Motivation on the Run » Information

Wiki2008 IS A GO!

Larry Hendrick — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:22:30 +0000

On the last podcast I hinted about a big announcement coming to Motivation on the Run soon. It’s here!

Wiki2008 is officially live and ready to go.

For some, I’ll quickly explain. One of my year-long learning goals involves wikis. I plan to learn about them and determine where I might use them to improve efficiency and productivity. What information is better stored and retrieved from a Wiki rather than a database or memo file? That’s what I want to explore.

The next question, which Wiki works best for business or personal use? It will depend, but if someone knows the criteria for their Wiki, how do they choose the right one? There are hundreds of Wikis available, so it can be very confusing.

For more information and to see how you can participate, visit the Wiki2008 page here on Motivation on the Run then head over to the learning wiki to join in on a year-long of learning. You’ll need the KEY if you plan to add to the wiki—that is MotRWiki2008.

Come on and join the fun and learn at the same time. If everyone takes one wiki to review, we’ll have dozens of reviews for each one. That would be terrific.

2008—Year of the Wiki

Larry Hendrick — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:52:19 +0000

Each new year brings new goals and new opportunities, with 2008 no different. 2007, the year of the mind map, was very successful for me personally, adding to my arsenal of productivity tools. 2008 is my year of the Wiki. and I’m looking forward to another success story.

Learning about and using wikis as an information source is very appealing to me. We all have knowledge in our heads, which is of little use to others unless they can access the information easily. Wikipedia is the classic example of accessible knowledge. It is driven by thousands of people (or more), each contributing from their own experience.

My initial goal is to build a personal wiki containing all my knowledge, which should take a day or two, then next week (several months in reality), begin a shared wiki related to Motivation on the Run. The wiki will pertain to motivation, but I will entertain suggestions about the details.

My first step in learning about a new product is setting up searches and subscribing to the RSS feeds for those searches. This video shows the process for those who haven’t ventured into that territory. This is my first attempt at video capture and will need to sharpen my technical skills a bit.

I’m using the free tool, Camtasia Studio 3 for the capture and am very pleased with the power of this application. I will add it to my software learning goals for 2008, getting more proficient with this utility. It requires a few steps to attain the free version 3, but a quick Internet search will turn up the details.

Series on Wikis

2008—Year of the Wiki

2007—Year of the Mind Map

Larry Hendrick — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 18:11:20 +0000

2007 was the year of the mind map and my year to learn about mind mapping. Every major software company released new and improved versions, and no less than five web-based applications were introduced.

Software Mind Mapping

The year began slowly, as I explored the available software. The first software application I discovered was FreeMind. This open-source product was a good place to start, but its weaknesses left me wanting more. Next was ConceptDraw’s MindMap 4, which was a big improvement over the no-cost FreeMind. Then I installed MindJet’s MindManager 6 and things were looking brighter. Of course, it wasn’t long before the new, updated versions were released.

Web-Based Mind Mapping

Online mind mapping came to the forefront in 2007, also. MindMeister, Mindomo, Mind42, Bubbl.us, and comapping came online to a receptive audience, eager to try the features and promises of web-based mapping, with visions of Gmail-like images dancing in their heads.

Many people found great satisfaction in these web-based mapping tools, in particular the real-time collaboration feature. I was excited about them too, but ultimately was disappointed in their limited functions.

New and Improved

Fearing the loss of potential customers, desktop mind mapping companies fought back with new and improved versions of their software.

ConceptDraw released MindMap 5, fixing many of the issues I had with version 4. A vastly improved product, I used MindMap 5 exclusively for several months, having only a few issues with the operation of the product.

Then MindManager Pro 7 came out. This release by MindJet took the already industry leading mind mapping software well past the competition and straight into my computer. MindManager Pro 7′s new ribbon interface took some getting used to, but the advanced features were the big selling point. The bar had been raised.

Other Desktop Tools

Other than the products mentioned above, I have looked at and/or tried the following software applications over the course of 2007. Most are niche products, but several are worthy of more exploration.

Cmap
Personal Brain
3D Topiscape
NovaMind
Compendium
Thoughtex
xMind for Mac users
MindGenius
MindVisualizer
iMindMap

Even though there are other applications, these represent the ones I spent some time looking at.

Motivation on the Run resources

If you’re interested in reading more of my thoughts about mind mapping through 2007, here are links to different articles on Motivation on the Run.

I might have chronicled the journey better, which will be a part of the goal for 2008, but learning about mind mapping has been a productive adventure and I now use MindManager Pro 7 daily. In fact it’s hard to remember doing without mind mapping as part of the daily routine.

2008 Goals

The goal in this area for 2008 is Wikis. Like mind mapping before, I’ve seen and used wikis a little, but I want to get a better understanding. As part of the goal, I will document the process better, if for nothing else than my future information.

With Wikipedia as the granddaddy of all wikis, it is the driving force in learning how to put the knowledge of my brain into a collection of thoughts and memories, easily searchable and editable. In a way, that’s a scary thought, but by the end of 2008 I’ll see where the trip leads.

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and is preparing for a safe New Year.

Troy’s Outstanding Bloggers List

Larry Hendrick — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:35:22 +0000

Troy Worman’s latest list of Outstanding Bloggers will keep you reading for quite some time. I have discovered many gems I wasn’t aware of before, so if you are looking for intelligent, informative writing, you’ve come to the right place.

