One of my favorite discoveries over the past few years is a software program that I couldn’t live without.

Well, I could, but I wouldn’t be able to do nearly half as much on an average day as I do with this software.

It’s called Freemind, and you’ve probably heard me talk about it before. I discovered it while I was still teaching. I quickly realized how I could use it to plan lessons, organize my unit plans, even arrange groups of students for projects or presentations.

One day I had a student come after school to get some “life” help. He was on his second “rotation” of 9th grade history, and on track to fail again. We had a great talk for about an hour, reassessing his goals and direction. The key life-changing moment happened however, when, about ten minutes into our conversation, I started to mind map what he was telling me, his goals, and his frustrations. In a matter of minutes, the clarity he got with what he was doing vs. what he wanted to be doing was amazing.

We took his overwhelming life and condensed the big problem areas into a manageable block. And we reshuffled the other stuff into a secondary section of the map. With one click of the mouse, we folded up the trouble areas, and focused on the positive things within his control.

From that point forward, I used Freemind in the classroom as much as possible. We used it for goal setting, to organize history papers, to outline projects and task lists. We even did the entire study guide for the year using Freemind! My colleagues wondered why my scores were improving so fast, and why my students were excited to get started on these papers. It was all about Freemind and using a technology tool smartly. They were in control of their education again, and it felt great.

At team meetings, I began showing my colleagues how to use the software, and it spread quickly through the school. Tremendous software, this Freemind.

A few months of using it in school and I started to wonder what would happen to my business if I applied the same organizational tricks in Freemind. Wow – what a difference it has made for me! I’m getting more done in less time, and my results for each individual project keep getting better.

So for the last year, I’ve told all my private clients about it, and my 1-on-1 coaching clients see me use it for their business during each one of our sessions. The one thing that kept coming up though was how they could use it, too.

You see, although this is free software, and quite powerful, there are no tutorials online for it. There are a few help posts, and a couple of mini-videos on YouTube that are too hard to see to really do much.

Well, you can’t use that excuse any longer. A couple of weeks ago, my private Inner Circle members asked me, no insisted to teach them how to use Freemind. So we took about two hours and went through the entire program.

I showed them example maps of my own, ones that I used for product launches, daily tasks, and workshop sessions. Then I walked them through exactly how to download, install the program, and set up their first maps. How to create ideas, organize their thoughts, and regain control of their lives again. And that was just in the first 20 minutes!

Later, we did a live brainstorming session to put each of them to the test, to see just how quickly they could start using this software after that first 20 minutes. I then showed them how to make their maps look even better, including color, pictures, and linking to files on their computer or webpages on the internet.

The bottom line: They loved it! And I was excited to once again teach a group of professionals how to use Freemind so quickly.

Now it’s your turn to learn.

The session I held with my Inner Circle (about 90 minutes) is now available in two parts: the Quick Start Tutorial (the first 20 minutes), and the Advanced Strategies (the remaining 70). If you’d like to see how quickly you can learn how to mind map your way to more time, better results, and regain the control you are missing from your life, then head over to DiscoverFreemind.com now. I can not wait to hear what you think about this new training from me…

Bob Jenkins

p.s. Once you’ve downloaded the software and watched at least the first 20 minutes, please share your thoughts with a comment below.


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