The Underlying Blog

The Way of Rabbits or Philosopher Kings?

I've had this nagging thought over the last few years. If human progress keeps up its pace, and we don't do anything overly self-destructive as a species, there should be an abundance tipping point before Captain Kirk is born.

At which point, do we go the way of rabbits or philosopher kings?

(My Answer: Who cares, I'm going to Burger King.)

{not paid to say that but should've been}

Ponder that as it will be a couple of weeks before my next post.

Technorati tags: The Tipping Point, Philosophy, Kyle McFarlin, Visual Strategist, Humor, Burger King

YOU KNOW.... (I Don't!)

Recently I took some hard flak from Marc C who left a scathing comment on the interview I did for the Personal Productivity Show. And I'd be content to cry in my beer at the local pub, repeating 'you know' (and not knowing on repeat) until ESPN cuts to infomercials for the night, if it weren't for how right Marc C is.

I said 'You Know' just about every time I spoke in the interview! As I said in my reply comment, counting the times I said 'You know...' was like counting the number of times Tony Montana said the F-word in the inspirational, family-friendly classic Scarface (that was a joke if you're grabbing your keys to run to the video store to get junior something to watch).

I think it speaks to a larger issue however. We instinctively don't like criticism. I certainly felt like the jolly lord of jackass when I read Marc's comment. It's an interview I'm proud of, and here is someone pointing out a tick I trotted out after nearly every question. But damn, the guy is right, and I can either wither away and steam, or I can take his comment and be better for it, kind of the way Christina Aguilera used an ex-boyfriend to inspire 'Stronger' (full disclosure, I don't know if she actually wrote it).

So to Marc C, I thank you for making me better and to everyone else who cares to rip me a new one now and in the coming years. You have my pledge that I'll try to keep the 'You Know's to a reasonable amount the next I complete an interview: I'll be better and you'll be less annoyed. If anyone has the 'You Know' count from my interview, I'd love to hear it.

Go Kyle!

And lastly, how can you benefit from the free advice your critics are giving you? Doesn't matter whether or not you like them: The thing is, do they have a point?.... If they do, you just got better for FREE.

Technorati tags: You Know, Personal Productivity Show, Kyle McFarlin, Gyronix ResultsManager, Mindjet MindManager, Tony Goodson, Scarface

The Stork is Bringing a Visual Strategist Newsletter: Let Me Know What YOU Want to Read/See

Hi Folks,

Slowly and steadily, I'm working on the Visual Strategist Newsletter. Now, I've been accused of putting out the most comprehensive set of MindManager templates EVER, the VSS Template Set, so I'm not going to let my ego reign and just send you a newsletter I think is important (whole damn sentence was an oxymoron). I want it to be what YOU want, so please, leave a comment and let me know.

Sign-up for the Visual Strategist Newsletter now.

You see, the VSS templates are the outgrowth of my decade+ experience in knowledge management and mind mapping. Simultaneously, when I put them out last year as a free download, I had no idea how many of you were going to download them. So, it's a shared experience at this point and I simply cannot in good conscience send out a VSS-based newsletter that is hurled outward via my own tunnel vision cannon. I need YOUR input so I can ensure each time you receive an e-mail from me it's chock full of content that benefits you. Again, please bombard me with comments about what you want to see.

Kyle is a Dancing Bear

Need a Youtube video of me doing inverted cartwheels? Leave a comment. Need to know more about using the VSS Template Set icons to give you database-like functionality in MindManager? Leave a comment. Want video or written text? Leave a comment. Need a recipe for killer cheesy potatoes? Leave a comment and I'll tell someone who knows what they hell they're doing.

Sign-up now and be sure to download the free VSS templates while you're at it. It's all here.

And if you're feeling truly grateful for the hard work I do, you should pickup a t-shirt to support the Free T.I.! campaign, as my creative juices couldn't flow without the hits like 'Top Back' and 'What You Know'.

Sign-up for the Visual Strategist Newsletter now.

