If you do not know, I am a real advocate of Mind Mapping. I map everything, and I mean everything!

I also run a Mind Mapping blog, MindCert.com, aimed at Computer Certifications such as the CISSP, CEH, and Cisco Certifications.

I have previously posted about MindMeister, a rather cool Web2.0 Mind Mapping application that is free. Well MindMeister has been out of Private Beta for a while now and I have to say that I am extremely impressed with it.

On my Mac, I favor MindManager from MindJet. I am still on version 6 but will upgrade to version 7 as soon as I get the promised upgrade voucher for beta testing version 7.

I have recently started another business venture, that is a service that performs online vulnerability assessment and management, called RandomStorm. This has been a pretty large project to plan and build and has taken a lot of my time over the past few weeks. One issue that I had with this is the way to share ideas and thoughts between my staff. We have several staff, from sales and account managers to a team of developers. I needed a way to get my ideas across and track the tasks of all my team working on various development tasks. My team are remote and not located in a single office so we had to put technology to the best use. I did look at quite a few online tools such as basecamp and backpack but I really do prefer the simplicity of Mind Mapping and found MindMeister to be the number one choice.
Online collaboration within MindMeister truly is fantastic. All my team share and can work on the same Mind Map with a full history of who has added what. Tasks can be issued and we can even link directly to Skype utilizing the calling and IM functionality directly from the Mind Map.

Anyway, check it out. Mind Maps are cool, and THE best way I find to retain information.

So, what is this Geistesblitz? I think it is time for a definition.

GEISTESBLITZ, (noun, m.) [‘gæstes blîts]:
literally translated as mind flash, is a sudden insight or idea, often brilliant and unexpected. Consisting of the German words Geist (as in Zeitgeist) and Blitz (as in Blitzkrieg), it is probably best translated into English as brain wave or flash of genius.

The MindMeister team bring you Geistesblitz. This is available as either a FireFox plugin or a Mac Dashboard Widget. I found this just today and I love it already!

I know we all have our little ways of collecting out thoughts. This is a fundamental part of the GTD process. Ensure that we can collect our thoughts on whatever system we have. I personally always carry a Moleskine and a Space Pen with me (Avoids the leaks, more to follow on that!) and I currently utilize Entourage as my online collection tool although I have been swayed to convert to iGTD, especially using the rather cool Quicksilver integration with iGTD.

Being a total Mac fanboy, the Widget was the first on my download list.

Well, Geistesblitz is a dashboard widget that has a single text entry box. When you install the widget you give it your MindMeister username and login. Then, you type your thought that has just popped into your head into the box, and it adds it automatically to your default map within MindMeister.

Take a look at this sample Map. I have added two entries and these have automatically entered themselves onto my default map. What a great way to get the information I need into my Mind Map without having to open MindMeister or MindManager.

Wow, pretty cool. Especially for somebody like me who uses the visual elements of Mind Mapping for daily operation and planning. I intend to try to make a fully Mind Map GTD system and a tool like this is going to help me!

Be sure to check it out and let me know what you think!