ShermanLive.com is hosted by charismatic Sherman Hu.  He's an active blogger, videographer and techie extraordinaire that has a great interest in social media and emerging technologies.  PersonalBrain has obviously struck a chord and Sherman now has several videos showing his online community TheBrain's endless possibilities.

My favorite video is his Mindmapping Software for Rolodexing.  Watch how quickly Sherman adds his friend's contact info into his Plex!

Now it's time to go spruce up my own "Brain Rolodex!"

Thanks,
Matt

Read Gran't Blog at The Intersection of Anthropology and Economics.

-Matt

From Descartes to James Burke: Breaking Things Down and Building Connections in your Brain.

In last month’s big thinker Web event, we were all blown away by the depth and vastness of James Burke’s Brain. But beyond connecting generations of Western innovation and history, his view of knowledge and philosophy for learning represents a move from Cartesian reductionism predominant in Western developed nations to what James Burke calls a “Connections” approach. This approach is also key to TheBrain’s philosophy of knowledge management and mind mapping.

Reductionism and Information Hierarchies

In our drive to understand the world we break everything down into discrete categories. This is essential for analysis but can lead to an overly focused view on the subject matter that may fail to address the big picture.

One of the key themes James Burke talked about is knowledge scarcity. His point is relevant: In our world of specialization and "getting things done" coupled with the reductionist approaches to education for the past century, we have created a world of cultivated specialists where knowledge runs deep and narrow. This view has existed and been cultivated since the invention of the anvil. This is knowledge scarcity, the inability of the knowledge supply to effectively meet the needs of society. Those who have knowledge have the power. Those who don't want to take it, or are dependent on others.

The drive for knowledge and power has been ongoing since human origins. However, Descartes developed a paradigm of analysis for methodological doubt and reductionism. This paradigm played a key influence on modern science and drove innovation and discovery for the next millennium.  Essential to reductionism is the notion that one must reduce every problem down to its elemental small indivisible parts.  So in effect, in James Burke’s words we can “learn more and more about less and less”. This view of knowledge results in many specialists and niche expertise develops. This model has fuelled much of the success of the Western nations but leaves us to rely on these experts and in the process has created silos of knowledge that are inaccessible to all but a select few.  Moreover, even though specialization leads to certain efficiencies it can also lead to many problems for organizations and individuals.

This reductionist approach is also ingrained in the way we organize our data with folders and subfolders, dividing information down into its smallest parts. Even with conventional mind maps, the approach is to branch and sub-branch, reducing your topics until you reach an end node. As noted in my previous blog post, moving beyond information hierarchies this results in scalability issues and fails to represent real world relationships.

In companies this often results in duplication of efforts or not leveraging the vast array of expertise that an organization may collectively possess. Moreover, silos can often result in a failure of imagination of the collective or lack of foresight regarding critical trends. This was a key criticism of the FBI and CIA after the September 11 attacks according to the 9/11 Commission Report. It’s difficult to predict the future without the ability to see ripple effects and nonlinear relationships.

The silo effect is a phrase that is currently popular in the business and organizational communities to describe a lack of communication and common goals between departments in an organization. It is the opposite of systems thinking in an organization and contrary to the connections approach.

James Burke’s Knowledge Web Project

With technologies like TheBrain we can gain a deeper understanding of our world, creating vast and broad-reaching knowledge maps by linking things together rather than dividing and separating knowledge into little parts. Perhaps with this broader perspective and method we can become more explicitly conscious of the interdependencies that drive our world.
 
According to James Burke, “Watch the news, and every day you see proof that the world is increasingly interlinked. Nowhere is too far away to matter. More than ever, we need to understand how other people and events across the world affect the way we live. Technologies like TheBrain are essential to help us do this. We use TheBrain's BrainEKP and PersonalBrain because they are the only mind-mapping products that offer the extreme flexibility and scalability necessary to represent the vast interconnections that exist between historical and scientific knowledge."

