses RTF files to store all the information you put in. It works as a database, but the RTF files can be opened by any modern word processing program. If you ever choose to move to a different platform, your files will still all be usable.

The other powerful feature I love is the backup system. The software automatically creates a backup file each time you open a “Book” in yWriter. This means you're always able to go back and see exactly where something was on a particular date. It's also nice to be able to see how many days you actually worked on a file by going into the backup folder and looking at the individual backup points (stored in individual folders).

Like I said before, I don't even use 80% of the novel writing features in the software. It's the 20% of the functions though that are what makes me rave about yWriter.

Should I upgrade?

As of right now there aren't may changes from yWriter 5. If you're currently using yWriter, you can probably hold off for a bit. If you haven't tried yWriter, then this is probably a good chance. It's completely free to use and won't take much time to check out.

Here's a video review I did of yWriter way back in 2011. It'll have to keep you going until I find the time to get an update video out.

YouTube Link

I'll keep you updated on this one, and we'll see about getting a few tutorials out when version 6 gets the next update.

Filed Under: Productivity

The 10 Second Tip That Got Me Using My DSLR Camera

February 7, 2016

using the exposure meter

I've wanted to get good at using my DSLR camera for a while now. Mostly so I can take better videos to put up on YouTube. But I figured that since I had a good camera, I might as well put some effort in to learning how to take great pictures with it as well. The fact that we'd be spending a year or more in Abu Dhabi made it seem like an even better idea.

My nephew was amazing and gave my wife and I a nice, entry-level model as a present. I learned how a camera received as a gift can get expensive quickly. Like most people will tell you, the real expense from a camera is after you purchase it, mostly resulting from all the extra lenses and gear you “think” you need.

Anyway, lets get back to learning how to use the new camera.

I tried to get booked up

My first thought was to go online and read a bunch or articles.

I found plenty of blog posts, some including diagrams that purportedly demonstrated how to use a camera properly. I read the articles and absorbed some of the material, but never really felt like I fully grasped my camera.

You see, reading about how to take good photos is great, but I was just doing a lot of reading, and not really taking many photos.

One small visual cue changed everything

YouTube Link

Even though there was a huge manual with my camera, there was only one thing I needed to be taught.

Unfortunately it wasn't until we had friends come to visit over Christmas break that things got exciting. My friend Erick had also recently gotten into photography and I credit him with giving me the most incredibly simple tip, that got me excited about taking good photos.

He asked me one day why I wasn't shooting in manual. I told him, I still didn't fully grasp how the aperture, ISO, and shutter speed all went together to produce a good photo.

I'd asked similar questions before, and nobody had been able to give me a 10 second answer like Erick was about to.

He said, “Do you see that little meter on the settings screen?”

exposure meter

He pointed to a meter that I had never paid attention to before. It was a scale from -3 to 3.

“Yeah.”

“That's what shows you whether your picture is overexposed or underexposed. Adjust mostly the shutter speed and aperture to get the exposure right.”

He continued, “Keep the ISO as low as possible, but don't be scared to crank it up when you're inside.”

As he explained, he showed me quickly how to quickly change the settings. It was easy.

He gave me a few more tips, but that was pretty much it.

I went out and spent the next two weeks roving all over and actually using my DSLR camera to take photos.

So you think you're a pro now?

Nope.

Definitely not.

What all my learning has done is open my eyes to how much more there is to learn. I'm seeing things more granularity now. It's a powerful feeling.

The good news is now that I've got a good handle on the camera setting, I can spend more time thinking about the photo composition (how the photo is setup), modeling positions, and everything else I still need to learn.

Connection to visual learning

I've been doing a lot of research and learning on making users badass. That's a term used by Kathy Sierra. If you haven't checked out her video, I suggest you give it a watch.

She talks mostly about computer coding, but the lessons are universal for creating anything you want people to use.

In hindsight. The biggest thing my exposure meter trick did was remove a derailleur. Sierra talks about derailleurs as things that pull us away from our goal. My issue with learning to use my camera was a problem with not getting feedback. Now that I could use the exposure meter, I was quickly able to get good exposure levels for my photos without having to use a flash.

And all it really took was someone looking over my shoulder giving quick suggestions, and me taking 2000+ photos over the course of 10 days.

Anyway. That's it for now. This was just a fun story that I wanted to share.

Filed Under: Persuasion

XMind 7 Tip – Can you change pages in presentation mode?

