Practical Wisdom from the Entrepreneurs Creative Edge by William Reed

Granted that not all brains are worth touring. Thankfully, some are well worth the effort, if you only had a means. The traditional way to tour a person’s brain is through a book. However there is a tool which makes it possible provide a brain tour in a way that is both interactive and fun.

Start with a Tour of Jerry Michalski’s Brain featured on YouTube at http://budurl.com/p2rx, or for the interactive version visit his Webbrain online at http://budurl.com/sr5f

This remarkable file was created over a 12 year period with the software Personal Brain, available from http://www.thebrain.com. The file contains over 107,000 thoughts, and is organized in a way that is easy to search and navigate. Jerry’s favorite thought link is Enumerated Wisdom, which you can search from inside the Brain file. It contains lists which Jerry has collected from others who have collected wisdom in list form. Eclectic topics like, Top 10 Food Books Every Chef Should Have, 4 Rules of Permission Marketing, and Twenty-Five Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom.

Jerry’s brain is a cross between a diary and an encyclopedia of his experience. It reminds us of how many interesting things we have come across and experienced which have been lost in the cobwebs of memory, because they were not captured or shared in some form.

The spatial interface of a Personal Brain file gives you the impression you are in a library of the future, something you might find in Star Trek on the Starship Enterprise. The word encyclopedia stems from Greek, meaning a circular or well-rounded education. The power and potential of the Personal Brain software has been recognized by the Encyclopedia Britannica, which incorporates a version of it in its annual DVD.

It is the mapping software of choice for James Burke, Science Historian, author and host of the BBC Connections Series, and director of the Knowledge Web Project at http://www.k-web.org, who values its power to show hidden connections in historical events. It is also a favorite software of James Fallows, 25-year National Correspondent for The Atlantic, who values the program’s ability to link to almost anything that resides on your computer or the Internet, a website, a PDF file, project notes, action lists, quotes, or media, in a file which is easy to customize and navigate.

It functions in a way that is more intuitive and organic than the hierarchy of folders imposed on our brain by most computers. It can be used to bookmark favorite sites, file almost any information you can imagine, capture expertise, competitive intelligence, for research, life/work or strategic planning, to present your vision, track and cultivate your networks, plan a website, or manage your social media efforts.

It offers advanced file sharing features for those who have the software, but also a generous range of display and sharing options for those who do not. For example, an entire Brain file can be exported as an HTML file complete with links and attachments, or even uploaded to The Brain’s community sharing site at http://www.webbrain.com, where you can search, download, and share brains in any language from your web browser. It is information rich compared to many social media sites. It also tracks the number of views, and allows visitors to contact you or make comments. TheBrain.com is quite generous with sharing templates and tutorials, and regularly holds free webinars by experts on how to use Personal Brain for applications such as innovation, planning, education, and project management. A useful guide to these recorded events and applications is:

The Brain Blog at http://blog.thebrain.com I have also created a number of Webbrains introduced on my site at http://budurl.com/yb5t, covering such topics as Creative Career Path, Flexible Focus, Wealth Dynamics, Physical Finesse, and the Future of Learning.

A good place to start is to visit the Webbrain site and have a look around. If you would like to create you own brain files, you can download a free trial version of Personal Brain at http://www.thebrain.com, watch the tutorials and start creating your own. If you create something you would like to share, you can upload it to the Webbrain community for free.

You can download a version of the software for a Windows, Mac, or Linux platform, and you have your choice of Core and Pro versions. It works in multiple languages including Japanese. It can even display on an iPhone or iPad. With flexibility like this, it could become your best brainstorming tool and presentation partner.

William Reed WEBSITE: http://www.williamreed.jp NANBA: http://www.nanbanote.com JAPANESE SITE: http://www.reedcom.jp BLOG: http://www.EntrepreneursCreativeEdge.com