James Burke’s Knowledge Web, is an activity rather than just a Web site—an expedition in time, space, and technology to map the interior landscape of human thought and experience. The Knowledge Web will be an interactive space on the Web where students, teachers, and other knowledge seekers can explore information in a highly interconnected, holistic way that allows for an almost infinite number of paths of exploration. Visitors will be able to click through thousands of interconnected "nodes" and “Thoughts” that link together people, places, things and events.  From their current Thought users can see all relevant connections and will be able to travel to other concepts that are connected to the original node via a historical relationship and visual link.

In terms of its information architecture and mind mapping principles, I found it very interesting that James Burke’s Brain has no directionality whatsoever in terms of the usage of relationship types. Everything that is linked is linked. He does not distinguish between parent, child or jump relationships. His Brain is completely non-linear. So if you wanted to create a Brain like James, you wouldn’t worry whether something goes below or above your active thought. You would simply make a connection and the link exists. While I don’t advocate this approach for everyone it does make me wonder if in my own PersonalBrain I spend too much time pondering Thought relationships. Maybe it’s the connection itself that is most valuable.

Bring the Reductionist and Connections Approaches in PersonalBrain

But are the reductionist and the connections approaches incompatible? Definitely not. James Burke is not disputing the need for analytic thought or reductionism. As he noted in our Web event Q&A he is simply advocating a view of knowledge that entails more than the sum of its parts. This also holds true for PersonalBrain. TheBrain Technologies is not dismissing the idea that you need to subcategorize data. We simply offer a technology that lets you further interrelate it and get to your ideas instantly.

In PersonalBrain and BrainEKP we can represent both hierarchical (subcategories) and networked oriented data. In fact, for new users it’s very helpful to start with a reductionist approach, creating major categories for your life and then creating Thoughts below those which yield a visual hierarchy. Once you have this basic structure you can then start linking things together. Thoughts that are currently located in separate Thought branches can be connected. Something at the bottom of one node can be at the top of another.

So given these two models of data management, how can you take the best of both views for your PersonalBrain? Here are some information patterns in that you can create in your own PersonalBrain where information hierarchies and non-linear relationships meet.

• Creating Interlocking Hierarchies and Multiple Parents.

You might have a set of Thoughts on people in your company and another branching of Thoughts for company departments. You can connect these two information hierarchies together in PersonalBrain so the people are also linked to their corresponding department. This is called interlocking hierarchies. You create two distinct information branches and have them interlinked at various points in the hierarchy.

In the above example there are two interlocking hierarchies one for company departments and the other of a employee reporting structure. However employees are still linked to their department thereby interconnecting the two information structures.

• Using Jump Thoughts

You might have groupings of Thoughts where you have a piece of information that is related but not necessarily a parent or subcategory of your central topic. In this case you can use PersonalBrain’s jump Thought to make a lateral connection and thereby illustrate a relationship to the information group. Jump Thoughts are displayed to the left of the active Thought.

In the above example Dan link to the left as a jump Thought since he not a diving site but goes diving with this Brain user.

• Multi-Dimensional Categorization

If you like thinking top down in the same way Descartes or any other reductionist would you can still do this in PersonalBrain, but remember that you can have more than one category for each Thought in your Brain. In other words, you are not limited because one Thought can be linked under as many categories as you like. For instance, if I am organizing client data, I can have a Thought or section for every industry that I have clients in, as well as organize my clients by project type or job size. Now each of my clients would then inevitably fall under multiple categories. For instance, one client might be both in the telecommunications industry and a large job. This means it would then have two or more Parent Thoughts.

This helps you gain a complete context of the topic because you can now classify it in many ways. The leads to the “ripple effect”: all relationships radiate out from each topic. This helps you see necessary relationships, contingencies and even predict future problems or results

Conclusion
To be effective, knowledge management software must capture human meaning, those otherwise invisible, non-linear relationships and associations that impact all aspects of our lives. The reason James Burke’s approach and TheBrain are so novel is because for the past decade information management has followed a reductionist approach. But the connections approach offers a more complete picture of our knowledge.

