The Underlying Blog

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

My Beehive from Hell Hairdo

Yeah, it's great that I came out against hair dressers whose hair looks like crap in a previous post about eating your own dogfood. Poor people, I found out today how easy it is to be negligent in an area of supposed expertise.

See, I went to see my accountant today (Sunday) and have my taxes done (Pipe down with the hypocrisy exclamation mark: Saturday is my Sabbath). And lo and behold, I'd done an A+ sucky job of systematizing my finances over the past year. I had everything we needed with me... it just took eons to find it all. Not that I'm a finance whiz, but I do tell everyone else to create Projects that turn into Operations - Processes... and meanwhile, I've piled crap onto crap in my own situation. The hell with eating my own dogfood, I need water wings as I'm swimming in the by-product. I made the damn VSS template set... I guess I could live by it in EVERY area of my business, not just those I enjoy (hello Marketing, hello R&D, hello Training & Consulting).

And God bless my accountant, who has given me what I feel is a framework to turn 2008 into the year I systematize financial processes like Lil' Wayne makes mix tapes. I'd give her a shoutout by name, but I haven't a clue if she wants to join this online freakfest I've created at the Underlying Blog. I'm a freakfest! Beautiful.

So, where are you falling short in practicing what you preach, and what is the next action you can take to fix it?

Tonight, my own dogfood smells like crap... tomorrow, I have to eat it. Me, I'll be process mapping some financial stuffery.

So the hypocrite rides again. I'm hungry, it's time for lucky charms.

That's life, and that's the way it is, and it's a good problem to have.

My my, I won't shutup. LUCKY CHARMS.

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Hair Do, Lil' Wayne, VSS Template Set, Mindjet MindManager, Lucky Charms

Mind Mapping in Living Color

I'm going a million miles an hour this week folks. Send freeze dried coffee. Now.

Over the last few months, some great video tutorials have emerged for getting more out of your mind mapping, and I wanted to point you to them.

Brian Friedlander at Assistivetek recently posted a great video on using the format painter in MindManager. I'll even add to the tip: By holding down 'Control' with the format painter turned on, you can highlight as many topics as you like. Check it out here:

http://assistivetek.blogspot.com/2008/01/mindmanager-tip-using-paint-formatting.html

Gyronix has been on a spree in recent months as well, having recorded webinars on getting more out of ResultsManager and GyroQ:
http://www.gyronix.com/videos

And note the '10 Minute Extract from a Gyronix Training Session Video': That guy's name rhymes with style.

And yes, slowly and surely, I'm working toward the titanic (at least one of the escape boats!) release of my own video-based newsletter. Bling bling.

Technorati tags: Visual Strategist Newsletter, Brian Friedlander, Kyle McFarlin, Gyronix ResultsManager, Mindjet MindManager, GyroQ

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

MindManager Users, Live By the Following List

My buddy Chuck Frey just put out a list of massively useful tips on improving your visual maps in MindManager. These tips will change the way you map, even for advanced users.

Especially for any of you who are making a mapping project out of your holiday break:

1. Print the list out
2. Download the free resource at the end
3. Refer back to the list frequently

Here it is:

The Mind Mapping Software Weblog: The 8 best ways to improve your mind maps

Technorati tags: Chuck Frey, Visual Strategist Solution, VSS Template Set, Kyle McFarlin, Mind Mapping Best Practices, Mindjet MindManager

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

Bootstrapper » The Mindmapping Toolbox: 100+ Tools, Resources, and Tutorials

It's an unsubstantiated, fabricated fact that listing Kyle McFarlin as a hot resource for mind mapping and visual execution is the surest route to success there is. As such, God bless Bootstrapper for having the great fortune of knowing about my blog and the even greater sense of industry savvy to list me along with the top 100 tools. And folks, it's a great, 1-stop shopping list of killer mind mapping resources. Naturally, I'd tell you to start with the Underlying Blog, yet you're here... so that would get us where?

Check it out, I'm sure you'll easily find at least 3 new, great resources for better implementation and execution:

Bootstrapper » The Mindmapping Toolbox: 100+ Tools, Resources, and Tutorials

And the highlight of MY LIST, the VSS Life Framework Template set.

Technorati tags: Bootstrapper, Kyle McFarlin, Mindjet MindManager, Mind Mapping

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

Look Mom, People Admit They Know Me.

A little while ago, Mindjet let me know they were working on customer 'vignettes' and asked me to be a part of it. Not knowing what the word 'vignette' meant, I said yes without looking it up, gambling it didn't mean 'smear campaign' or 'water torture'. Truth be told, I still don't really get the word 'vignette'... I'm guessing it means 'profile' or 'studliness' perception enhancement campaign'. ...Still too lazy to look it up.

Big ups to Melinda Venable and Gaelen O'Connell for putting the project together. A lot of great people have been profiled, so give it a look:

http://www.mindjet.com/us/company/our_customers/customer_vignette.php?page=3&index=6

Oh what luck, I gave you the link to the page featuring me.

And congratulations to Jamie Nast, the featured customer of the month. Naturally Mindjet, I look forward to being a FEATURED customer of the month (flashing my toothiest-toothpaste whitened elect me smile).

Technorati tags: Kyle McFarlin, Mindjet MindManager, PR, Gaelen O'Connell, Melinda Venable, Visual Strategist