The Underlying Blog

My Gift to You: Look Leggy in Leggings not Lumpy

Ladies,

I come to you today with a serious topic of discussion. There is still time to save things. If you act now. Here goes…

You need to think very, very, very carefully about the leggings as pants ladies. And just to be clear, I’m referring specifically to leggings worn as pants, not as part of an outfit where they fit the role of panty hose or something like that. And before you accuse me of wanting the fairer sex in beekeeper’s suits, let me unequivocally state that I enjoy shorts, skirts, even skorts, sweat pants (selectively), sweat shorts, jogging shorts, bikinis, mini-skirts and of course Victoria’s Secret (had to be a tramp stamp). Kyle’s a pig! Who woulda thunk it? [BTW, thanks again for throwing the VS Christmas catalogue away Jeff, good buddy old friend: Now how do I shop for my imaginary gorgeous girlfriend for Christmas?] So now that I’ve established myself as a lusty, chesty guy (think Beauty & the Beast’s Gaston with less muscles and even less accent)…….. holy shit, what is with the leggings without thought of the consequences? I can’t put my finger on what it is that bothers me about them at times. Girls have been wearing skinny jeans forever – I like those. But with leggings, at best the girl deserves to fly herself onto Ibiza in a pink fighter jet with a ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner fluttering in the background… other times the girl misses the island entirely and kills a whale.

(Go Pippa! I approve.)

But there’s something about leggings that are just so… hit or miss. And I can’t even find any trend to the pattern. It’s not a skinny or a curvy thing because some of both succeed and fail in leggings. Like if you think of jeans, basically, everyone looks good in them. But leggings are a different animal entirely. I’ve seen women who could walk runways wearing leggings and looking like strange giraffes for it. And I’ve seen women who I wouldn’t notice a second time turn into Goddesses in leggings. They do strange things to straight-aways and curves… we must strategize…

Actions You Can Take to Make Leggings Your Friend (or at Least Frenemy)

So let me restate, some women do look good in leggings, even epic... You just need to know if you're one of them.  So use the following to ensure there is nothing lumpy or camelly about your holiday swagger, just sweetness like a latte.

1. Check yourself out in leggings - what do you think? Look back and front. That’s right, use the honest mirror, the one you hate for it. Be truthful with yourself. If you’re impressed, proceed to step 2, if not, proceed to step 4.
2. Ask a girlfriend you know will tell you straight up for an opinion of you in leggings. If honest chica gives thumbs up, proceed to step 3. If not, proceed to step 4. 
3. Ask a guy who is in no way dependent on you for the good lovin' and is known for bluntness how you look in leggings. Press him and let him know that no food will be withheld for his candor. If he gives thumbs up, move to step 5. If he doesn’t, move to step 4.
4. Landing Spot 1: Wear yoga pants instead. If you want the leggings look and you still want there to be some mystery about…errr… your calves… yoga pants are where it’s at. All the hotness and they don’t tend to make girls look weird.
5. Landing Spot 2: Wear the leggings and be confident. You earned it because you passed through my steps, Candyland-style. Just try to stay calm if a guy stares because merchandise is being paraded Vegas-style: It’s like when a girl has a paragraph across her chest or butt: I’ve earned the right to read.

Because I haven’t talked about mind mapping much for awhile (even though I’m dealing with it professionally more than ever) I would have liked to in this post, but I just can’t talk about it right now… but wait for it.

So I hope I’ve given the ladies the ultimate gift of looking hot for the Holidays… you’re welcome.

 

Happy Holidays!

Go Kyle!

What do you think?

Leave a comment below and let me know.

 

(NOTE: Thank you Mandi for helping me think this issue through and the yoga pants idea.)

Mind Mapping Threatening to Dreams of Underachievement?

This is going to be a quick post this month… but let’s make super sexy note of one thing: I’ve kept my promise of blogging monthly. Wow, I need to do something hypocritical in some other area of life because I’m kind of ‘balls and my word’ over in this here realm.

So this month I have something cool for you to checkout. Chuck Frey recently posted a new report on mind mapping and the human potential. It’s a cool topic I’ve personally always been curious about. And by curious I mean I teach people this stuff for a living and rule at it. Pride before the fall but I’m wearing a parachute made of Chipotle rice – science says WTF. Chuck isn’t even asking you for an opt-in to get the report, even though you ought to join his list if you haven’t yet.

