Mind Maps – The PowerTool For The Mind

Starting over – (part 2)

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Jim Rohn

This quote really says it all. Let’s take the hypothetical case of a person who built a website because he had an idea. Then he downloaded and even bought tools that helped him build the site, generate graphics, analyse traffic, and so on.

What he did not have… alright, I’ll come clean: what I did not have was business plan, or even a plan for what this website was supposed to achieve. The result: (no plan for the site + no business plan) x a vague idea = expensive, as in expensive failure. Nice looking failure but that doesn’t change the fact that in business, no money = no success. I don’t know about you, but beauty simply didn’t hack it when it came to paying my bills.

I learned from the failure, though, and one of the tools I am now using diligently to help me plan is Mind Mapping, first with pen and paper and then digitally.

Years ago, I came across Tony Buzan’s Mind Map book, and I have been using his concepts ever since. It is definitely worth reading as it will give you examples, explanations, tips, in short, it will teach you how to Mind Map effectively.

Mind Maps are probably THE most powerful tool to help plan, design and organise anything, from a simple multinational corporation to the most complex home based Internet marketing business.

I had several reasons for creating this video and embedding it here.

Firstly, given the same amount of time, I think it is less boring and more instructive to watch a video than read about the stuff.

Secondly, a video on Youtube helps develop my brand.

And thirdly, it creates traffic and backlinks to my website, a win-win situation for all.

In the video, I mentioned FreeMind, my Mind Mapping software of choice. To be frank, Tony Buzan’s company has developed Mind Mapping software that is superb. However, as far as my budget is concerned, that will have to wait until my business generates returns that justify this investment. Meanwhile, I stick with FreeMind, which is not only perfectly good but also, as the name says free software. Here is the link:

FreeMind
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download

I also mentioned FreePlane in the video. FreePlane was created by one of the original FreeMind team members who set out to make a more ‘user oriented’ version of the software that is also supposed to be more stable than, but still fully compatible with FreeMind:

FreePlane
http://sourceforge.net/projects/freeplane/

I tried it. My experience with FreePlane was mixed: In the mind Map I showed you in the video, a few hyperlinks that worked in FreeMind did not work in FreePlane. However, if you are starting out fresh, you might as well go with FreePlane. You definitely get at least the same functionality but a more recent version of the program.

Youtube carries quite a few training videos for FreeMind (thus also for FreePlane as the user interface is identical). This link gives you a good selection of training videos should you want to take the step:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=freemind&aq=f

You can find out more about different Mind Mapping programs from the MindMapping Software Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mind_mapping_software

I’d love to read your comments on this topic.

3 thoughts on “Mind Maps – The PowerTool For The Mind

  1. Freeplane 1.2, now in beta, has outgrown its previous programs Freemind and Freplane 1.1 to a large extent. Freeplane 1.2 is much more versatile, has many new and improved functions and a revised menu structure which is more intuitive for the beginner. The documentation has been improved and consists of a Quick reference and Documentation as part of the program and a wiki Tutorial Freeplane with didactic examples, computer based instruction and a growing number of examples in the mind map gallery. Freeplane 1.2 is going to be the heart of an academic literature suite. Besides Freeplane 1.2 fully supports Groovy scripting, so you could extend the program yourself – if the abundant functionality should not fit your needs already. Read more on http://www.freeplane.org.

    1. Thanks for stopping by and updating us on the developments at Freeplane. I’ll have a look at it shortly.

      Extending it sounds nice but for people who aren’t happy with coding (like me) ease of use and comprehensive functionality are key.

      Max

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