Dream Architecture with Mind Mapping

well, holiday season is over. i got to feel normal for a almost 2 weeks. really nice. but...that was then...this is 2012. I've got a OCD relapse building up that is set to explode and take a few city blocks with it!

When the mind has time to rest and do other things, many things that were so hard to "gel", seem to be much more effortless afterward. this is where i am at now. cant sleep. everytime i close my eyes, there is some EUREKA that wakes me up and puts a pencil and paper in my hands. my brain is on fire (must find a viable substitute for sugar and caffiene)

Last year was very intense cerebrally. learning so many new things primarily centered around pure data programming, parameterized movement, DSP and basic electronics. to get it all in, i literally spent approximately 18 hours a day, everyday, focused on these tasks. i got so much done and am really happy i was able to do so, but…

BUUUURN-OUUUT!!

By Nov, i was completely fried. i didnt regret the pace, but i did not manage my time creatively. some days were 2 hours of practice, 2 hours of internet and 5 hours of programming. other days were 30 minutes of practice, 6 hours of internet and 1 hour of programming and NO social time, no gym time, etc. 

now a new year is here and in addition to much of the conceptual workload from last year-which i must make note and say, I LOVE!! I've never been happier at the pace- now adds 3d CAD, designing a traveling beatjazz workshop concept, designing a 3d printed beatjazz controller, constructing new sounds in kore while simultaneously designing new sound constructs for my gestural synthesis system, 3d visuals, powerpoint for speaking engagements and practicing music, dance and speaking. the reason it doesnt seem unfeasible is that each "item" is related to or feeds other items and much of the content can be used between them. but its still a full workload which must then also accomodate, finding gigs, socializing and going to the gym.

so now, flush with an abundance of CPU power and a donated 21" monitor, I can visualize, track and manipulate these individual vectors using software tools, many of which i have used for years, but now i see that their profound depth will have to be explored. 

My tools of choice are, Mindjet Mindmanager and Microsoft Office with google docs filling in here and there as backup and online storage.  Mindmanager is a monstrously powerful mindmapping program. one of a core of apps that are the only reason i dont discard windows all together (also Kore 2, and adobe fireworks and freehand).  mind mapping is an associative visualization tool that allows one to see data spatial with relationships represented by lines drawn from one to another. it allows the visualization of relationships that would not be obvious otherwise. it has a pre-digital history but mindmapping was a process that was especially ammenable to being onscreeen so when I say mindmapping, I mean the software kind.

To say that i use mindmapping regularly, is the same as saying that i breath every once in a while. it is the only tool i use every single day.  i use it to map out my day, my blog posts, my programming ideas, random thoughts, email responses...everything. it has completely altered my thinking and how i order my thoughts, even when i  am not using it.

There are many mindmapping apps out there, commercial and free and open source, but the strength of  mindmanager is that it links intimately with microsoft office.  this represents a powerful fusion of concepts working together.   mindmanger is very "right brain", if you believe in things like that. very intuitive and creative.  office is the archetype of "left brain"; analytical, logical, consensus based on available data, type shit. 

with mindmanager, you can come up with all of these flowery, wonderfully creative ideas. Then, you keep reducing the resulting trajectories down to simpler and simpler pieces until they become actionable tasks.  once you have one of these monster maps, simply go around the outside edge of this constellation and right click on these tasks and push them over into MS Outlook with a time and date for when it should be done.

Outlook!? i hear you say.  one benefit of this combo is that links to calendar, contacts, email, tasks and appointments can be interactively maintained between the two apps, which, in my world, means, i can now easily synchronize these tasks with my smartphone and associated alarms.  do you see what happened there?! we have gone from a flowery ideas to actionable task list! 

This is a very basic form of what is known as project managment.  if you are a dreamer, like me, then project management is the engine that turns dreams into reality.  You start with an idea then sit and brainstorm on that idea ( mindmanager has many brainstorming tools to help you approach your problem/concept from many angles) then just let the ideas flow out without worrying about whether they are viable or realistic.  that will come later.  after brainstoming, drag the boxes around so that related items are near each other in a clockwise fashion.  from here, you can start seeing associations and dependencies that become more obivous and you can take each branch as far as is neccessary to resolve it.

it takes practice ( being a bit neurotic helps as well) to ask more and more defined question to get down to that golden nugget of a task that comes at the end of all this brain-work.  a proper task, i believe, is something that can be done in one go.  if a task take s more than one chunk of time, then you should dig into it a little deeper and find a way to make the task more bitesize.  ie "practice german" is too general a task.  that would be an item and "take notes of the gender associations of words" would be a much more compact task, associated with an item of greater scope. i like to make tasks 2-3 hours in length each, max. now you can start sending these tasks to outlook by right clicking on them and chooosing "send to outlook tasks" and giving them a duration and a start and due time.

it is at this point i like to go to mindmanagers built in Gantt chart.  a gantt chart is is a project management tool that is used to manage time and resources graphically.  the best bit is the built in time dependencies, ie, you cant do (this) before you have completed (this) OR if you complete (this) you can allot the extra time and resources to something else.  what this means for me is that today may start at 10am and tomorrow at 1pm but the time dependencies stay relative and i can still achieve all of that days tasks, on schedule. AND everything is updated to my smartphone, so its as if i have a job working for someone doing loads of cool shit...but that someone is me!  yaaay!!

I know this all seems OCD as hell, but seriously, it helps make sure that everything that needs to get done on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, gets done and done well, as if it was just the most normal thing in the world.  crazy but true.  to me, project management may as well be called dream architecture. once you do it and you get it, dreams just pop up, POOF! check it out.  l8r (below is the one I used to write this post)

Rep Rap Pro Huxley Configuration is doing my head inHappy Holidays Beatjazz Update!!

Click to share thisClick to share this