Mindmapping Software for Rolodexing
June 25, 2008 by Sherman Hu
Filed under Video
What if you want to organize files, folders, websites, contacts, event scheduling all in one place, while interconnecting your connections / thoughts / ideas?
TheBrain.com ’s PersonalBrain software is my mindmapping software of choice, which affords me to do all of the above easily. This short 9 min. video shows you how I do easily.
Appreciate your comments & feedback 
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Hi Sherman!
You make it look so easy. I think with some discipline, I can definitely finally eliminate post-it notes and organize myself more effeciently to be much more effective.
Thanks for the video! Really appreciate it.
You’re welcome, Antonia! But it is easy
Give it a try. Download the free copy of TheBrain, either for Windows or Mac users, and give it a whirl.
Let me know what you think of its effectiveness for your ‘world’.
Cheers!
thanks for the tips {seesmic_video:{“url_thumbnail”:{“value”:”http://t.seesmic.com/thumbnail/hdb522AhGo_th1.jpg”}”title”:{“value”:”thanks for the tips ”}”videoUri”:{“value”:”http://www.seesmic.com/video/bs48FFS79s”}}}
Hi Sherman, Me again. I just went to TheBrain.com and watched some of the video. This is just what I have been looking for. James Burke is absolutely right – all the mindmapping programs I have looked at in the past are hierarchal or linear and we do not think that way. I am absolutely intrigued with this. I’m looking forward to start using it. I have a lot of irons in the fire, but they are all leading to one final result. Very exciting. Thanks again for the great tip!
Antonia, you’re right. I have a strong lean towards non-linear thinking/processing, and TheBrain’s dynamic nature fits hand in glove to how I think/process.
You’re welcome. Looking forward to seeing how you use ‘your brain’
Right, being organized and disciplined are important to make it easier. I’ll try to check out also TheBrain.com. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the introduction to The Brain, my brain could use an assistant
Very cool application for an address book.
Hi Sherman -
That is a great way to use The Personal Brain – I am an Avid mind mapper myself- and you have sparked some new ideas… about how to use non-treed mind maps. Thanks.
Included a link to your video on my collection of tools I collect. Thanks!
Warmly,
Anne
Hi Sherman,
Something I think worth noting is that if you name your thought eg “Email, name” using the “,” I think that the thought is automatically linked to Email and shows up under Email as only the name.
This would mean that you could automatically place each entry under a specific category as you enter them, without having to make the specific link each time.
Min you, I’m using ver 3.03 – there may be better ways with ver 4
Hi Sherman,
An elegant way of doing this. I was wondering how you managed all contact details and I see that you don’t. Email, phone and web based are sufficient for linking to from PersonalBrain. The rest can stay in Outlook (or equiv) and sync to phones etc.
BTW, what tool did you use for your recording. Very nice presentation.
David
@ Andrew Reynolds – thanks for stopping by to view this video. Share your experience with TheBrain’s software, k? Cheers!
@ Jana Murray – for the time-being, I’m using real-world assistants
Learnt a few more things about PersonalBrain that I’ll share soon. Rolodexing is v. smart to keep all contacts in PersonalBrain. Easy searching via tagging works brilliantly!
@ Anne Preston – thanks for the link love
Check out my video on this blog about TheBrain “View Options” – brilliant!
@ Ken – I believe you’re right. Spoke with Matt from TheBrain, and the latest release has alot of goodies. Here’s a quick video I created showing how to add email, that activates your default email app when the icon is clicked on: http://screencast.com/t/JbT30LUF9q
@ David – Thanks for stopping by, viewing the video, and adding your feedback. With my PersonalBrain, I’m going to begin adding more of my contacts’ URLs, email addies, contact numbers, social media profiles, attachments, etc. Some things won’t be included, eg emails (like you mentioned). I have Gmail for that. And when mobile, I’ll have Jott + GrandCentral for calling my contacts
Thanks. The video was created and edited using ScreenFlow (Mac, VaraSoftware.com)
Hi Sherman,
great video
Just like to add a few remarks about the way you used PB:
- using the comma-trick (enter “,Twitter”) will name the thought with her Twitter-URL (“Deborah Micek,Twitter” – but only when that thought comes up OUTSIDE the context of her “main” thought, i.e. in instant search etc. – so it get easier to distinguish all the “Twitter”-labelled thoughts.
- you can also d&d a URL unto the plex to create a new thought that is linked to this URL, so creating thoughts like the ones for her websites etc. even gets easier, as you don’t have to create the thought beforehand.