The time has come to bridge the gap created by a purely reductionist approach and start making connections. We see this happening with the rising popularity of social networking sites, in the scientific community with systems ecology, with urban scientists who use chaos theory to predict traffic, and of course with government analysts who map out networks to fight terrorism and organized crime. Now you can see it happen in your own view of information within PersonalBrain. The immediate effect can be described as simply relief!  “Relief” because our connections give us clarity –from the fog of folders and search results, there emerges a coherent and meaningful view of our thinking that is greater than the sum of its parts. What James Burke might call your very own Knowledge Web… I link therefore I am.

Manage Your Life via Mindmapping Sofware

Why Mind Map?

Thanks Sherman!

-Matt

I've posted some highlights of his demo on YouTube, take a look at the amazing Knowledge Web that James has constructed:

Thanks,
Matt

The video features:

• The Resizing Circle
• Moving the Plex
• Plex Full Screen
• Standard View, Distant Thoughts and Expanded View
• Moving the Tool Tabs
• Floating Brain and Auto-Hide
• Wallpaper and Themes

Enjoy!

- Matt

Many of our users ask if PersonalBrain is mind mapping software, file management software or something else… According to Mac|Life Magazine this month, PersonalBrain is the “most compelling computer adaptation of mind mapping encountered”. So I thought it only fitting to blog about: whether or not PersonalBrain is in fact “mind mapping software”, what exactly is PersonalBrain, and where does it fit into the array of desktop applications that you have running on your computer.

Flexible Knowledge Mapping – Networks Versus Hierarchies
Before we get into what PersonalBrain does, I think it’s important to reference some current issues with information management and your computer desktop. Almost all interfaces today, with the exception of TheBrain visual user interface, are limited to organizing information into hierarchies, where a piece of information can only be categorized into one place. For simple applications this is fine, but for users engaging in more complex business processes, it is simply inadequate. A document will have a variety of different issues or people associated with it – with hierarchies one cannot show all these relationships without multiple copies of the information.

File management systems on virtually all operating systems use folders and focus on separating information—they force you to divide information into containers.

Traditional directory trees confine information to a strict hierarchical organization and are incapable of expressing the multi-layered relationships that exist in the real world which people think about and draw meaning from in their ordinary Thought processes.

TheBrain takes the opposite approach—it enables you to link information into a network of logical associations. Any piece of information can be linked to any other piece. The power of TheBrain lies in the flexibility of these links. Users can quickly create structures of information that reflect the way they think about information. With PersonalBrain you can drag and drop files from folders or folders themselves. So you don’t have to abandon your filing system but you can visualize it in a manner that reflects your unique thought process.

Mind Mapping Software
Mind mapping helps you visualize concepts and ideas. Mind mapping was popularized by Tony Buzan and it is now offered by several software providers. These products are geared toward brainstorming and idea generation and are useful to convey decision processes and lateral thinking. A typical mind map interface displays topics horizontally branching out from one root node which does not change.

(Image from the Wikimedia Commons Image:MindMapGuidlines.JPG )

With most mind mapping software something at the bottom of one branch cannot be elegantly linked to something that is categorized in a distant branch unless your mind map is really small. So “mind maps” essentially have the same linear limitation that your computer filing system does. Because it is a spatial representation of information it simply runs out of space… However, they are an improved and better looking information hierarchy.

Visualizing Information Flow
In contrast to folder systems and mind maps, PersonalBrain provides the ability to display information in multiple categories and associative relationships. Items in TheBrain are called "Thoughts," which can represent files, Web pages, or database records. TheBrain's display is organized around a Thought, surrounded by all its related Thoughts. Clicking on any Thought brings it to the center of the display, and the interface is automatically reconfigured to new related Thoughts.

As you navigate through data, the information displayed on the screen is always related to the selected data. TheBrain lets you follow a train of Thought, flowing from one item to the next.

This approach provides several major advantages:

1. Information can be dynamically loaded as it is needed, enabling infinite scalability so that vast amounts of information can be mapped.
2. There is always a context for the current item, so details such as contact information can always be synchronized with the display and usage of the system can be accurately measured and reported against. 
3. Non-hierarchical relationships can be displayed. Because of the self-referencing nature of networked information, it is impossible to represent non-hierarchical information visually unless the display is rendered from the perspective of a selected item.