January 12, 2016

I was recently asked about changing pages while in presentation mode in XMind. I came up with three ways and made an explainer video to demonstrate them.

Here's the question:

presentation mode question

I'll also added this tutorial to the XMind 7 Cheat Sheet. It'll be available from version 0.6 onward.

Here's the video:

YouTube Link

Presentation Mode is a PRO feature

This tip will only work if you have the paid version of XMind 7.  When it's time to upgrade, don't forget about my bonuses.

 

 

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

Final Results From the Get Driver Fit Challenge

November 26, 2015

2015-11-16-post-workout

I'm at the end of my Get Driver Fit challenge. I spent seven weeks focusing on working out most days and eating the right foods more often than not. It's time to look at my final results and see what the numbers say.

I'm happy with the dedication I showed in my workouts. I started a habit of doing 40 minutes of cardio most days during the last seven weeks.
I didn't see a lot of weight come off which might seem weird, but my body composition has changed tremendously.

Here's a before and after video from the night of my final results:

YouTube Link

My final results

final-results-exercises
Each exercise was translated into a score out of 10.

Like I said above, I'm happy with my final results. I built a habit of fitness and health back into my daily routine. I might not win an award for losing the most weight in seven weeks, but my plan is sustainable.

Sit and reach

6 weeks ago: 0 cm
Now: 8 cm

I felt good doing this stretch. I found a video on YouTube showing a variation of the Yoga position, Downward Facing Dog. I tried it out and found my hamstrings really loosened up. This stretch is definitely a winner for me, and I'll keep it up as I move forward.

Shuttle Run

Beginning: 260 m
Now: 200 m
The first time I did the shuttle run, we had lots of space because it was done at the Formula 1 track. The shuttle run course was 30 m that night.

During the finale, there wasn't as much room. We did the challenge using cones 10 m apart.

The first night I did 13 direction changes and I had space to get up to full speed. In contrast, on the final night, I did 19 direction changes on the much shorter course.

I would have liked to come closer to my fist night's performance, but I'm not going to stress out about it…. beyond sitting here figuring out how many times I changed direction each time.

Push ups

Beginning: 30
Now: 45

I focused on going all the way down. I could have done a lot more if I was cheating. I think 45 “legit” push ups in one minute is good. The instructors told us we could drop to our knees, but I chose to count only ones done on my toes.

Lay down and stand up

Beginning: 24 (but I accidentally cheated)
Now: 18

18 is a solid number for this exercise. I'm happy with this.

I found a great video on YouTube where it showed a guy rolling up without using his hands. I tried to emulate that, but my flexibility wasn't in a place to let me do that. Instead I focused on economy of movement. I rolled up in a linear fashion and tried to push up from both hands equally. I hated this exercise the first time I did it, but now it's just something else I can do. I don't think I'll go out and do these every day, but who knows. They're actually really tough.

Squats

Beginning: 60 – I think
Now – 60

I focused on going down so my thighs were parallel with the ground. I went as fast as I could, but when you're going deep, it takes longer to perform them. I could have done better, but I felt like I was going pretty fast.

My body measurements

final-results-measurements

The body measurements are harder to measure. The numbers all have different possible totals. Total possible points was 50. My score of 23 shows there's still room for improvement.

Here's how that breaks down:

  • Waist___/6
  • Waist to hip ratio:___/20
  • Waist to height___/4
  • BMI: ___/20
  • Total:___/50

 

Overall thoughts

That's the end of the challenge for me.

There were a lot of positives that came out of it.

My biggest takeaway is that I set up my routine of working out most days. Not every day. Not 5 days a week. Just most days. I don't want to think in terms of absolutes.

From here, I'll keep up my routine and make it a permanent part of my life. I guess the weirdest thing is that I never thought I'd ever get out of shape. But work and life often get in the way of well laid-out plans.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave me a comment below.

 

Filed Under: Lifestyle

New Stormboard Features

November 10, 2015

new stormboard featuesStormboard is an online collaboration tool that has a Kanban feel to it. You can write out sticky notes, collaborate with others around the world, and vote (and chat) on the ideas. It's very streamlined and easy to pick up.

According to the Stormboard site you can:

Brainstorm, organize, prioritize and act on the best ideas, in the same room or around the world, on a realtime sticky note whiteboard.

See the top new Stormboard features in action

YouTube Link

Want to see the review from last year?

