The Underlying Blog

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

Great Productivity Tool List... Why am I not on It?

Codswallop recently put out a meat and potatoes, ultra-robust list of 131 tools which can make you more productive and improve skin quality (the latter point is a lie). And while I encourage such insight, such consolidation of awesome tools in an often fragmented Internet your brain typically fries trying to find, I take serious, serious offense at my lack of inclusion on the list.

Codswallop, I hold you up as a beacon, and simultaneously hope you find enlightenment, including me on all future lists.

Okay, all jokes aside, great job Codswallop. I'm far too lazy too assemble such a finely crafted, comprehensive list. I'd be talking about food full-time by point 3.

In case you do find the light Codswallop, that's Kyle McFarlin at VisualStrategist.com. Voted Mind Mapping's sexiest mapper 3 years running by absolutely no one.

Checkout the list here.

Technorati tags: Codswallop, 131 Tools List, Kyle McFarlin, Visual Strategist, VSS, Visual Strategist Solution, MindManager, Gyronix, ResultsManager, Mind Mapping

Prayer 2 of a Lonely Map Topic

Dear God,

I come to you as I did last week: While Kyle builds himself the ultimate life Death Star in visual maps, we're ignored. I hope he is doing well, even though we never see him in our map.

I hope he pays attention to the people in his life because he's not paying attention to all of the topics in his maps.

That God is good and good will always win... My hope is built on nothing less.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Mindmanager, VSS, Visual Strategist Solution, God, Prayer, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, Star Wars, Death Star

Prayer 1 of a Lonely Map Topic

Dear God,

I pray tonight that Kyle someday finds me. I've been stuck in this Input section of a MindManager map that hasn't seen the LCD light in so long. Darkness is everywhere and hope is fading among my sibling topics.

Is this what Thomas Barnett speaks of when he talks of the Core nations? Why was it MY fortune to be created in a pre-VSS, Gap map? The other Core VSS maps are heaven while I rot, never to find my destined topic tree.

Will I ever be found? Will I ever find? I thought GTD would save me... aren't I supposed to be processed? But Kyle's island hopping, acting more like Nimitz and MacArthur than David Allen. The only rules have become the gray. The parent topics used to tell us to have faith. Now we comfort them.

Still I pray that God is good and good will always win... My hope is built on nothing less.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Mindmanager, VSS, Visual Strategist Solution, Thomas Barnett, God, Prayer, Chester Nimitz, Douglas MacArthur, David Allen, GTD, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less

Fried Chicken is Good and So is Vacation

Folks, it's been a great year so far:

• VisualStrategist.com launched to great fanfare: We're talking people crying in the streets, parades, all-you-can-eat buffets, etc.
• I've put out the VSS (Visual Strategist Solution) FREE Life Management Template Set for MindManager. Personally, it's a pain-in-my-neck because it's made me work so hard to implement (yes, I do eat my own dogfood). Does that make me a pain-in-my-own-ass? Either way, it has given me a framework I trust.
• And I'm finally going to be getting Mindjet Certification Training in late-September. I really hope they have good eats at the certification as I eat like Joey Tribbiani when the food is free/someone else is paying. 
• So, in celebration of Labor Day, I'll be going on my vacation the first part of September and then gearing up for a long-term engagement starting in early October.

Mainly, I have to take some time off to avoid hypocrisy: If you're a client, you know I advocate taking vacations and personal retreats to offset the grueling hours we all deal with. As I've done an absolutely abysmal job of this so far in 2007, the time has come.

The blog will be silent for a few weeks: Never fear though, I shall return after extreme laziness.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Mindmanager, VSS, Visual Strategist Solution, Visual Strategist, Vacation, Laziness

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

Beyond Mind Mapping: ResultsManager articles and webinar

Nick was really nice when he said he had requests for these articles on how to maximize your ResultsManager usage. Personally, I had a recurring To-Do to harass him everyday until he put them up: Lucky for him, he did it quickly! Check'em out here: 

Beyond Mind Mapping: ResultsManager articles and webinar

Also, looks like Gyronix CEO Nik Tipler is going to be doing some free productivity/prosperity webinars, also covered in Nick's post.