With conventional mind mapping software, each map cannot practically be larger than a few hundred items. PersonalBrain is designed to allow tens of thousands of items and files to be integrated into a single workspace. The software offers a dynamic visual display that is infinitely scalable. In fact, this same interface is in use at the Department of Defense, Encyclopedia Britannica and large Fortune 500s to navigate and visualize hundreds of thousands of objects and databases. It would be impossible to scroll through such large data sets with standard mind maps.

What Visualizing Non-Linear information Relationships Does for You

Networked data structures have been around long before the advent computers, but today their relevance is surpassing that of the hierarchy. The explosion of social network analysis is merely a single example of how people are realizing the power of relationships in their information. Sales personnel need to see how key decision makers are connected to companies and other related executives for prospecting or to close a deal. IT managers need to see relationships between their servers and applications to support user communities effectively. The very Internet itself is based on not a linear structure, but on a flow of logical connections between concepts.

Every piece of information in a relational database, on a Web site, and even in people’s heads is a network structure yet today there is no way for users to display these critical relationships or allow users to interact with networks of information. The need to visualize key information relationships is further augmented by more powerful computers, the proliferation of information sources and increased pressure on people to juggle multiple roles and responsibilities.

PersonalBrain can help you link information together in a manner that captures these real world relationships and helps you make sense of them all. This also underscores TheBrain inventor, Harlan Hugh’s, original goal in creating a generalized software application that works the way people think. A system designed to capture thinking must represent information networks.

Our own organic Brains aren’t always linear. One Thought can lead to a cascade and convergence of many others, often leading to the most whimsical and brilliant of ideas. This is why so many of our users (including myself) have one very large PersonalBrain that is literally their digital Brain on their computer. For me, my PersonalBrain is a mental space that I’m creating and working in about me!! It allows me to make connections and remember things.

Mind Mapping Expert Opinions

So what do industry experts think? Chuck Frey, noted mind mapping blogger and mind mapping expert, uses PersonalBrain and said in his review “If you work with large amounts of information and have gotten frustrated by your ability to navigate and work with large mind maps, PersonalBrain 4.0 is definitely worth a look.”

Eric Mack, eProductivity expert, has suggested that we “might” call PersonalBrain a “true mind mapping tool”, knowing full well what most people think mind maps should be and how TheBrain is different. He was most recently quoted in Michael Totty’s article in the Wall Street Journal stating
"Often I discover new relationships and ideas that I was previously unaware of — ones that probably would not have otherwise become apparent," using PersonalBrain.

James Burke, science historian and best selling author of “Connections” is not surprisingly a PersonalBrain user. It is the very core of visualizing nonlinear relationships that enables James Burke to connect historical inventions and thinkers together without limits. As James states “I chose TheBrain because after years of working on the Knowledge Web concept, with larger and larger sheets of paper, covered by spaghetti-like, criss-crossing lines, I was in danger of getting very lost in the maze. And worst of all, it wouldn’t move. TheBrain was just what I was looking for. And then some!”

What prolific thinkers like Jerry Michalski (owner of the world’s largest Brain) and James Burke are doing with their vast array of connections would not be possible in standard mind mapping software and certainly not possible with a folder directory. Moreover, since most of us are conceptual in nature I would venture a guess that your perspective may also need some web-like connections and go beyond basic subcategories.

The Bottom line

So to answer my original questions, I would feel comfortable describing PersonalBrain as dynamic mind mapping software or at the very least what mind mapping software ought to be, because moving beyond the limitations of static information hierarchies is critical to capture human thought. And yes, PersonalBrain lives very happily with other mind maps and most definitely your computer filing system. In fact, you can even store all your mind maps in your PersonalBrain and some of our users do.

For individuals, organizing information in a manner that more directly matches and captures their thought processes increases personal productivity. For companies, these benefits are further augmented by the collective contributions of many, increasing corporate IQ and yielding a new level of group collaboration (through our enterprise software, BrainEKP). But most importantly, seeing and connecting your information like this will inevitably surprise you and open up a new world of insight. Often, I’ll click on a Thought and see linked topics that I forgot about and now remember. You might even feel more at home, more connected, more like yourself on your machine.

What's your passion?  Let's see it BRAIN mapped on YouTube!