I did a review of Stormboard last year as part of the Visual Mapping Review Series 2014. You can check it out to see more about the voting, commenting, and other aspects of Stormboard.

List of new Stormboard features

(Descriptions taken from Stormboard's press release)

Removed the sidebars – Getting rid of the sidebar gives you more room on your screen to work with your ideas.

Double Click to add ideas – To add ideas, all you need to do is double click (or double tap on a tablet or touchscreen) and a new dialog will pop up for you to create your sticky. If you want to quickly create multiple ideas, click the rapid fire button and after you add an idea the dialog will pop back up and you can create another one.

“Rapid fire is awesome”

– Kevin

One drive and Box Integration – Add ideas from your One Drive or Box accounts and have them embedded straight into your storm.

Align to grid – You could always align stickies to a grid by holding down the shift-key and dragging across the wall. Now it’s even better to give you more flexibility on how you line up your ideas. “This is like a new toy for me” – Kevin

Document Viewer – Now when you upload a PDF, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel or Microsoft PowerPoint document into Stormboard (via drag and drop or from Box or One Drive) you’ll be able to preview those documents right inside Stormboard.

Sketching on top of images – Draw on top of images that you’ve uploaded! This is great for working together on screen mockups or photo edits or logo designs.

Insert videos – Search Youtube from right inside Stormboard and with one click, add that video to your storm. You can still paste a private video link in the search box and it will add it too!

Template picker – This template picker makes it easy to search for a template and preview it. Additionally all templates are now resizable! And with an awesome bit of magic, your ideas will stay in the same sections when you change the size of your template!

Storm switcher – The new storm switcher makes it super easy to switch between storms. the list is sorted by the last active storm so it’s easy to flip between projects you’re working on.

What's your favourite new Stormboard feature?

Let me know your thoughts in the comments down below.

Filed Under: Productivity

How I’m Going to Hack the Get Driver Fit Test

November 9, 2015

 

Get Driver Fit - Week 1 Photo
The official photo taken that night

I'm taking part in the Get Driver Fit challenge here in Abu Dhabi. It's a fitness challenge designed to get people of varying fitness levels back into shape.

Here's a link to the article with the complete backstory.

Isn't hacking cheating

I don't mean hacking as far as hacking into their computer system and changing my results. You've probably already guessed that I mean the other definition, but just in case you're not familiar, let's head over to the always useful Urban Dictionary.

According to the Urban Dictionary:

Hack

A clever solution to a tricky problem

I got the idea for this by reading about how athletes train to perform better at the NFL (American Football) combine. Here's an article on Yahoo Sports talking about how they improve results in as little as 6-8 weeks.

A lot of the hacks come down to improved technique. It could be something as simple as which foot you have forward at the beginning of an exercise, or which exercises you focus on during the preparation phase of your training.

Like I've said in my previous article, I'm not planning on winning the competition, but I always like to have fun with whatever I do. Learning better technique is definitely fun for me.

 

The Fitness Test

During the first week of testing, all contestants were put through five different tests. I've listed them in the chart down below.

 

Get Driver Fit - Week 1 Fitness Test Results

 

Here's the breakdown:

  • Squats:___/10
  • Push-ups:___/10
  • Lay downs:___/10
  • Shuttle runs:___10
  • Sit and Reach Flexibility:___/10
  • Total___/50

Now that I know what they'll be measuring, I'll use that knowledge to perform better and look for ways to improve my results on those specific tests.

The one thing I can focus on with desire is the fitness portion of the Get Driver Fit test. As of the time of writing, I have a little more than two weeks left in this seven week contest.

The Five Tests:

Squats

I'm not worried about doing squats. That's the one exercise I feel like I don't need to worry about. I'll just pick a few days to practice doing as many as possible in a minute to get an idea for timing and pacing.

Push ups

Push ups are one of the exercises where a lot of people “Cheat” by not going down far enough. The official instruction for this exercise were to touch your chest to the floor. Most people never go down that low because push ups are significantly harder when you go past a 90 degree bend in your elbows.

I had been doing push ups leading up to the first test, so I had moderate expectations of what I could do. The extra few inches of travel from having parallel upper arms to touching my chest to the floor proved to be my downfall. I also gassed myself by starting too early during the drill.

Kevin's results: 30 in 1 minute.

