2011-01-20 | Where Do I Begin?

The question "where do I begin?" comes up a lot. Someone has just downloaded TheBrain and is looking to test it out but doesn't know where to start. TheBrain (TB) can be a bit intimidating at first, especially if you aren't used to working with your data visually.

First, let's be realistic. While the basic version of TB is free, Pro is quite a bit of money. So the first questions to ask yourself are:

<ul>

<li>Do I have a lot of interrelated information I want to store and access? TB is a good fit if you store a lot of files, links and notes which are interrelated to each other.</li>

<li>Do I like to see things visually? If yes, TB may be right for you. If you are comfortable with linear file structures, TB may not be the best fit.</li>

<li>Do I want to present workflows or mindmaps to an audience? If yes, a different Mind Mapping application may be better for you. While TB can work well with presentations (presentation mode), mindmaps and workflows (exended view) are not it's strongest feature. If you are looking for customizable shapes and connectors applications devoted to mind mapping may be a better fit.</li>

</ul>

Still here and interested? Good.

First, you have lots of resources on how to use PersonalBrain.

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.thebrain.com/support/docs/">PersonalBrain User Guide</a> - Good resource and reference material.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.thebrain.com/support/webinars/">PersonalBrain 101</a> - There is a free webinar for new users. There's also recorded sessions there if you can't make the scheduled times.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.thebrain.com/support/tutorials/">PersonalBrain Tutorials</a> - A tour and instructions for specific areas or functionality.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBrainTechnologies">TheBrainTechnologies YouTube page</a> - Multiple videos from How-to's to features in new releases.</li>

<li><a href="http://forums.thebrain.com/">User Forums</a> - Don't be afraid to post questions or search for answers in the forum. It's pretty active, and is a great resource.</li>

<li>PersonalBrain User Knowledgebase - This WebBrain contains quite a bit of information on how to use certain TB features, as well as usage scenarios.</li>

</ul>

Now that you know where to go for the basics, my main recommendations is jumping in with both feet and resolving to use it consistently for the trial period. It's almost impossible to determine how useful the software is, or if the visual interface is valuable to you with just a few thoughts and data points.

Some ideas to populate your database:

<ul>

<li>Drag some bookmarks into on subjects you are very interested in. Then find related information and drag it in as a child thought, jump thought or another parent (one thought may have multiple parent thoughts). Attach files to the thoughts, write notes for quick reference in the note section (although the notes section isn't great for handling multiple pages of information, it's great for bits of text you need quick access to).</li>

<li>If you have tasks at work that require multiple web sites, or sources, or files, create a thought for that, and then add the resources you use as child or jump thoughts. Jot a few notes down that are helpful for using those resources. I often write procedures for tasks in my notes to reference when I'm running them, especially if they are monthly or quarterly, and these have proven to be invaluable over time.</li>

<li>Create a list of places you want to visit, and all the attractions you want to see when you are there. Take some screen shots and add them as thought icons for more visual impact (if you have copied a picture from somewhere choose Thought > Paste Thought Icon).</li>

<li>Create an outline of a book you are reading, add child thoughts for the main ideas or chapters, and add child thoughts to those (or jump thoughts) for your ideas around them.</li>

<li>Create thoughts for your family members and friends Then add child thoughts for birthday or holiday gift ideas, or favorite restaurants, or...</li>

</ul>

Don't be worried about "not doing it right". As I've (slowly) started to realize (see articles in the jump links, An Evolution of Structure Part I and II for more info) you don't need perfect categorization, or a perfect hierarchy. You just need something that works well with the way you work. Thought relationship structure in TB are very forgiving, it's easy to change the way thoughts are linked to each other, so experiment with ways to link things and how you want to see stuff. Here's some ideas:

<ul>

<li>Dates -  you could create a thought for each week, or each day and link it as a parent to what you are doing today.</li>

<li>Sentence Structure - You could try using sentence structure as a basis for your brain. For example: "What" (parent thought), "What, I'm Doing" (Child thought), "What, I'm Reading" (Child Thought), "What, I'm Thinking About" (child thought.</li>

<li>Places - Create thoughts for places and link your favorite restaurants. </li>

<li>Projects - Create thoughts for a project, link the files as child thoughts and create thoughts for people who are working on the project with you and link them as jump thoughts.</li>

<li>Play around with standard view, expanding the standard view (View > Expand All), Expanded View (View > New Expanded), and hierarchical view (View > Outline). See what works best for you. Some views may work better for some areas of you brain, while you may prefer a different view for other areas. As an example, I usually use Outline view when working with the thoughts I've created for each week.</li>

<li>GTD - You can create a brain around the GTD system, see here for a <a href="http://webbrain.com/u/101B">WebBrain</a> example.</li>

<li>Check out some other brains in the WebBrain. I've linked some that I've found interesting in the WebBrain jump link. However, there are plenty more jewels to be found from the <a href="http://webbrain.com">main page</a>.</li>

</ul>

Don't sweat the more advanced stuff for right now. Unless you have an immediate need for categories and tags, get the basics down and decide if you want to use them later, once you have more data and a better feel for how you use it.