Matt

1. Your Home Thought
Okay, every brain has one. But it’s only fitting to mention this Thought because your Home Thought is where everything starts and other Thoughts flow from. As a new user your home Thought is the start of your Brain. If it is a Brain about you, your home Thought should be your name. If your Brain is topic specific the subject of your Brain should be your home Thought. Now you can start creating “child thoughts” under this Thought. (To learn more about getting started, read my getting started post.)

2. Future Trends Thought
Whether you’re investing in the stock market or planning your next business trip, if we could predict the future, we’d all be very successful. Sometimes wrapping our heads around new ideas and trends can be overwhelming. Moreover, spotting trends is a matter of aggregating the right information intelligently. This is what PersonalBrain is designed for. You can gain a lot of clarity and insight by adding this Thought into your Brain and attending to it whenever you recognize a trend that is relevant to your life. For example: If you are in the technology industry your “Future Trends” Thought might have Thoughts under it about the latest hardware R&D and maybe evolving OS trends. If you are in Real Estate, your future trends could include Thoughts on new government regulations and tracking foreclosures. And if you are a parent, your future trends might include the latest in childcare techniques.

Often we bookmark cool new Web sites or news articles, but they end up lost in our huge list of favorites and cannot be interconnected. Because of PersonalBrain’s ability to have one Thought effectively linked and organized under many different Thoughts you can map out networks of products and markets in multiple dimensions that will leave your spreadsheets and bookmarks in the dust.

3. Family and Significant Others Thought
Okay, you may get enough of your family members each day but when its time to remember that special something you really don’t want to be the person who forgets! This is why having a Thought for each significant person in your life is just plain smart. Why? Clicking on the in-laws and seeing their connection to bowling will remind you to get them those passes for Christmas and a link to your mother’s favorite author from Oprah’s book of the month club will be a very helpful reminder around Mother’s Day.

This section is a must for avid online shoppers. Often you will run across something on Amazon that is perfect for your BFF but it’s not her birthday…but it will be sooner than you think. Then when that magical occasion comes rolling around, you can dazzle them with that perfect gift or conversation topic. Just activate Mom’s Thought and your plethora of ideas and online gifts is right there.

Of course, having Thoughts for people in your life goes beyond tracking gifts. You can also use this area of your Brain to track other information about them, such as when they like to vacation, who they know well, and important information you might need to reference someday such as their social security number or the name of their doctor or lawyer.

Finally, linking the important people in your life up to their various interests and making connections between them to other people might just help you understand them a little bit better.

4. “Most Active Projects” Thought
You probably have two or three hot projects that you’re working on that might be in a different section of your Brain or within different functions in your organization. By linking them under your “Most Active Projects” Thought you get an overview and gain a sense of control by seeing everything that you are currently working on. Create a Thought for the “Most Active Projects” and link all your top projects under this Thought. Once they are complete unlink them. This Thought will serve as your “visual to do area” from which you can access all relevant work activity.

5. Daily To Dos Thought
This is a single Thought that you can activate that lists all your tasks for the day. It’s like your digital scratch pad. This is a more free form way of organizing your day. Another approach to tasks, if you are into more task specific planning, is to take advantage of PersonalBrain Pro’s built-in calendar where you can create events with specific dates that are linked to Thoughts.

6. New Ideas and Goals Thought
A new idea is one of the most important Thoughts that you can capture. You might be busy working on something else or on a conference call when lightening strikes you. This is exactly the moment when PersonalBrain becomes your digital memory. Create a Thought for that idea and add a couple of notes, and you’ve captured it before it’s forgotten. Having an actual Thought called “New Ideas” gives you a place to easily add things. Eventually these ideas might be moved or linked under other Thoughts like online sales, new product development etc. But this Thought officially invites and makes it easy to add in a quick idea without necessarily thinking about where you want to put it for the long haul.

Goals are also very important Thoughts whether you’re using your Brain for project management or to organize your Aunt and Uncle’s 50th anniversary party. Since your Brain is all about you, putting some personal goals in can really help you define your own success and give you an area to plan for your future dreams. Once you’ve created your “Goals” Thought you can create some child Thoughts that include steps to achieving these goals and add in any research that is required under this Thought to get to where you need to go.

