Vic´s Picks

Vic Gee (mind-mapping.org) has developed a major enhacement in the referred web page, with a fresh approach.
It turns out to be either a place to find and share information about different interests or a place for crowdsourcing.
It seems a very interesting inniative to follow.
http://www.mind-mapping.org/VicsPicks/category/all-software/

A powerful combination

To those of you music lovers and specifically if you´re a Spotify user, the combination of this lovely application and mindmapping software could be suitable enough to organize your preferrable music.
In my particular case I love classical music and I have taken advantage of Spotify and XMind (thanks for allowing me to test your Beta 3 portable) to classify the music I love the most, with visual enhacements (links to web pages, notes and so on).
Here you can access the map.

Mindmapping and investments

I was challenged by a friend of mine about how to use mindmapping to keep track about his investments, mostly in securities and funds. He thinks he will be able to take better decissions by having visual and updated information about every specific portion of his investment.
I did the best I could with the information I got.
I will come back later to explain the results and experiences of this experiment.

Mind Map Gadget for Google Wave

A cousin of mine has sent a link to me, regarding a Mind Map Gadget for Google Wave.

To-Dos Template

Every certain time it turns out useful to rethink your own tools, seeking for improvements to reach higher in productivity. That is the case. After several months using a To-Do´s sistematic methodology, already detailed in previous posts.
I have prepared (based on my experience) a new template to manage my daily or weekly work.
Here you can get the image of the map and in the Templates section you can get the template.

Template for Business Analysis

Today in the afternoon I´ve been working about some kind of business analysis template, comprising what to me is important when I have to review one business.
This map is useful to have some template to reduce time to go straight to key points in that particular business.

Mindmapping for language learning

Some posts ago, we talked a little bit about how to use mindmapping as an effective tool to learn language. In that particular post, we were working with german.
Here you can get a more visual explanation about this particular issue, presented by Tony Buzzan, so it can´t be better!

MindManager video

A nice video showing what mindmapping can do for you....

Notes on books

Images - Brain: A powerful combination

As stated in most part of the written basis about mindmapping, something magic happens in our brains regarding images and knowledge.
It seems easier for our human brains to get it quicker with images than with written words. If we get back to the human origins, the times when some ancestors lived in caverns, the easiest way to transmit knowledge was by means of images or drawings.
The picture above wwas taken in a pub in Santander (Spain) and it has even an stronger impact if you don´t know Spanish. If you look at it straight without knowing Spanish you would probably say it is talking about cocktails. So you get more than 80% of the knowledge to be transmitted, just by means of an image.

Mindmapping for language learning

Mindmapping can also be an extraordinary tool to improve a foreign language knowledge. In this particular case, I use it to expand the limits of my german vocabulary.

Gathering information

I have taken advantage of the Easter holidays to gather all the information about the different references I work with.
Here a preliminary mindmap about this particular issue.

Preparing meetings

I am used to prepare my meetings in advance, thinking about what I do want to get from them, my initial positions, limits in negotiations and so far. Thinking these meetings in advance, helps you to make them quicker and straight to the poin, reducing times.
Mindmapping is an extraordinary tool to help you thinking in advance.

Mindmapping in large projects

Currently I am involved in a large-scaled wind farms contest in the north of Spain. As in every one of these contests, there is a lot of money around, so there are too many companies trying to bid, in order to get easy and secured paybacks. In contests like these, you have to keep track of all the movements, connections, possibilities and so on, just as in every complex projec. even if you don´t know it.
Here it is a picture with a simple map gathering some of the consortiums existing in this contest. As you mightprobably imagine I am not in the position to disclosure the whole map with all the information I´ve got, just the initial map could be allowable.
Every branch holding every group can also group up all the information you can collect from them, so you can have the whole contest at a glance, as I have it in the final version.

Mindmapping in lawsuits

Many times we think mindmapping is a engineers or technical people´s issue, but as it is defined it could universally applicable.

In this particular case, I will utilize mindmapping in a situation with my house´s constructor, whom I sue due to some malfunctions in my house. So for extension it could be applicable to some lawyer´s issues.

This map (made using Mindjet Mind Manager 8) compiles all the different failures existing in the house, so once the expert technician assigned by the court come, I will have all the issues to be showed at hand.

A White Paper about Notetaking

When I was working in the previous post, I was required by some friends of mine about getting deeper in notetaking using mindmapping, that was the reason, which took me to prepare this White Paper ("a non-pretentious White Paper") about this particular stuff.

Currently I think it is by far the most common mindmapping application, unless in my particular case. Moreover most part of my professional time I am involved in meetings.

I hope you find this document useful for your personal and professional life!!!
Access to White Paper on Notetaking.

Notetaking

I have come across several mindmaps made during lectures, presentations and so no in the last years.
I always draw mindmaps in every meeting, my most important problem is what to show on the blog that for my company, should not be done (I always work with my mindpping for my coming orders, strategic projects, people management and so on).
Important points in notetaking:
1.- Focus on the key ideas/concepts.
2.- Visualize and draw these key ideas/concepts.
3.- Force relationships among ideas/concepts.
Why mindmapping is important in notetaking?
1.- Focuses you in the key concepts.
2.- Makes it easier to work around key concepts.
3.- Allows you to maintain deeper in your mind these concepts, so you can retake later on. The more sense you work with in mindmapping, the easier you will assimilate concepts in your brain (images friendly brain) and the longer these ideas will be with you.
What should I improve in this kind of mindmaps?
1.- Move to the colorful version!! Very difficult when you are in a meeting with other people.
2.- Draw it!!. Whenever you have an idea, a concept...draw with you think, what your perceive.
3.- Draw the more relationships you can. Force your brain to make relationships among concepts.
My excuses (all mindmaps are written down in Spanish -my mother language-) but I think it is important in this blog to show how real mindmapping is working on.

Boosting the blog, asking for your help

Regarding Web 2.0 my most important resolution is to boost the blog, to help people taking the most out of mindmapping, to have young people taking advantage of a new and exciting way to improve learning and memorizing processes.

In this boosting process there is an issue out of my control, it is your opinion, your ideas, your doubts, your experiences… everything that can help other people to move on in this fascinating world. So, please, I encourage you to say openly how you think we must progress with the blog.

From my side I must say I will post on regular basis to show what I am doing with mindmapping and what there is out there regarding mindmapping.

TV series

Etiquetas de Technorati: series,tv

One of my most favorite hobbies is watching TV series in their original language.

I made a map (by XMind) about my favorite series, the proprietary companies and links to the TV series main pages.

A different vision about news

Looking at the news in Spain on January 1st, 2010, I decide to draw a map on the most important.

It could be a new perspective on written news more visual and more mindmapping friendly way.

I hope you enjoy it.

Happy New Year 2010

I want to wish you a happy new year 2010 and I was trying to find out the best way to make that happen for a mindmapping perspective.

If we are continuously talking about the influence of image in our learning processes, it is pretty obvious the best way would be using a photo.

There is a park in Santander (Cantabria – North of Spain) where I always stop to observe the bonds, links and strange relationships among the different branches and sub-branches. This image can express what we are familiar with in mindmapping and also the complexity of our thinking processes.

I wish you the best for the coming year and also that all your dreams become true.