Here it is:

New report: How does mind mapping impact human potential?

Overall I liked the matter-of-fact treatment Chuck’s guests gave the subject. I’ve seen treatments in the past that are just a little too far out for me, a little too ‘let’s wear natural deodorant alternatives’. I wear Mitchum. I remind people of a Ford Truck. The Mitchum part is true.

And here are my thoughts, in 5 bite-size bullet points. Here’s what I think mind mapping is for:

1. Brainstorming
2. Arranging Information
3. Strategy & Goal Planning
4. Relationship Management
5. Execution on all fronts mentioned above (especially when using something like Mindjet’s Catalyst product)

That’s it.

Everything flows from those 5 things… everything.

That’s what I use it for, I meat and potatoes man (I think beer commercials are seeping into my brain as I read back over what I’ve written here. You can always tell when I’ve been watching NBA games).

If you’re in a hurry, just go to page 12 of the report for the mind mapped bullet points.

New report: How does mind mapping impact human potential?

What did you think? Leave a comment below.

Technorati Tags: Kyle McFarlin,Chuck Frey,mind mapping,Mindjet Catalyst,human potential,NBA,Brainstorming,Information Management,Strategy,Goal Planning,Relationship Management

Own it Or Disown it, but Never Just Fly Over It

In the past I'd make a snarky remark or joke about not having blogged in a while. This time I'm just plain embarrassed, and for that I'm publicly apologizing to you on the interweb. There's no excuse and it's a bit hypocritical of me ... Allow me to explain.

About mid 2009, when I stopped blogging I was at the point where I'd built up enough long-term clients that I felt I didn't need to blog the way I was before. It was roughly the equivalent of taking the money and running. In my defense I didn't realize this blog was as important to other people as it is (That reeked of ego, I'm leaving it). Even friends who have no connection to the world of mapping have been asking me where I've been hiding. Apparently deep-fried smartass has a strange allure all it's own. I want my own cologne.

Showgirl in Amish Country

The thing I didn't consider is some of the clients I am coaching on goal management, especially the marketers, look at me like a showgirl in Amish country when they find out I blog... every 2 years. And part of what attracted the clients I have to me in the first place was at least the vague faith that I would at least have a blog post up in the same year it in fact is. I absolutely hate blind hypocrisy, which I'm now realizing how staggeringly I've been guilty of. How am i supposed to preach relentless consistency in GTD, goal management, product development, process systemization and self-discipline when I'm not even showing it to the world on my main communication platform? How will snarky angels get their wings?

Little side note: Self-aware hypocrisy is the guacamole on the Chipotle burrito that is life especially when your mind resembles a centrally planned corporation as much as mine does. Yes, I just compared myself to General Electric - Deal. And don’t get yourself into to trouble, I’m talking about dancing when you would normally play Halo, not driving backwards down I-95.

Naturally, if I wanted to avoid hypocrisy I could also declare my blog dead. For reasons science cannot explain I WANT to blog. I've got the fever like Robert Duvall in the Apostle!!! There, I said it. I want to be a loud voice and a place where my love of fried chicken can live forever. Before, even when I was blogging I never really and truly took ownership of it. My start in blogging had been the idea of others, and now it's time to scream from the mountain tops (okay, hilltops in Ohio) that I want to blog and I own it. That's right Charlie Sheen, I'm an F-22 who wants you to star in Apocalypse Now Part Deux for all you have recently put me through.

So here's my commitment to you: I'll blog monthly or tell you explicitly if it will be longer. I know that doesn't sound like a lot but at least you have a consistent timeline from me. Most importantly I have a consistent timeline from me: Don't look at me that way, I'm the one who has to shave this face every 4th day.