7. “Learning or Training” Thought
This Thought marks the start of everything that you are going to learn. If you are creating a Brain for your company Intranet this Thought can parent other Thoughts that outline key standard operating procedures and hot issues that new employees may not be aware of. On a personal level you can use this Thought to add Thoughts on subjects that you are currently learning or want to know more about. This can be anything from keeping track of your piano lessons, courses that you might be considering enrolling in at your local college, to more in depth mind mappings on new health issues and medical procedures you need to follow.

8. “Lessons Learned” Thought
This is your lessons learned area. I know you might want to stay positive but the best way we can improve as individuals is to learn from our mistakes. Sometimes in our daily execution of tasks things can go amiss. This Thought and section of your Brain is absolutely critical for corporate brains where teams of people have undertaken new projects that other colleagues can learn from. But individuals can track this too with great results! For instance, you’ve just presented to a very important prospective client and let’s just say the meeting could have gone smoother.  Adding some of the problems and difficulties experienced under this Thought will be cathartic and free your mind to move on to your next big win. But moreover, you will have a Thought that you can access to help debrief to your team about ways to improve your presentation and to access important details that might otherwise be lost in the shuffle of your day.

9. My Team Thought
Thoughts for all your colleagues can get you on the fast track to more effective personal interactions and meetings. If you are waiting for a colleague for certain deliverables like new graphics, new approvals, etc, you can jot this down in your notes section under their name. This way if they call or pop by your office you can instant activate their Thought and be sure that you have reminded them about everything you need. You can drag and drop their contact information from Outlook, link to their Facebook page or just jot down their number in PersonalBrain notes section! Whenever I work with any of our remote employees I instant activate them in my Brain to get their phone extension to give them a ring and see what projects I need updates on. This ensures that my calls are 100% productive with them.

10. My Competitors Thought
In your business or product development section knowing what your competition is up to can help you make valuable decisions. PersonalBrain is ideal for aggregating information on hot products, competing strategies, and the strengths and weaknesses of your competition. For example, in product analysis, often relationships between product genres will cross various categories. This is why product managers often do product matrixes. However, a chart or spreadsheet cell can’t be visually navigated or dynamically rearranged the way PersonalBrain can. Even traditional mind mapping software has severe limitations here. A product or feature might fit under multiple concepts and ideas, crossing genres so to speak. (The good ones usually do.) This can only be visualized associatively with one Thought having multiple parents and connections. With PersonalBrain the full context is captured and powerful analysis is enabled with a few connections.

11. Your Special Interest
Whether it’s baseball, antiquing, or your pet parrot, adding a Thought on your latest preoccupation or hobby is very satisfying. You can use TheBrain’s search Web feature with your favorite search engine to find the best web sites on your hobby. Then drag and drop links into your Brain. Special interests are even more special when you can instant activate them on a moment’s notice or link to your buddy that you are going to the game with. You might be surprised at how quickly you can develop a personal resource on your favorite team or animal that becomes invaluable to you as you pursue your passion. Don’t forget to copy and paste Thought icons to your hobby Thoughts for extra pizzazz. This is just plain fun!

12. Travel Thought
We live in a global village of cites and countries. With summer right around the corner it’s time to think travel. Even if you’re not a jetsetter this section is invaluable to anyone who wants to maximize their time in the right places when away from home. Create a Thought for the location you are visiting: link to key destination sites, hotels and tourist attractions.  For instance, if there is a hotel I like, I drag and drop its Web page into my Brain to create a Thought for it. Then in the notes section I might enter special rates, the name of the manager I spoke to on the phone, or other important details. This way when I arrive I'm not kicking myself for not remembering that great tour guide or restaurant I found when surfing the Web… because it's all in my Brain.

I also have a VERY USEFUL Thought in my Brain called “Airlines”. In the notes section I have all my airline phone numbers that I frequently fly and my airline membership numbers right there.  When I’m booking travel, I simply activate my  “Airlines” Thought and have all the information I need.