Technorati tags: Humor, VSS Template Set, Visual Strategist Newsletter, Mindjet MindManager, T. I., Kyle McFarlin, Cheesy Potatoes

Look Mom, I'm on the Radio (and Now in Hiding for What I Said)...

It had to happen, it really did, didn't it:

I'm a Star! (FOLKS THE EGO HAS TRULY LANDED, PLEASE STAND BACK FROM THE CRASH SITE). Tony Goodson of the Productivity Show interviewed me recently... the same show David Allen, the founder of GTD, was once featured on!

Highlights include:

• Kyle's GTD: He's a heretic yet is mostly keeping his own dogfood down
• Mindjet MindManager: Pimp-out the interface 
• The World's most offensive rap album!
• Second Life: The new warzone
• GyroQ and ResultsManager: Pimp your productivity
• Top Tips for having Meaningful Relationships and Pursuits
• Get a Life

THE REAL QUESTION: How does a mind mapping guru end up talking about 'flying penises' and 'burping'?...

Listen now to the most exceedingly delightful, productivity-tip-laced, controversial Interview the mind mapping world has ever experienced:

TPN :: The Productivity Show » Blog Archive » The Productivity Show #34 - Kyle McFarlin (Visual Strategist)

Technorati tags: The Productivity Show, Kyle McFarlin, Tony Goodson, MindManager, Mindjet, Gyronix Training, Mindjet Training, GyroQ, ResultsManager, mind mapping, The Podcast Network

Eat Your Own Dogfood OR ELSE

Sometimes, you notice something once, and you laugh it off. Then you notice it again... it annoys you some, but you've still got other things to do. Then you notice it in places it shouldn't be expected, and you spring to action.

Well, you can take the Kyle signal out of the sky. I'm in attack mode, and have my sights set people selling one brand of dogfood and eating another. See, I've noticed a trend toward companies and solopreneurs marketing and selling core competencies they're abysmal at internally. In some cases, they aren't even using the solution they pimp out. Kind of like the hair dresser who looks like Sonic the Hedgehog with bedhead. This piece is my gut feeling: you can pay me by the hour if you want a spreadsheet to back it up (wink).

Go Shorty...

Look folks, it's always, always going to be easier to say one thing and do another. You know, put some chocolate syrup over crap, hope the client doesn't bite in too deep and run like hell into the mountains to drink and forget. Maybe you have an interest in selling a certain product to the customer, but know in your heart what you use is actually better. More often, it's easier to fix everyone else's problems than your own. It sounds good, and you can say with pride that you go about in need so that your clients prosper. I've heard that one a ton of times, and it's still hilarious.

By not practicing what you preach, can you help but deliver a Win/Lose solution? How would you know if the client is doing it right if you're not doing it yourself? Okay, you can say that because you tell everyone else what is right, you have expertise. But if you never actually 'do' it yourself, could you possibly be telling everyone else the wrong things?

And if you can't give a client real-time insight into their implementation, then you run the risk of nodding and smiling in a situation where you would lose the deal if you didn't...Yet... you may have torpedoed a division/company with said smiling & nodding. So, if that's you, I'm sorry bub, you're in the business of screwing people.

Poor Capitalist?

But is that economically viable, even for you the screwer? YEEAAAHHH, you got your check! You leased a car.. you're a star! Never mind what the screwee will plot against you in the coming years. Especially if it's an esoteric product it may take months or years to realize the full extent of the hosing. Your Win/Lose coup will probably get flipped on you the day you learn the delicate cat you thought you could muscle-over 5 years ago was really a lion cub, now fully grown into a you-respective maneater.

Man-Eating Clients

A few months ago, I had the rare pleasure of looking into the eyes of 8-10 tigers simultaneously at night, their eyes aglow with the moon's light. They were in cages shaped in a V, and I allowed myself to kneel down at the widest part of the V and gaze into their eyes. God help me if they were scorned clients with the freedom of movement.

Do the Right Thing and You Can Afford Pop/Soda/Coke with Pizza!