Hacks

I'll do one minute intervals of push ups to train. That's the big thing. I'll also focus on how wide I place my hands. Wider hand placement means less distance to travel, but too wide will put way more stress on my shoulders. I'll try both distances from the video below and see which one feels better to me.

Tip: I heard a good tip from YouTuber Simon Lendore. He said hit the start button on your timer, and then give yourself 5 seconds before you start actually doing pushups. That way you're not rushing to get to the first rep. I like it.

There are a lot of videos on YouTube of people doing push ups for a minute. Here's a video where Tony Horton from P90X fame was challenged by US  Senior Airman Ryan Torralba. Wow! They're both incredible.

I also just saw a video where a guy did 27 push ups while doing a hand stand. Lol. At least I beat him.

Lay downs

I had never tried this particular drill before.

You start from a standing position. Then roll back onto the floor, touching your head and one hand to the floor. Your legs must straighten out completely. Then you get up off your back and return to a standing position.

When I was doing my testing, I learned quickly that I could roll into a ball and then swing my legs back down to create momentum to bring me back to standing. Unfortunately, that was cheating. My legs were supposed to be straight out in from of me.

Kevin's results: I think I did 23 in one minute but I was unknowingly cheating. We'll need to put an asterisk beside that number.

Hacks

This one was hard to find on YouTube. Luckily I found the perfect video. The one I've attached shows a guy doing lay down's with the exact technique I'll try to emulate. He's not reaching over his head as he lays down (to touch the back of his hand to the floor), but otherwise it's the same movement.

This guy isn't using his hands at all to push up from the ground. That would be awesome if I could do that. I'm just not sure if I can get flexible enough and fine tune my balance in time to make this work.

Here's the video:

Shuttle Run

There are three cones placed 10m, 20m, and 30m from the start line. You have one minute to go as far as possible. You first run to the 10m cone. Then back to the start line. Then it's off to the 20m cone and back to the start line. Finally you run all the way to the 30m cone and back. When you've competed one set, you repeat the same sequence as many times as possible.

Kevin's results: Two full sets plus once more to the 10m cone and back. My total distance was 260m.

Hacks

There are four things I'm going to focus on for this test.

  1. One is overall cardio and good form when running. Seven weeks is plenty of time to build my cardio base. I've done an OK job, but now I'm down to two weeks before the final evaluation.
  2. Muscular endurance. I could feel my legs burning as they were flooded with lactic acid. I'll be incorporating one minute intervals into both my cycling and running training to get back in the habit of dealing with this.
  3. Perform shuttle runs. The best way to get good at something is to do it. This test need a lot more space than the others, and the distances should be measured fairly carefully. I haven't done any shuttle runs since that first test (five weeks ago), so it's something I need to look into.
  4. I found a great video on how to train for the NFL combine shuttle run. It's similar to what I'll be doing, but the NFL test is designed to be a quicker, more explosive test. I'm going to incorporate this into my training and see if it'll help me out as I accelerate out of each change in direction.

Here's the video. It's about 9 minutes, but it's really informative.

 “The faster and more efficient the arms are, the faster and more efficient the legs will be.”

NFL Combine Trainer: Pete Bommarito

Sit and reach flexibility

60% of my room to improve.

You sit down with your legs out in front of your and try to touch your toes. If you can reach your toes exactly (like I did), you get a zero. If you can go further, they'll measure how far past your toes you reach in centimeters. If can can't quite reach your toes, they'll record how far away you get and will write it down as a negative number on your sheet.

Kevin's results: I got to my toes exactly, so I recorded a zero.

Hacks

The obvious hack for this test is to stretch my hamstrings and calves thoroughly over the next few weeks and improve my overall flexibility. An addition way to improve my distance will be sit down and stretch a minute or two before I do the test to reduce tightness from the walk or jog to the station.

I found a video on how to improve hamstring flexibility. It mostly recommends doing a modified downward facing dog stretch from yoga. I'll give this a try and report back.

Burpees

The final test was burpees. They were omitted from the initial testing, but I have no idea whether I might need to perform them in the end or not, so I'll try to do a few one minute intervals of them in preparation.

Kevin's Results: During the third week of training, I performed 20 burpees in a minute, which is decent.

Body Measurements

The second half of the physical component included weighing myself and taking reading on height, waist, and hip measurements.

According to the following chart, my body is a disaster. Lol.