- and finally: you can also attached multiple URLs to a thought, so you don’t neccessarily have to have a separate thought for every URL, you could also store it all under her “main” thought.
Oh, and I forgot to mention that when using Outlook or Lotus Notes for contact mgmt, you can also create links from PB to the entry of the corresponding person in your ContactMgmt-System, so that you can access all the details very quickly and efficiently.
Super ideas and tips, Michael! Thanks for sharing!
I dig how one can shortcut their use of PersonalBrain with a little knowledge of “Shortcut 101″
Thanks for stopping by to watch the video and sharing your ideas!
Hi Sherman,
Thanks for your video. I’m using the brain at home in my desktop with a Linux OS, but I’m also using my laptop with XP at work. There’s an easy way to sync? There’s any way to use a flash stick? Or what you’ll recommend for using one brain in different computers?
Ricardo, you’re welcome.
That’s a good question to ask The Brainiacs at TheBrain
I would simply BrainZip and backup to flash stick for use on other computer. Cheers!
Hello Sherman,
cool video. I am using Personal Brain also and i find it fantastic
I was really impressed by the video quality and lenses you used may i ask for the software you made the video with?
Greetings from Bavaria,
Florian
Hi Sherman,
Personal Brain is the organizational magic bullet. I don’t know anything that compares with it.
Tim
Hi Sherman,
I appreciated the video+screenshot walk-through.
You might want to add the trick of dragging a web URL directly into the plex in the ‘child’ position. Most of the time it auto-fills the new child thought with the website name (it saves typing the new thought name).
I’m working on a related application. I’ve started adding child thoughts reflecting personal interests, skills, etc.
Dave Wetherow
Vancouver Island
Sherman – Great video! I’m a PB user as well, and you did an excellent job of showing off some of the features. I was going to mention a few tips, but see that Michael beat me to most of them.
One other to share that I don’t think was covered in the comments: you can add multiple child entries in one fell swoop by just separating them with semicolons. E.g., you could have just typed: Twitter;LinkedIn;iBlog360 and automatically created 3 separate children.
Also, the latest beta has lots of enhancements, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t.
You should post your video on youtube as well, youtube is more popular and allows one to “favorite” videos and whatnot very easy.
a little off topic
I was curious about the example subject of your demo coach deb. I went to the blogi360 site
The introductory video describes all the wonderful benefits and then made an ‘pre-Alpha release’ offer before May 1st. It is now July 30. An obsolete page does not inspire trust
Aloha Russ Bankson,
Thanks 4 reminding me I need to raise the subscription rate for Blog i360 system! I just sent an email to my Web programmer to get that rate increased now that it’s ready for public release and change the investment on the site.
We put off increasing it because there were still a few upgrades we wanted to add to the system before going out of beta to make it that much better of a system for its users.
Essentially, anyone who went to the site in the past 60 days “got lucky” and locked in their beta founding rate for life.
BTW: We’re thinking of keeping it in beta forever since it’s constantly being upgraded, improved with added features – kind of like how Google is always in Beta. We’ll still let outsiders use the system (beyond just our clients) but we’ll note that Beta is a “constant” due to our commitment to “always make it even better.”
Aloha Sherman,
The Brain video you created is SO freakin COOL!
Hu da man!
Guess this means I’m in your lil black book now eh?
Although admittedly, I was holding my breath thinking you were about to share my iPhone number – yipes! I thought OMG! now Everyone has my number & email! LOL But then I figured… any friend of Sherman’s is a friend of mine
Share away!
BTW: I’m SOLD on the brain!
very cool use of mind mapping.
@CoachDeb
PS: Your MAC is pretty cool too
but shhhhh! don’t tell anyone I
admitted that!
Hey Sherman, thanks for the vid(s) you’ve produced. I’m new to PB, so I take in all I can right now.
I’d appreciate it if you would explain the added value of putting, say, phone numbers in a separate thought instead of in the notes section of the main thought.
I see the added value of putting the email addies in a separate thought (to automate emailing), but why not put addresses and phone numbers in the main thought?
Thanks for any help dude.
Ed
I just finished transcribing all the interviews for The Social Media Bible, http://www.TheSocialMediaBible.com . I became part of the team virtually; I am a virtual transcriptionist. I only mention this as a testament to the power of social media, or as I like to call this combo, Social Media ².
I urge all to go to and listen to these nearly 50 interviews with the top SVP’s and founders of the major social media companies world wide, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, etc. They are 30+/- minute podcasts about how each social media technology is being used for business.
I have also transcribed for Mr. Tony Buzan, the innovator of Mind Mapping.