Post 6 – Let’s Do the Mind Warp!
Does your head ever feel a catch-all drawer and you wish you could organize it? Oddly enough, humans do not think or organize in an orderly fashion. A ball made up of rubber bands pretty much sums up my thought process. Luckily, software unwinds those thoughts.
So the question is What software organizes ideas and thoughts?
Mind maps sketch out how we connect ideas. Here is an example of my hand-drawn mindmap.
No, you won’t need Dan Brown to decipher it, but it only makes sense to me. When you make your own, it will only make sense (and be extremely useful) to you.
Using our search engine, “Mind mapping free software” produced some results. The main interest is Edraw Mind Map (if you just want to download it and avoid my humor, click here). Rated “spectacular” by a mighty 25 votes, at least 7.6 versions exist, so bugs and glitches are minimal. Let’s give it a shot.
A few clicks, a few seconds and, WHAM, we have lift off. I am not sure if it allows you to import other mind maps, but for fun let’s start a new one.
I’m going to plan my Outside-the-Office ToDo List, with priorities.
A blank page looks like this.
They do have templates available, so I Choose their Concise-style.
I type in the middle bubble “Out of the Office”, and then click away. The words stay. Hitting the Insert button produces another, smaller bubble. For sub-topics, you hold Control and hit Insert. We’ll call a sub-topic my meeting tomorrow with Client A. I also need to run by the bank, pick up some office supplies, and drop off that marketing summary for Client B. Wait, Danger (our dog) needs food from the pet store next to the office supply place. However, it is not crucial. He’s pretty rotund already. Also, near that is the place we get fresh seafood.
You see how my mind works? Like pool balls scattering after the break. Now, are all of these important? Not really, but they carry some levels of importance. With the information above, here is how it looks in a mind map.
We could do that in a list, but what if I meet with Client A before Client B and have time to swing by and get fresh seafood, pet food, and office supplies? Should I do a courteous gesture and text to ask if he needs anything? How will I remember? Connected lines and a text box. See below for relationship connections.
Alright! I just got in an email message from a prospect who is in town and wants to meet at 11:30 for lunch near the bank. Depending on how the lunch goes, I might be able to go by the bank, but to be safe I’ll run by there first. Adding in the Prospect and putting the work Bank in Bold gives a start for my time outside of the office.
Notes: Control-Z works great for those minor mistakes and undoes a lot of little damage. You can use the Select tool to move around your bubbles to make organization easier.
Again, this is VERY rough, but you can see how this would work for thought and project management.
So, get to drawing! Until later.