I don’t know how or how long it took Troy to make this list, but a lot of work went into the effort. Thanks Troy for the hard work … so we don’t have to.

A = AWESOME

B = Beautiful

Biz -something

Brain-something

E is for “E”

Life-something

El-something

Tag You’re It

Larry Hendrick — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 18:04:12 +0000

Over the long holiday weekend, I was tagged by Pet from PetsGardenBlog The tag is for a meme requiring me to reveal eight random things about myself, which I gladly did for Pet. Here’s is the link to the meme.

$54,000 of Prizes at ProBlogger

Larry Hendrick — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 18:21:31 +0000

Darren Rowse of Problogger is having a fantastic $54,000 give-away over the next week. Prizes of all types, are being given away in different ways each day. Some only require leaving a comment, while others require telling people about the shindig.

Problogger’s birthday bash, celebrates three years of blogging as a professional. Darren has gathered prized from all over the world and the best part of the party is the gifts are for the readers, not Darren. How cool is that?

If you enjoy fresh content daily, easy-to-win prizes, you’ll enjoy Problogger.

[tags]Problogger, birthday party, birthday gifts[/tags]

TraxItAll on Sale

Larry Hendrick — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:48:58 +0000

In the past, I’ve mentioned the software, TraxItAll on Motivation on the Run. It is one of those simple Palm programs that does one thing very well. Here is more information from their website.

Very simply, you can use TraxItAll to track anything that matters to you. With TraxItAll’s combination of simplicity, flexibility, and power, you can track anything that you want or need to track.

And now, using our new desktop module for Windows, users can print and even email their reports! (Emailing requires the use of 3rd party software for creating PDF documents, such as the free CutePDF program.)

I bring this up because of the 20% off sale going on this week. They also offer a free 30 trial if you’re not sure. Head over and see for yourself.

Disclosure: I have no affiliation with TraxItAll except as a happy customer.

[tags]TraxItAll, Palm[/tags]

Tony Buzan: My brain my hobby

Larry Hendrick — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 18:27:42 +0000

“You know there is a huge difference between IQ and creative intelligence,”

This lengthy profile of Tony Buzan, by Amira El-Naqeeb, is a fascinating look into a very complex man. The article chronicles Buzan’s life mission of learning more about the human brain and how it functions.

The few sentences below, give insight into Buzan’s thinking about modern meetings and management. We’ve all witnessed the results of this these meetings, not all good.

Al-Ahram Weekly | Profile | Tony Buzan: My brain my hobby
We have learned what, not how to learn: “You go into a meeting room that has thousands of dollars’ worth of art, very expensive furniture, cheap black pens, sweets which are pure sugar, a coffee dispenser; and with those tools the company’s 12 leading brains will captain the ship. It’s astonishing. Is it any wonder that businesses get into trouble, that countries get into trouble. But no one was taught otherwise, it’s a massively widespread global habit. We need to establish new habits, and for that we need to nourish the brain.” Buzan summed up the ingredients of this mental recipe: “learning, healthy diet, oxygen and love: friendship, affection”. In his experience as an Olympic coach, Buzan says training the brain improves the body’s condition and vice versa; so developing both in tandem doubles the benefits.

[tags]mind mapping, Tony Buzan[/tags]

World Memory Championships Begin

Larry Hendrick — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:46:39 +0000

Aaaannnnd they’re off! The memory championships, that is.

The three day competition begins today to find the person with the best memory determined by ten events. This year the event is being held in Bahrain and has about 80 people vying for the title.

Gulf Daily News
TODAY will see the start of a gruelling three-day competition in which some of the brightest minds in the world will be vying for the title of champion.

The World Memory Championship WMC, brought to Bahrain by Intelnacom, will test the human brains mnemonic skills based on 10 disciplines, including historic dates, speed cards, names and faces.

Around 80 international competitors will be taking part in the championship, which is being held for the first time in the Middle East and second time outside the UK.

[tags]Bahrain, Memory World Championships[/tags]

Are You a Memory Champion?

Larry Hendrick — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:49:36 +0000

It’s too late for you to compete this year, but the Memory Championships of 2007 are taking place this week in Bahrain. The best memorizors meet and compete to see who can memorize the most information, the quickest. The contest is divided into different categories and the person with the most points, at the end of the day, is crowned.

The best memories are made of this – Times Online
It’s the ultimate mental challenge: later this week in Bahrain 60 of the most lethally honed minds in the world will come together to test their powers of recall to superhuman extremes by competing in the memory world championships.

Over the course of three gruelling days they will take part in a 10-discipline “deca-mentathlon” in which they will be called upon to memorise entire decks of playing cards and hundreds of historical dates and random words as well as matching long lists of names with faces.

The competition, started by Tony Buzan in 1991, was created to show off the memory potential of the human brain. Buzan is credit with introducing the masses to mind mapping in the sixties and seventies.

[tags]mind mapping, motivation, Tony Buzan[/tags]

Motivation on the Run » Information

Wiki2008 IS A GO!

2008—Year of the Wiki

Series on Wikis

2007—Year of the Mind Map

Software Mind Mapping

Web-Based Mind Mapping

New and Improved

Other Desktop Tools

Motivation on the Run resources

January 2007

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007

August 2007

October 2007