Technorati tags: Gyronix, ResultsManager, Mindmanager, Mindjet, Knowledge Mapping, Kyle McFarlin, Nick Duffill, Strategic Planning, GTD

GyroQ Interview Featuring Nick Duffill at BizTechTalk

Nice interview at BizTechTalk with my friend Nick Duffill of Gyronix. Not only does he provide a good overview of GyroQ, he also gives a nice history of his own involvement in the field:

Check out the interview, which includes some insightful GTD discussion, here: http://www.biztechtalk.com/2007/07/q-up-your-distr.html

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Nick Duffill, Gyronix, GyroQ, MindManager, ResultsManager, Knowledge Mapping, Mind Mapping, Visual Strategist, GTD

Are You Sparring with an Aircraft Carrier By Yourself?

War is hell. I equate putting the Gyronix System (MindManager + ResultsManager) to an intellectually cathartic war. Therefore, it is hell to put the Gyronix System in place.

I'm not talking about planning out a project or two. I'm talking about once you've gotten a few projects under your belt and you say 'That's nice, now I want to conquer my entire life'. That's cool, I'd go so far as to say bad-ass, but it's basically the equivalent of saying to the family at Thanksgiving dinner, 'I'm going to climb MT. Everest' and everybody smiles and nods. Seriously, it's that daunting.

Now, I've made things easier, MUCH easier by putting in place a template set that has key ResultsManager projects baked in to address the different areas of your life. Don't have it, get it FREE here. Still, it doesn't mean your not going to go through a cathartic experience if you want to win.

I say sparring with an aircraft carrier because you get better when you play tennis with Agassi, better when you play chess with Kasparov, better when you have a catfight with Paris Hilton. And it would therefore stand to reason you'd get better at war if you sparred with an aircraft carrier, which is what you're doing when you use the Gyronix System in your life due to the sheer size of what it can encompass in your reality.

It's powerful, and you love it, but has ResultsManager fallen by the wayside for you? Has it been months since you've run a Dashboard? Is it, as David Allen (of GTD if you live under a rock) might say, 'taking up psychic RAM'?With ResultsManager, all roads lead to Rome as I said here. And ResultsManager is like an advisor giving you unfiltered reports of barbarian gains in the provinces. Hey, I'd be afraid to look at it to if I hadn't been using it. After all, I'm hinting at danger when I use the Roman Empire analogy... it fell. Will you?

As if Christmas hadn't already come in July with the ability to buy software through VisualStrategist.com, now it's double-your-fun with the ability to buy Gyronix Training through VisualStrategist.com as well. After all, wouldn't some guidance in sparring with that behemoth carrier be nice? So, if you've been relaxing this summer and want to get serious with ResultsManager, a tool that can be used for David Allen's GTD methodology, Gyronix's structured training is a great way to get on the road to maximum productivity.

(Wasn't that a nice way of saying if you've been lazy, this will make you feel better?)

Check it out here and PREPARE TO BE TRAINED (To be read in a WWE voice).

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Gyronix, ResultsManager, MindManager, Visual Strategist, Knowledge Mapping, Mind Mapping, GTD, Getting Things Done

A Google-based Mind Mapping Search engine from Vic Gee and Mind-Mapping.org

If you saw my recent post on ActivityOwner's ResultsManager Google Search Engine, you'll be plain giddy at the recent offering from Vic Gee of Mind-Mapping.org, which is a Google-based search engine for all of mind mapping. Take a look at it and let Vic know what you think:

Mind mapping and concept mapping articles, and specialized search

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Vic Gee, Knowledge Mapping, Mindjet MindManager, ResultsManager, Visual Strategist, Mind Mapping, Mind-Mapping.org, Google