Why Every Gal Needs a Mindmap

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I am almost blushing as I blog this, but I must confess to you my guilty organisational pleasure – mindmaps.

Yes, I know that mindmaps have a kind of hippyish connotation, but planning is never as much fun as with a mindmap.

If you’re like me, surrounded by a mountain of bits of paper, plans stuck on the back or envelopes and tea-ringed post-it notes, then a mindmap will be right up your street.

I use mindmaps not just to plan but to organise my thoughts. They’re a godsend for bloggers – you can use them to map out your content. They’re also great for generating creative ideas – you find your mind starts to link thoughts together and inspiration strikes. You’ll also find it more natural to make connections and think laterally. You can add files to a mind map, including documents and images. They’re great for both random research and more structured project planning.

(Oh, and they make pretty nifty to-do lists too )

One of my favourite programmes (yes, I have more than one mindmap software on my ‘puter!) is Freemind - which is freeware – so ideal for experimenting with

photo credit: jonny goldstein

Related posts on self employed mum:

1. Collaborating with Google Docs
2. Trying Out: Online backup, file sharing and syncing with Dropbox
3. Loving: Evernote – Fight overloaded brain by (actually) remembering things
4. How ‘personal’ should your business blog be?
5. Guest Post: OpenOffice.org excels (pun intended)

Tagged as: Brainstorming, Creativity, Freemind, Freeware, Mind map, Mind Mapping