Tag: Writing

Tools I Use: digital mind mapping

Leave a comment

Ryan Holiday explains “The Notecard System: The Key For Remembering, Organizing And Using Everything You Read.”

This system may work in the physical world (I respect that if you need everything to be physical for some reason).  I see all this possible as a digital mind map to minimize duplication (it is just a link or lines drawn to the same dot), less rewriting, simpler organization that travels with you anywhere and easier categorization for those comfortable using digital tools.

I find it interesting to watch people squirm while I explain how I do this using digital tools as they still have a reluctance (resistance) in giving up their legacy methods using paper due to their own comfort zones. If they don’t want to change and get out of their own (way) comfort zone, it is their own problem to solve.

I prefer tools and information to follow me anywhere/anytime rather than going to where it is all physically located in order to review/iterate it. Especially since new ideas are fleeting, need to be captured (vs. vanish with memory) and get linked to other ideas/needs at some point.

Yes, one of the tools I use is digital mind mapping. Not on a paper, but rather fully editable ideas. I find it a good tool for forming and dissecting ideas. Before creating an outline for a book, I start with a mind map. As I continue existing projects, I mind map them.

Mind mapping helps create dots (ideas) and connect those dots (drawing lines/relations) such as:

  1. keywords/keyphrases
  2. related articles (links)
  3. related images (links to drawings, photos, infographics whether they are mine in Google Drive or from the internet)

Then, it becomes clearer to see what gaps are there and which gaps you want to fill.

Once you are comfortable with scope (self-imposed limits) of ideas you want to cover (and what you don’t want to cover), it is easier to form an outline for writing a book.

I also use mind mapping to cover who and what topics I have covered with my podcast interviews and what I want to do in the future.

Here is a list of mind mapping tools you can use (free or paid). I happen to use Mind Meister.

And that is how I use mind mapping. How do you use mind mapping?

Need help with tools like this for your business?

Questions?

 

Tools I Use: Grammarly

Leave a comment

spellcheck-1292780_1280

Disclosure: Links to other sites may be affiliate links that generate us a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Grammarly is the best investment I made for all of my writing in the past year.

Worth every penny. It will catch far more errors than any spell-check or grammar check from any of your devices or apps.

I used Grammarly for the past 3 books I released.

Once you try it, you will wonder how you operated without it and why you did not use it before due to the frustration it removes.

Think about how much time and effort you spend looking at the grammar and spelling on academic and professional written works. Now imagine not having to even click a button to turn it on and that every and any error gets highlighted, suggestions for replacements automatically come up and you just have to click on what you want it changed.

BTW, it is not only blog posts, books, papers and reports, but anything you write.

Grammarly can correct social media posts before you push send.

It is a writer’s dream come true.

Any text. Corrected.

You keep creating. Grammarly keeps correcting.

Hope you enjoy this a much as I do in using Grammarly.

 

Questions?