The Lesson of Goodness – Boy Scout Reborn… Awwww

Here's today's lesson extracted from my past as a deadbeat blogger: You'll be mediocre as long as what you're doing is built on the behest of someone else. Even if someone else started you down the path, at some point you must consciously take ownership. And if you're skeptical, just think about the different results people get when weight loss or quitting smoking is their idea or someone else's. The self-starter is often a missile on a mission, ultimately celebrating new life as skinny and smoke-free (she looks hot in my head). The imposed upon is a chain-smoking Jabba the Hut, resentful and doing the minimum necessary to preserve the relationship with the person whose idea the initiative was.

So if you're doing something at someone else's request, figure out if it's something you should be doing. If not, get out a.s.a.p.. Life's too short as they say (Who are they?). If so, make it yours because the day you take ownership... Watch out, freight train of YOU coming through! Not corny at all.

What do you think? Is taking ownership really that important? Leave a comment below.

PS: Big ups to Mark & Shelly for the steadfast encouragement to bring my online personae back to life: You are as true of friends as can exist. And you too Dr. Brian Friedlander.

Technorati Tags: Kyle McFarlin,GTD,mind mapping,hypocrisy,goals,self-discipline

Mindview 3 – Everyone else should watch their ass

Recently (June 22… I’m lazy, remember), I had the opportunity to speak with Brandon Conrad of Matchware about their new (I’m guessing) software, Mindview 3.

First off, I like their philosophy. It’s not so much making the mind map according to Brandon, it’s what you do afterwards. Why does that ring so true with me? Because I’ve seen people make gorgeous mind maps, only to never-ever-ever-ever touch them again. Like little digital Sistine Chapels that no one ever goes into. So the philosophy is solid. They want you to see it as a business productivity & efficiency tool. Power down your bongs!

Back to my laziness… They’ve optimized the software for project management. It has a drag and drop timeline and just plain sex appeal. They’ve pimped it out with a work breakdown structure. They were sly as hell to put the timeline in there because, as Brandon says, ‘management doesn't always want to see a Gantt Chart’. It’s all so seamless that my lazy brain activator system (It looks like a smiley face death star under a microscope) gets very happy thinking about it.

To the viewer side of things, they’ve created a ‘Focus mode’ that makes topics visible in the back of the room. Personally, I tend to sit in the back when I don’t feel like contributing, so I’m not a huge fan of this feature because it takes one of my great excuses away for playing Nintendo DS: ‘I can’t see the screen’. But decent people should like it. People you can count on. The people you see in movies where it was easy to tell right from wrong. I miss the good old days I wasn’t even alive for. But these are the good old days. Fried chicken, snap. But yeah, it will get even the people in the back of the conference room talking

Further, they’ve got a solid numbering schema in their maps. According to Brandon, numbering helps people in the US where mapping is less familiar than in say, the UK where mapping is like Mickey Mouse (exaggeration). And Mindview now has a filtering function, which is a prerequisite for me to even consider using a piece of software. The interface to filter based on categories is sexy, though that word makes me think of ladies not software.

And now we come to the pimp shit, the reason I may get this Mindview software out for myself to use at times. No drumroll, I need a beat. It’s the calculation feature fool! You can put formulas in topics. And it just gets better as you can make formulas default across the entire map. You can autosum across the branches of the entire map. IT ACTUALLY MAKES ME WANT TO DO MATH! Somewhere an angel just got it’s wings.

Another prerequisite is Office integration. They’ve done a solid job here with Excel and pre-made export templates, which look damn compelling. Outlook is here as well.

So Mindview is solid with easy project management, a slacker killer of a focus view and the pimp shit calculation function. The last thought I’ll leave you with is maps in Mindview look like tasty cake (good) without doing much to them. Now, check it out and leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts.

Technorati Tags: Matchware,Mindview 3,Brandon Conrad,Kyle McFarlin

Your Brain on the Brain is Better than Your Brain on Drugs

3 months since my last blog post…Too bad I can’t fire myself.

Recently I’ve taken to using a new application alongside MindManager. That’s noteworthy, because I’m not the type who tends to play with new programs for the hell of it. It’s called TheBrain. For those of you who don’t know, it’s in essence a visual database. Why I like it is because it caters to my innate laziness. Though theBrain can be used as a full fledge data suppository repository (Read: Real Work), I’ve taken advantage of one killer feature that takes about 5 minutes to put robustly into place: The ability to visually navigate the folder structure of your computer.