You can also use this area of your Brain to create a list of cities that interest you so you can link to activities that you might like to do there sometime down the road. In time, you’ll be able to see the places you should visit based on all the things you want to see there and the people you want to visit. Plus, when you do go you’ll be sure not to have forgotten anything!

If you are interested building out this section you can read about PersonalBrain for travel on Peter Greenberg’s site.

13. Personal Finance Thought
With tax season here this Thought can be a lifesaver! You should have a Thought for any accountants or accounting services you are using. Links to IRS, notes about outstanding questions or issues will make your meeting with your accountant that much more effective. This is also a great place to link to any online bill paying or banking sites that you may use. You can also add a Thought for “Bills paid” add in any notes on dates bills are due or when they were last paid. For more time sensitive and important items like property taxes you can create separate Thoughts and set a calendar item so PersonalBrain will remind you when they are due. If you are into scanning receipts or important documentation PersonalBrain makes it easy to store and categorize this information.

14. Top of My Mind Thought
This Thought is similar to the “Most Active Projects” and “Daily To Dos” Thoughts already mentioned, but it is different in that it is not necessarily project specific. Under your Top of Mind thought you might have links to current hobbies, your tax return, an upcoming event that you are planning, or a project that is all consuming. The top of my mind is a mixture of stuff you are doing and or just stuff you might really be thinking about. For instance you might be tracking issues for our next presidential election although you might have this stuff under politics if it’s top of your mind it should be linked there as well…This Thought can also be the parent Thought for the “Most Active Projects” and “Daily To Dos” Thoughts. Its purpose is to capture not only action oriented items but new ideas and issues in your wet Brain that are not necessary task or work specific. Having this Thought gives you a place to prioritize your life and consciously decide what is important to you. The first step in any purposeful journey begins with a Thought…

Final Thoughts
Now why are all these Thoughts necessary? As human beings we think about stuff, lots and lots of stuff, and not necessarily in a linear or focused manner.  Even though I might be working on something very specific at the moment, having a place to capture these additional nuggets as they emerge in your digital workplace can be a goldmine. So when you are using your Brain for your business analytics or mind mapping your next big or current big thing, I hope these additional thoughts will provide you with some foundation for those other brilliant ideas that crop into our minds when we least expect them. Because regardless of time or place, a good Thought should never be forgotten.

If you have any additional must have Thoughts let me know or add them to the comments below.

These thoughts might even trigger or warrant a new Brain! For further reading, you might also be interested in checking out our Top 12 PersonalBrain Uses to get a macro perspective on different Brains.

19 years ago Korrahn Droku was paralyzed from the neck down. Despite the challenges he faces on a daily basis Droku prevails and even coaches people on overcoming their obstacles in life. This blog entry is in his words, from an email he sent me about his use and success with PersonalBrain.  I hope it will inspire you as much as it did me.

Just to tell you a little about who I am, and what I do…

I am KorrahnDroku… simply known as 'Droku' (http://www.Droku.com).  I'm doing my coach training through the CoachVille Schools of Coaching , and the Center for Coaching Mastery.

I have been a member of the CoachVille coaching community since the summer of 2001, and a member of the Schools of CoachVille since winter 2002.  I served in the role of Assistant Community Coach for the Personal Environments Community for three years, and facilitating assistant for the Environmental Design Tele-Course for the last two years.  In 2006, I was honored to be the recipient of the Thomas J. Leonard "T" Award for Volunteer of the Year.

19 years ago, I was paralyzed from the neck down by a gunshot wound to the neck in a drive-by shooting. Being a disabled user, I am constantly looking for assistive technologies that will not only assist me in my training, but enable me to have a visual means of integrating my knowledge with my information resources. TheBrain is proving to be one of the most productive tools I have acquired.

What I consider my "major" in my training is "Personal Environmental Design" which is the study of The 9 Most Influential Areas of Your Life Experience. PersonalBrain, has proven to be the perfect tool for analyzing, defining, and designing Personal Environments.

I would like to use the brain as a "learning environment" for teleclasses, and a means of collaboration between "my network" individually and collectively.

