About Use Cases

Use Cases for Individuals

More and more people use mind maps to organize their personal life. This technique lets you paint a picture of your private circumstances, then identify areas that you need to work on and set up tasks to "get things done".

See some examples below of how you can use mind maps to foster creative thinking and problem solving in your personal life.

Getting things done

At the core of the "Getting Things Done" philosophy is the principle of maintaining a reference of completed tasks to prove to yourself that you actually did get things done. Mind maps allow you to gather your tasks and ideas in a freeform way, then cluster and prioritize them, and finally check off your tasks as you work down your list. Finished tasks will remain visible in the mind maps for later reference (or personal enjoyment, as it were).

MindMeister allows you to manage tasks with priorities, duration, completion levels, start and due dates as well as assign task owners. You can display MindMeister tasks in your calendar or task manager of choice through iCal feeds and get notified via email on all your due or overdue tasks.

Sample Personal Task Management Map

Vacation Planning

A more joyful - and very popular - application of mind mapping is for planning events, such as meetings, weddings or your next vacation. Prepare for your well-deserved holiday by compiling a list of potential destinations in a mind map, adding links to offers and web resources using the MindMeister WunderLink and WunderBild functions.

Write down sights you want to see at your chosen destination, maybe even going as far as creating a daily travel schedule (if you're the type that doesn't like surprises). What really makes vacation planning with a web-based mind mapper great is that you can do it collaboratively - invite your partner or travelmate to the map and let them add their own ideas and plans. Finally, create map branches with a personal packlist to make sure you don't arrive on Waikiki beach without your SPF 40 and lei.

Sample Vacation Planning Map

Family organization

As any working Mom or Dad will likely tell you, trying to keep the entire family all on the same page can be quite a task. Whether it’s Uncle Brian’s birthday, Leah’s tennis lessons, or Ariana’s upcoming holiday season performance of The Nutcracker, keeping it all in order can sometimes be overwhelming.

So why not create a family mind map that all family members can share? Not only will everyone get a clear overview of all other family members activities, but Mom and Dad can get a firm handle on who needs to be where and when. Kids receive the added benefit of mind map familiarization at a young age, something that contributes to a 10% increase in study retention.

Family Organization Map

Never forget an idea

Note pads are great for jotting down ideas and moments of inspiration, but how often have those E=mc2’s gone missing? Together with our free Geistesblitz application, you’ll never lose another note ever again.

Whichever utilization of Geistesblitz you choose, widget, browser extension, or iPhone application, you’re never far from firing off notes to yourself on-the-go. These entries are then automatically synched with your default mind map, and can be accessed any viewed from anywhere in the world.

This map may then also be shared with any collaborators of your choosing, be they work colleagues, softball team members, or family members, the collaborative experience is up to you.

Geistesblitz Map