And the silver lining is, your selfish interests are best served by living what you preach. For one thing, you'll know what excellence looks and feels like, because you are it/ you live it/ you enforce it. If you work with clients, you'll intuitively know if they are nearing the edge of the cliff on foot or wing. And that is all the difference between a prosperous consultant and a poor one.

4 Main Dogfood Points:

1. As I go, I'll burn down in the VSS Solution before I use something other than what I promote to you (or I'll at least disclose and regroup around what I evolve to).
2. If you and your company try and sell me a product, know that one of my first questions will be: How do you use your solutions internally? Are YOU eating your own dogfood?
3. Know that if you laughingly tell someone the aspect of YOUR business you fix for others is a mess, they / I have just lost respect for you. Unless you are paying me to fix it (Cheshire grin).
4. In short, don't call me unless you have mastered what you are selling.

"What is life without honor? Degradation is worse than death."-Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson-

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Stonewall Jackson, Mindjet MindManager, Solopreneur, Entrepreneur, Tiger, VSS, Visual Strategist Solution, Visual Strategist

Blogging Can Bite Me for Gluttony

So I'm thinking the hell with blogging tonight because I'm hungry.

Yet I have a ResultsManager deadline to put up a blog post:

This is it.

This was an Enronian way of getting done.

You're thinking, good thing this is free.

Go Cavs, go Kyle.

Technorati tags: ResultsManager, Food, Cavaliers, Kyle McFarlin, Enron

Teilhard de Chardin Must be Poppin Bottles in His Grave over this MindManager Map

So my ego was huge from what I assumed had to be one of the largest map bodies in history, the VSS (Visual Strategist Solution) template set. So smooth, so sexy, you should really download it now for free and sign-up for the newsletter as well.

Nevertheless, I think I've been displaced size-wize (Content-wise, I'm the Ghostbusters of this field... Arrogance-alert bracelet exploding). As Melinda Venable reports, the history of the world's information is being mapped on a MindManager map in Second Life by George Kurtz. Printed out, it would measure 120 feet by 500 feet.

Yours is bigger. I surrender.

Checkout the article and be sure to download the Visual Information Map:

http://blog.mindjet.com/2007/09/capturing-the-world%E2%80%99s-information-in-one-giant-map

Personally, I think they should do a follow-up article on the tech specs of the machine he's running all of this on. Going through my maps when they're too large is like watching a poorly executed robot dance routine.

Want to know who Teilhard de Chardin was? Look here.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, VSS, Visual Strategist, Visual Strategist Solution, Melinda Venable, George Kurtz, Yours is Bigger, Teilhard de Chardin, Humor, Second Life

A Video of Me Teaching Mind Mapping

A large amount of my client meetings are spent behind a computer screen in a GoToMeeting. Therefore, many of you clients have no idea what I move like, my gestures, etc.

...So I thought you might appreciate a video of me teaching a particularly difficult client*.

*Not for the easily offended.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Visual Strategist, GoToMeeting, Humor

The Year of Amish Recruitment: 3 Tips to Fight Future Shock

I've noticed something in 2007: A lot of people making jokes to me about ditching all of their technology, a great deal more than in 2005 or 2006. Could it be the stress of upgrading to Windows Vista, could it be the technology has turned into the Glenn Close stalker from Fatal Attraction?

As I live an hour away from one of the largest Amish communities in the United States, the temptation is EXTREME for me.

And I've got to admit folks, even after releasing a system of life management, VSS, I feel it sometimes too, the desire to go to something simpler and something more pure. Like damn, are we becoming the Borg?

I even get sick of the efficiency of GTD sometimes. Remember when crap used to just go into a big pile... And you kept on ignoring it even when forest creatures made homes in it? Do I see torches and pitchforks in the distance?

Strange world, that those I speak to, Early Adopters on any scale, would reminisce of a simpler time. Is it future shock, or are we finally noticing that there is NO GOING BACK? I think it's the latter.