The image you are looking at is from a program called PersonalBrain.  Under environments, you see the nine most influential areas that determine our choices and behavior.  What the brain allows you to do, is inventory your tangible and intangible assets and liabilities in all of these areas of your life.  While on the surface it may appear as "Just Another Mind Mapping Program"… the power of the brain comes from its ability to access and dynamically link information and resources.

As an example, if I were to access my Memetic Environment…

This is the environment of ideals, concepts, paradigms, ideologies, social norms, tradition, passed down and passed on customs and cultural beliefs, ways of mental analysis, evaluation, and judgment.  Each entry in my Memetic environment is a Thought, and each thought can link to associated thoughts in any of the environments.  When I think of the Memetic environment, I realize everyone learns things differently.  One of the thoughts I use to increase my awareness of learning styles is… Multiple Intelligences, if I access that thought…

Not only will it show me what they are, but each thought can have a active link to a website, application, document, image, video, recording, or any other connection I might want to make.  You can also include Notes for each thought, which you might find very useful.

Another environment that a lot of people seem to have complications with is the Network Environment.  This environment represents your awareness of Who You're Connected to and Why, while the Relationships Environment represents Who You're Connected to and How.

TheBrain allows you to enter someone into your network, and also associate them to any other group or environment, without duplicating any information.  Let's say, I add Dr. Eve to my network, but since I also rely on her for medical information, I also want her listed under Health, which is a thought under the Body Environment.  It's easy to associate her to any thought in my brain without having to reenter her information.  And any changes made to her information will be immediately updated wherever I have a thought referencing her.

This is a view of the program with the Notes section viewable where I can include images, or any other information I feel is relevant.  All of this barely scratches the surface of what this program is capable of and the application of intelligent environmental design.

I'm creating a new training program focused on personal environmental design, that uses TheBrain as a layout tool for information management.  I'm going to be Seeking 10 Participants to work with over a three-week period as a focus group for Exploration and Discovery of Personal Environments.  This program Is Not designed to… "Teach You about Environmental Design". If you really want to learn what environmental design is, and how it can be applied to the work you do with your clients… I highly recommend that you register for CoachVille's "Environmental Design Course", which can be found in the registration center at… http://www.CoachVille.com

What this program will help you do, is to get clear on what each environment means for you Personally.  It will give you the opportunity to look at the wide variety of People Places and Things in your life, and where you see them fitting in the scope of your overall objectives.  It will provide you with a system for developing new habits of environmental awareness, and give you a more meaningful look at how you manage your personal and professional information.

Participants will also need to be willing to install the PersonalBrain program on their system. This is a free download from www.thebrain.com, that works on Windows or the Mac.  For the first 30 days, the program will have all the functions of the professional version.  After 30 days, the program will convert to the "feature limited" free version unless you choose to upgrade.  However, the free version itself is quite a powerful tool, and more than what you would need to benefit from this programs capabilities.

While I will not be training you to use all of the aspects of this program, I will be covering everything you need to get set up and started using and designing brains of your own.  Once you grasp the overall concept, the interface and operation is almost intuitive.  And I'm always more than willing to share tips and pointers and answer any questions that I can.  TheBrain support team also offers a free interactive Web training session every Friday.  I will also make available to you a… "Your Project Brain" Template File to get you started.  I think you'll be surprised at all the ways you'll find to benefit from this program.

I find myself using it constantly, here are just a few more screenshots of how I use it to increase my productivity.

At a glance, I can see what's going on around my 100 Day Challenge activities.  I can also keep focus on my objectives…

Or maybe I just want to see who in my network is in my support group…

Or, what if I want to find out about a certain episode of CoachVille Caffeine…

Right away, I can see that on February 20 during Transformation Week, Dave's Guest was Alan Fried and they were discussing the environmental shift from willpower to world power.  Also, there is a live link to a recording of the call.

You will never run out of ways to utilize this system.  It becomes a constantly evolving environment that starts giving physical dimension to your thoughts.  If any of this is of interest to you, please just send me a reply e-mail, and I'll make sure you get all the details.  If there is a large enough interest, and if Dave isn't booked up for Technology Week, I'll try to arrange to present this on one of the CoachVille caffeine calls.

Sincerely… Droku

Contact Droku via email: droku@droku.com