Finally, customize the plex for how you want it to appear. Staring at a black and blue gradient for a while is ok, but why do that when you can set your own wallpaper? Once you've decided on an image you like (generally the ones that aren't too busy are the best), add it by choosing Options > Select Wallpaper. After that you can go through and customize the colors of thoughts and links by choosing Options > Preferences > Colors. Here you can play around with getting the colors to blend in, or stand out with your background. You can also change the fonts on the Look and Feel tab in the preferences, and decide if you prefer a background behind your thoughts or not. Alternately, you can go through the Themes already included by choosing Options > Set Theme and use or modify them to your liking. Don't forget to save it after you've got things set the way you want them by choosing Options > Save Theme As.

Here's an example of the plex in one of my Brains:

After your trial month, if you've decided that TB works for you and your workflow, check out the differences between PersonalBrain Free, Core and Pro (Help > Learn about PersonalBrain Editions). Now that you've got an idea of how you use it, you'll have a better sense of which features you need.

Remember, even if you downgrade after the trial period (the trial period gives you access to the Pro features), thoughts with multiple attachments retain their data, so you won't lose anything you've already created. Enjoy!

<hr>

<h1>Where Do I Begin?</h1>

This question comes up a lot. Someone has just downloaded PersonalBrain and is looking to test it out but doesn't know where to start. PersonalBrain can be a bit intimidating at first, especially if you aren't used to working with your data visually.

First, let's be realistic. While the basic version of PB is free, Core and Pro are quite a bit of money. So the first questions to ask yourself are:

<ul>

<li>Do I have a lot of interrelated information I want to store and access? PB is a good fit if you store a lot of files, links and notes which are interrelated to each other.</li>

<li>Do I like to see things visually? If yes, PB may be right for you. If you are comfortable with linear file structures, PB may not be the best fit.</li>

<li>Do I want to present workflows or mindmaps to an audience? If yes, a different Mind Mapping application may be better for you. While PB can work well with presentations (presentation mode), mindmaps and workflows (exended view) are not it's strongest feature. If you are looking for customizable shapes and connectors applications devoted to mind mapping may be a better fit.</li>

</ul>

Still here and interested? Good.

First, you have lots of resources on how to use PersonalBrain.

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.thebrain.com/support/docs/">PersonalBrain User Guide</a> - Good resource and reference material.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.thebrain.com/support/webinars/">PersonalBrain 101</a> - There is a free webinar for new users. There's also recorded sessions there if you can't make the scheduled times.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.thebrain.com/support/tutorials/">PersonalBrain Tutorials</a> - A tour and instructions for specific areas or functionality.</li>

<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/TheBrainTechnologies">TheBrainTechnologies YouTube page</a> - Multiple videos from How-to's to features in new releases.</li>

<li><a href="http://forums.thebrain.com/">User Forums</a> - Don't be afraid to post questions or search for answers in the forum. It's pretty active, and is a great resource.</li>

<li>PersonalBrain User Knowledgebase - This WebBrain contains quite a bit of information on how to use certain PB features, as well as usage scenarios.</li>

</ul>

Some ideas to populate your database:

<ul>

<li>Create an outline of a book you are reading, add child thoughts for the main ideas or chapters, and add child thoughts to those (or jump thoughts) for your ideas around them.</li>

<li>Create thoughts for your family members and friends Then add child thoughts for birthday or holiday gift ideas, or favorite restaurants, or...</li>

</ul>

Don't be worried about "not doing it right". As I've (slowly) started to realize (see articles in the jump links, An Evolution of Structure Part I and II for more info) you don't need perfect categorization, or a perfect hierarchy. You just need something that works well with the way you work. Thought relationship structure in PB are very forgiving, it's easy to change the way thoughts are linked to each other, so experiment with ways to link things and how you want to see stuff. Here's some ideas:

<ul>

<li>Dates -  you could create a thought for each week, or each day and link it as a parent to what you are doing today.</li>

<li>Places - Create thoughts for places and link your favorite restaurants. </li>

<li>Projects - Create thoughts for a project, link the files as child thoughts and create thoughts for people who are working on the project with you and link them as jump thoughts.</li>

<li>GTD - You can create a brain around the GTD system, see here for a <a href="http://webbrain.com/u/101B">WebBrain</a> example.</li>

</ul>

Finally, customize the plex for how you want it to appear. Staring at a black and blue gradient for a while is ok, but why do that when you can set your own wallpaper? Once you've decided on a good image (generally the ones that aren't too busy are the best), add it by choosing Options > Select Wallpaper. After that you can go through and customize the colors of thoughts and links by choosing Options > Preferences > Colors. Here you can play around with getting the colors to blend in, or stand out with your background. You can also change the fonts on the Look and Feel tab in the preferences, and decide if you prefer a background behind your thoughts or not. Alternately, you can go through the Themes already included by choosing Options > Set Theme and use or modify them to your liking. Don't forget to save it after you've got things set the way you want them by choosing Options > Save Theme As.

Here's an example of the plex in one of my Brains:

After your trial month, if you've decided that PB works for you and your workflow, check out the differences between PersonalBrain Free, Core and Pro (Help > Learn about PersonalBrain Editions). Now that you've got an idea of how you use it, you'll have a better sense of which features you need.