I’m gonna make this short & sweet because the Lakers are on right now. And I’ll likely talk more about theBrain in the coming months/years. Even if you never went beyond the recommended steps below, you’ll get one helluva a lot of benefit out of theBrain from using this technique alone…

So, here are your next actions:

1. Download theBrain.
2. Install it (Duh).
3. Under Options > Preferences > UI, make sure you have ‘Show virtual thought folders’ checked.
4. Open theBrain and File Explorer next to each other. Drag one of your mission critical folders from File Explorer into theBrain as a main topic directly off of the central topic.
5. That’s it. Use theBrain to quickly navigate from folder to folder, file to file. If you use my VSS template set, try navigating it with theBrain. Like a Ferrari for your filing system. As Pac said, ‘Picture me rollin’.
6. I like to have theBrain and MindManager open next to each other. See how it works with your screen real-estate. For the record, I think these two play nicely. Both companies should sooo buy me a steak dinner for believing that.
7. If you’re motivated, take a look at theBrain website, where they’ve stocked it out with learning materials. Also the blog is killer.

I hope that helps. Let me know what you think of theBrain in the comment section below. If you don’t leave a comment, my feelings will be hurt. My feelings of steel that is. Colbert forever.

A special thanks to Brian Friedlander for his ludicrous belief and subsequent encouragement that I would blog again. You win Brian.

Technorati Tags: Mindjet MindManager,TheBrain,Database,VSS,Visual Strategist,Kyle McFarlin,Chipotle,Brian Friedlander,Gyronix ResultsManager

Wallace must be drinking his Tim Horton’s to take this on:

Before I turnoff my computer for the weekend (4 hour Workweek, oh snap!). I wanted to point you to a recent interview Chuck Frey did with Wallace Tait. For those of you don’t know, Wallace has one of the greatest minds in the visual mapping arena. If he’s Kobe I’m Lebron James (okay, the rain of arrogance came early this post). In it, Wallace makes a compelling case for a standard Visual mapping body of knowledge... Basically, if there was a central repository for visual mapping best practices, people might actually learn about & use visual mapping with some skill and savvy as opposed to the 3 generations removed from original sinnin' kissin' cousins-like usage scenarios I often see. Don't fret clients, that's before I remake you in my awesome mapping image (To be read with Stephen Colbert-like snap).

I'm in a lazy mood and that means I have a mental block to the assload of work he's proposing. He's most likely right on the other hand, which is why I come to you on a beautiful Ohio Friday (mid-30s and cloudy) with this. On the other hand, I do have 1 moment of pause: So many people go cross-eyed when they see visual maps that the only way this glorious toolkit may cross the famed chasm is to be used at such a phenomenal level by a few high-profile companies that other companies MUST follow suit or go the way of the dinosaur. I miss the dinosaurs.

Did I mention I'm feeling a little lazy? Time to go play in the gray day... so here's the link. Focker out!

Leave a comment and let everyone know what you think.

Technorati Tags: Wallace Tait,Chuck Frey,Kyle McFarlin,Visual mapping,4 hour workweek

Christmas in January with Context Organizer

Before I wrap for the evening and watch King James go ballistic on the Hornets, I thought I’d blog the piece of software I’m most excited about this year.

I’ve always enjoyed reading. And I’ve always felt an elephant was standing on my head when I would walk into a Barnes & Noble and realize there’s all of this information and no way I could ever read it all. As time went by, I understood that you don’t have to read everything to get the jist: Just get broad enough you sound competent around yuppies and know the hell out of your chosen field.

Sounds easy, right? Well, I could still probably spend the rest of my life covering visual mapping and all of the topics influential to it. Another ‘screw it, the hell with visual mapping, let’s play video games’ moment brought to you by our sponsor, ‘feeling of overwhelm’.

Never one to back down from a bucket of fried chicken challenge, I’ve done everything I can to learn about speed-reading and faster ways of consuming information. But still, it takes time to summarize a book into those beautiful little chicken nuggets of value. Can you tell I haven’t eaten dinner yet?