Get Driver Fit - Week 1 Body Measurements

Here's how that breaks down:

  • BMI: ___/20
  • Waist___/6
  • Waist to hip ratio:___/20
  • Waist to height___/4
  • Total:___/50

I scored 19 points out of a possible 50. There's not much I can focus on to improve these results beyond doing the right things like exercising regularly and being selective about what I eat.

The one line I heard (I don't remember where) is to not tell yourself you can't eat something. Instead you say, “I can eat anything I want, but I choose not to eat that.” That simple change is huge. It takes something from forbidden fruit status to just another think I could choose to eat.

My weight was 101.4 KG (223.5 lbs) on the first day of the competition. I haven't weighed myself since that first night, and won't until the last day. I feel awesome that I'm focusing on doing the right things consistently and not stressing out about small fluctuations in weight.

I am where I am right now and nothing will change that. All I can do is move forward.

– Kevin

Two weeks to go!

I have two weeks to go before the final test. I'm excited to see where I end up.

It's too bad that I waited so long to do this post. Otherwise we could have seen how much of a change in the results I could have had using my hacks for a month an a half.

Oh well. I'll push myself and we'll see where I end up.

Feel free to leave me some encouragement below if you're reading this post.

Filed Under: Lifestyle

XMind 7 New Features

November 5, 2015

XMind 7 is currently in Beta (until end of November 2015), but we can still talk about the new features and updates that will be part of the newest version.

The people over at XMind  posted a list of all the new features. I've copied over some text directly from that post, and I'll use it as a starting point. XMind's promo blurbs are italicized and my thoughts follow.

There are 10 new features in XMind 7. Here we go:

XMind 7 new features

A Brand New UI

XMind 7 user interface

A new toolbar with new large icons. A more clear style of the window. Re-designed tab bars. A more clear style of the Properties View. Improved markers and clip art library. It’s the biggest upgrade from our first release! We try our best at look-and-feel on XMind 7 and believe it will inspire you!

There's definitely a sleeker and more modern look to the user interface (UI). XMind has gone to a flat look, which is a trend we're seeing across more tools. XMind already has one of the most visually appealing UIs out of the box and this new update keeps them moving forward.

One thing I noticed the first time I started XMind 7 is that fact that the Open link on menu bar is gone. I love using short cuts (Ctrl+O), but for some reason, I like using the open icon on the menu bar more than I do in other programs. I think it's because I have my hand glued to the mouse more than in other programs. I'm a fan of reducing menu clutter, but I might suggest that the open short cut stays.

A New Home Panel

XMind 7 home panel

Every time you start XMind 7, the brand new Home Panel serves you. With the panel you can create mind map from structures, choose an elegant theme, open recent used files. You can also pin a file, in order to see it every time before you work.

I like the ability to choose exactly which format you want to use by visually seeing it. The Home screen lets you toggle between blank map views and the available templates.

I have a few mind maps I constantly use, so I always want XMind to open my “Main” workbook. I noticed that the current version of the beta displays the home screen for a few seconds even though I have it set to show my personal map. That's probably something they'll tidy up before the final release.

Huge Improvements on Gantt Chart

XMind 7 Gantt chart

Converting Mind Maps to Gantt Charts, is one of the best practices of project management. Now you can add/modify task info directly in Gantt Chart view, including start/end date, assignee, priority and progress. XMind 7 also allows exporting Gantt to images/PDF, or printing it.

Being able to print (including to PDF) a Gantt chart is a huge win. I've had several email discussions with users about this topic over the past year. It's an item I've had on my wishlist for new features.

The other change to the Gantt view is the added ability to update some information right in the timeline view. Now you don't need to go into the Task View to make all those changes.

Those features may seem small, but those of you who use Gantt charts on a regular basis will be all over this.

FYI: Gantt charts are only available with Pro version, but you can test it out while XMind 7 is still in beta until November 30, 2015.

Information Card

XMind 7 information card

XMind 7 provides a better way to show detail information. We call it an Information Card. In Information Cards, you can choose to show or hide labels, notes, hyperlinks and tasks. It's found directly under the topic.

This a cool feature that I think won't get much love, but this makes plenty of sense. I like labeling topics in XMind, but the downside is that the label makes that particular topic (node) higher. That means the look of the map gets weird if you add too many. A lesser-known benefit of labels is the ability to use them as a filtering tool.

I can see information cards being useful for when you're demonstrating a map and don't want to be distracted by extra detail. I'd also use then before I take a screen shot of what I'm working on to send to a colleague to reduce the clutter in the image.