So, here are 3 tips to fight the shock of no going back:

1. Turn it ALL off on Saturday or Sunday. I know, it follows you, so pick a day and broadcast ferociously to always on co-workers that you're gone on Saturday/Sunday. Seriously, create the space in your life for one day to yourself or with loved ones, where the technology truly doesn't find you. You may just get frisky or find inner-peace... UNINTERRUPTED!!! To put it succinctly, the online world can go to hell one day a week.
2. Check e-mail on your terms, not theirs. I've seen numerous bloggers over the years recommend you turn off Outlook e-mail notifications, and they're all right. And Crackberries... they're great, but the same rules need to apply, even more so. Of all the people who venture toward the edge of Stephen King's classic line from The Shining movie: 'All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy', the Crackberry addicts teeter the most toward drone oblivion.
3. Use a Moleskine to record your thoughts. My buddy Mark Hollander put me onto this, and I'd still say it's the closest I come to feeling like Thoreau at Walden Pond. Sorry Tablet makers, you just haven't come close yet.

And here's a little humor for you that was forwarded on to me from Rob Wendt:

Still want more humor / fascinating-from-nowhere reading, check out Heisenberg Fridays by Walter Terry at ROICopy.

Technorati tags: Technology, Future Shock, GTD, Blackberry, Crackberry, Stephen King, The Shining, Amish, Mark Hollander, Rob Wendt, Fatal Attraction, Gyronix, ResultsManager, MindManager, Visual Strategist, Visual Strategist Solution, VSS, Walter Terry, ROI Copywriting, Henry Thoreau, Walden Pond, Tablet PC, Mindjet

Mindjet Training - Rising out of Hell: Mindjet Responds to John Galt and Waldo

As promised, here is Mindjet's UNEDITED response to my recent John Galt & Waldo posts and a conversation I had with Michael Pricer, VP of Sales and Service - Americas yesterday. I applaud Michael and Mindjet for responding, and without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Michael Pricer:

Kyle -  We regret the lack of responsiveness over the past several months.  Providing closed loop communications is something that Mindjet and I hold in high regard and going forward we will make sure we follow through on this commitment.  I have taken immediate actions to communicate this expectation internally.  Thank you for your candid feedback. 

I am glad that you and I outlined a plan of action beyond getting certified that can integrate you closer to the Mindjet family;

1. Provide you certification training as soon as your schedule permits

2. Integrate you into the Central Region sales team to leverage you and your certification training

3. Once certified provide your listing on our website for interested customers

In summary, we take our customers feedback seriously and we are always looking for areas to improve.  Our growth at Mindjet has been significant over the past 12 months and hopefully this can be a way to grow our relationship with you and other interested training partners. 

Sincerely, Michael Pricer

VP of Sales and Service, Americas

Again, I thank Michael for responding and look forward to a closer working relationship with Mindjet. To be a bit more clear on point (1) above, Mindjet will be picking up the $1500 tab for certification as recompense for 7 months of dead air. Another quick point partially covered in Michael's note, I've also requested that Mindjet follow the suggestions alumnist and now Microsoft employee Michael Scherotter outlined regarding Kyle McFarlin in a recent post:

1. If he meets the certification requirements, make him a certified trainer.
2. Aggregate his blog on the Mindjet Labs or the Mindjet Blog.
3. Do an in-depth interview on video of why he loves MindManager so much: post the video interview everywhere.
4. Do a case study about his Visual Strategist Solution
5. Ask him what Mindjet could be doing better (besides the obvious)
6. Ask him how he would make MindManager better
7. Bring him to customer visits.

Trust but verify.

Onward and upward.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Knowledge Mapping, Mindjet MindManager, Mindjet, Mindjet Training, MindManager, Mindjet PR, Mindjet Customer Service, Mindjet Sales and Service, Michael Pricer, Matt Mansinne, Gyronix, ResultsManager, Gyronix Training, Customer Failure, Customer Service, John Galt, Atlas Shrugged, Mindomo, MindMeister, OpenMind, ConceptDraw, The Brain, The Personal Brain, Waldo, Mindjet Labs, Mindjet Blog