That’s why I’m so damn excited about Context Organizer, which I just started playing with tonight. Now, we all know that I’m lazy when it comes to giving product description, so I defer to Brian Friedlander’s excellent post. According to Brian:

“Context Organizer you are able to quickly get the context of attached documents as well as web sites right within MindManager 8, that are visually displayed as topics and subtopics.”

I’ll add that it also works with MindManager 7 because that’s what I’m using on this computer (Don’t get your knickers in a twist Mindjet, I’m using MM8 on my other computer. You know I’ve got love for ya! Holla.). Further, it’ll summarize a document you are hyperlinked to from within MindManager.

I summarized a website and 2 PDFs… and found that I can get immense topical value out looking through the output. In fact, I think the output from Context Organizer is very similar to what speed-reading programs are trying to get you to pick up on.

A perfect reason to do absolutely no more work tonight.

Good Night and God Bless.

You can get a free 21 day trial of the software at Context Discovery.

Technorati Tags: Brian Friedlander,Kyle McFarlin,Context Organizer,Mindjet MindManager

Are You 'Watching' Your Mind Maps?

Lately I've been a little bit disenchanted with my mind maps. Not because of content, just because I would create a map and often not look at it again. Also, when you work in mind mapping for a living, sometimes you just don't feel like going back into a map and fooling with looking at it. May sound crazy, yet if you map it right you've committed a lot of it to memory. I'm mostly talking about content maps... execution maps I live in. It's like the fast food employee who burns out on hamburgers. I love fast food. McDonald's is swell.

What I have been doing though, when I want to brush up on a subject, is just going into MindManager 7, clicking on the 'View' Tab, and throwing it into presentation mode. Then I can just watch the map by continuously hitting 'Tab'. It's entertainment on par with Scarface and Nemo.

Maybe all of you are doing this already, yet it feels like an epiphany for me. And I think the term 'presentation mode' makes us think that it's only for when you're showing it to other people. NOT SO. Maybe Mindjet should call it 'Sit on your butt with some popcorn and be entertained mode'. I rule. You can have that one for free Mindjet.

Much love to all of my readers. Now I've got to go watch CP3 face down San Antonio.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Mindjet MindManager, McDonald's, Chris Paul, NBA, Scarface, Finding Nemo

Are You a Dinosaur?

'We are all information managers, whether we acknowledge it or not, the fact that we create, manage and exchange information to gain knowledge is a testament to the human need for expansion.' -Wallace Tait-

 

Amen. A recent theme for me is how impossible it is to stay still: you either get worse or you get better as a recent post by my buddy Rich Schefren illustrates. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO STAY THE SAME. In the 21st century knowledge is a commodity to be managed and if you don't think so you'd better start looking for your jeans in the dinosaur department. Because if you don't acknowledge it, your competitor will... and down the line you'll hear the cannon of competition in the distance, growing louder every day.

Curious to learn what all the fuss is about? You can read Wallace Tait's Interview here:

Assistive Technology: Visual Mapping and the Information Economy

Technorati tags: Wallace Tait, Brian Friedlander, Kyle McFarlin, Information Economy, Visual Strategist, Rich Schefren

The Paradox of Blogging

Someone out there has to have written about the blogging paradox I'm experiencing: When business is booming/busy, I'm a sucky blogger. I mean not just mediocre but terrible. Some of you bloggers out there who work 80 hour weeks and still put up articles on the intellectual motivations of Fred Flintstone and management theories of Barney Fife... my hats off to you, because I seem to be falling short.

Another reason I think I don't blog as much as some of the other mind mapping bloggers is that I tend to think in terms of total systems to the Nth degree. When I start blogging about mind mapping in earnest in the coming months with deep content posts, I'll be coming from a position of having something more comprehensive to say. It's just not my personality to blog this cool mind map or that. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.

In the meantime, I want to refer you to some buddies of mine who are delivering great content to you, NOW. The team at VisualMapper.org, Wallace Tait & Arjen ter Hoeve, are giving away their ebook for free, and I'd recommend taking a look at it. They go DEEP into the subject.

Download the VisualMapper ebook today:

http://ebook.visualmapper.org/

Technorati tags: VisualMapper.org, Blogging Paradox, Barney Fife, Fred Flintstone, Kyle McFarlin, Arjen ter Hoeve, Wallace Tait