What would be really good is if you could hide all labels, notes, and hyperlinks across an entire map.

I actually couldn't find this feature in the version of the beta I'm working on. If you find it, leave me a comment and let me know where it is. I haven't tried it yet, but I like the idea behind it.

Comments

XMind 7 comments

You may send your inspirational thoughts within an XMind file to your colleague or a friend. Ask for their comments. And in XMind 7, they can actually Comment on your mind map, instead of modifying the map directly. Sometimes, no comment is a comment.

I like the comments feature so far. XMind has needed a collaboration tool like this where notes can be fixed to certain nodes. This seems to fit the bill. A tool like this is huge for getting feedback from a team, or starting a discussion with others on a shared map.

This feature lets you add a comment directly to an individual topic. It looks similar to a note (just to the right of the text), so you can see which topics have comments by looking at the map. You can also see all comments in a separate window, which makes it much easier to review and act on any recommendations. Each comment is tagged with the name you use as part of your XMind setup, so you even know who's saying what (as long as everyone uses their own computer to comment).

One point to look into. I would have liked to been able to click on the comment and use the Delete key to remove it instead of having to right click and select Delete from the menu. That seemed like too much work to delete.

 Callout

XMind 7 callout

Callout is a funny way for additional text. In XMind 7, Callout is not only a shape, but also a real attachment to a topic. It also has sub-topics.

What? Callouts can have sub-topics?

This is a great feature. What a slick way to add extra information and catch your attention, without having to create a label, or another topic.

The callout catches your eye, as it looks like a text dialogue box from a cartoon. It's speaking right to you. The ability to add child topics lets you add more detail to whatever you're drawing attention to.

A callout is similar to a Floating Topic in my mind (A topic that's not attached to anything), except that the callout is styled to make it stand out, and it's attached to a topic.

Export/Print Outline

XMind 7 export / print outline

To get a broad overview your mind map. You can export the outline of the mind map in Text, PDF and MS Word file format for future use. This allows you to save time and gain productivity. By printing the outline, your mind map becomes a list of ideas and sub-ideas in tree form.

The ability to print from the index view has been on my wishlist for a while. The index view is a great way to look at information and search through it. It's a Pro feature that I think should be more prominent. You can use the Index view to scan for information quickly. The problem in the past was that once you found what you were looking for, you couldn't really transfer that info out.

It looks like you still can't copy and paste from the index, which would have been nice. The ability to print helps a lot.

Multi-page Print

XMind 7 multi-page print

Easily print a large mind map to multiple pages. By printing a large map onto multiple pieces of paper and then tape the pieces together, you won't lose any details of your mind maps. You can also spread them horizontally or vertically over multiple pages for a better overview or to display as a poster.

I don't print off any of my mind maps, but I've had several readers ask for this ability. I'm excited to see how this can leveraged by seeing some large mind maps come to life. If you print one off, make sure you send me a picture and let me know how it goes.

Timeline

XMind 7 timeline

We introduce a new structure named Timeline. It can be used to display a list of the events in chronological order and the trends for a subject. You can also use it to help team members track milestones and time schedule of the project.

Timeline is a new template to use. It's set to keep moving toward the right as you add more content – like you'd expect a timeline to do. You can use it as a project management and goal tracking layout to look into the future. I haven't played around much with this yet, but you can see from the image that it provides a nice clear look at upcoming events or tasks. I'm not sure how much effort this will take to setup to look like the example.

 

New Themes with 10 New Fonts

XMind 7 new fonts

XMind 7 packs 10 new amazing fonts! Fonts make mind maps more pretty, and prevent disappointment when opening your work on another computer without fonts you used. All our fonts are open source and cross-platform, which ensure your mind map looks good on both Mac/Windows. XMind 7 still add tens of new themes, with the new fonts.

More themes and more fonts. This is definitely something XMind could use more of. I'm not the type of person who will sit down and try out themes very often, but I will spend some time looking into these ones. Having more fonts and themes to choose from means we'll hopefully see more diversity in the look of maps created using XMind.

Which feature(s) stand out for you?

Which of the XMind 7 new features stands out the most to you?

Is there something in particular you'd like to use right away?

Something you don't  see being useful?

Feel free to start a conversation down below.

 

 

Image credits: All images by XMind

Filed Under: Mind Mapping

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 20
  • 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