Why I Use MINDMAP for My Daily To-Do List

I keep trying different ways to keep track of the things I need to do each day/week/month. But I always seem to come back to ConceptDraw MINDMAP. I think it's because MINDMAP is unique in allowing me to keep track of not just tasks, but the content that usually accompanies the tasks.

At the moment, for example, I am serving as the editor of a local organizations's website and newsletter. Part of my responsibility to it assign writing tasks to board members, and to write a new member profile each month.

The CCC section of my To-Do list looks like this:

Keep Track of More than Just Tasks
Focusing on the Newsletter branch (below), you can see how I can use Callouts to keep track of the actions I've just taken. There's also a "Notes" Icon on the "Schedule blog post..." branch. This Note contains the language I use to ask the board member for the content. I leave this language in a note in the map so I'll know right where to get it when I have to ask again next month.

In this way the map, which I created to manage tasks, is becoming a repository for content that I need to accomplish tasks. This becomes more evident when I open the branch one more level:

Does Your To-Do List Help You Understand Context?
At a glance, I can look at the map and see which months are set (the ones that have a checked box next to them) and which ones still need more work. I can immediately see contact info for the people we hope will present the program. If they send me content, I put it in a Note window for their month.

Having all this information in one place makes it really easy for me to create my To-Do list for this organization--and to actually accomplish the tasks on the list. Everything I need (contact info, the context of what information I need and why, dates, times, etc.) is right at my fingertips. (Hidden in this view, but just a click away.)

Dabble around. But Settle on MINDMAP!
Yes, there are many ways to keep track of your tasks. But not many ways make it so easy for you to keep track of all the information, ideas, and context that helps you make sense of and accomplish the tasks you have set for yourself.

So go ahead and try different ways to do this. But when you find that they approach you're taking isn't giving you the kind of information you need, try ConceptDraw MINDMAP!