You don't. You're drawing from your repertoire.

Think of your repertoire as the accumulation of everything you've ever seen or experienced, distilled to its essence. People with good ideas have a system of building their repertoire and using it to make unexpected connections – even if it's only happening in their head.

✦ Now, it can happen in mymind. ✦

The idea is to save inspiration, ideas and references with intention, trusting one day their meaning will be revealed. Here’s how we go about it.

Rule #1. Your repertoire should be private

If it's open to other people, you're immediately limiting yourself. You're trying to impress or meet expectations. It's like decorating a hotel room: It may be pretty and comfortable, but it's curated for other people. It's not you.

When your repertoire is private, there's no pressure to perform for anyone. You don't have to worry about being on brand, on trend, intellectual, consistent or appealing.

It's a beautiful feeling. Once you embrace it, you'll find all kinds of weird things in your repertoire. Real, interesting references that push you outside the agreeable box. You're now free.

(Besides: Nobody should be able to trace your steps when it comes to your work. You're the magician. Keep your secrets to yourself.)

Rule #2. Don't force it

You can't build your own repertoire in a few hours, days or even weeks. Don’t use someone else's Pinterest board, or dump a thousand images from some aesthetic website in there. This only clutters your repertoire and makes it meaningless.

The point is that everything in there means something to you specifically. That's where the magic happens. And you can't skip the magic.

Only once you've given a reference your “stamp of approval” does it land in your collection. Millions of living room references exist online, but the 100 or so you have in your repertoire are the best, according to your taste.

So how do you decide what goes inside?

Rule #3. Collect ambivalently and passively. Not indifferently.

Usually, we collect inspiration only for specific projects. But this means we're already narrowing our funnel considerably.

When building your repertoire, you want your funnel open at all times. Passively build it up every day. Eventually, you can then narrow that down for a specific project.

Every time you see an image or reference online that makes you feel something – save it. Ambivalently means you may have strong but opposing feelings toward something. Save those things. It just has to make you stop for a brief moment.

That image may have no immediate purpose. It's not for a current project. The only meaning is that it may mean something to you in the future. And this is the secret.

mymind works the same way your real mind works: It's a sponge of references, ideas, visuals, stories and things you care about. Everything you don't care about (feel indifferent about) isn't soaked up and slowly fades into oblivion.

Rule #4. No rules

Don't save what you think you should be saving. Don't overanalyze what you save, or what it means about you. Just save it. The significance will be revealed later.

There's no need for organization here either – that only disrupts your natural flow. If a particular reference has no immediate purpose, there's no folder or category for it. And you don't want organizing to add friction to your saving process. In mymind, you just search to find it later. No organization needed.

Now it's up to you

If you haven't already, start by installing the mymind browser extension and mobile app so you can save anything with a click. Be sure to watch a few videos on our YouTube channel to learn about all the different ways you can use your new mind. Then start passively but intentionally building your secret repertoire. Your future self will thank you for it. ⚘

The post How to build a beautiful new mind appeared first on mymind.

We get caught up pleasing our audience or organizing our moodboards, or we start feeling self conscious about the things we like. Very quickly, our creative instinct shrivels and dies.

That's why designers use mymind.

Watch our new video ︎

It's one private place to keep everything that inspires you. No audience, no curation, no collaboration.

Now you can see what * really * speaks to you.

We're designers ourselves, so we tucked away dozens of lovely little features for visual thinkers throughout mymind. It's the best way to save inspiration and build your creative repertoire.

The post How designers use mymind appeared first on mymind.

You don't. You're drawing from your repertoire.

Think of your repertoire as the accumulation of everything you've ever seen or experienced, distilled to its essence.

People with good ideas have a system of building their repertoire and using it to make unexpected connections – even if it's only happening in their head.

✦ For us, it's happening in mymind. ✦

Today, we have a little guide showing you how we build our personal repertoires – this is a longer one (appx. 4 minute read time) so put on some soothing music and settle in ◡̈

Rule #1. Your repertoire should be private

Yes, entirely private. If it's open to other people, you're immediately limiting yourself. You're trying to impress or meet expectations.

It's like decorating a hotel room: It may be pretty and comfortable, but it's curated for other people. It's not you.

When your repertoire is private, there's no pressure to perform for anyone. You don't have to worry about being on trend, intellectual, consistent or attractive.

It's a beautiful feeling. Once you embrace it, you'll find all kinds of weird things in your repertoire. Real, interesting references that push you outside the agreeable box. You're now free.

(Besides: Nobody should be able to trace your steps when it comes to your work. You're the magician. Keep your secrets to yourself.)

Rule #2. Don't force it

You can't build your own repertoire in a few hours, days or even weeks. You can't use someone else's Pinterest board, or dump a thousand images from some aesthetic website in there.

This only clutters your repertoire and makes it meaningless.

The point is that everything in there means something to you specifically. That's where the magic happens. And you can't skip the magic.

Only once you've given a reference your “stamp of approval” does it land in your collection. Millions of living room references exist online, but the 100 or so you have in your repertoire are the best, according to your taste.

So how do you decide what goes inside?

Rule #3. Collect ambivalently and passively. Not indifferently.

Usually, we collect inspiration only for specific projects. But this means we're already narrowing our funnel considerably.

When building your repertoire, you want your funnel open at all times. Passively build it up every day. Eventually, you can then narrow that down for a specific project.

Every time you see an image or reference online that makes you feel something – save it. Ambivalently means you may have strong but opposing feelings toward something. Save those things. It just has to make you stop for a brief moment.

That image may have no immediate purpose. It's not for a current project. The only meaning is that it may mean something to you in the future. And this is the secret.

mymind works the same way your real mind works: It's a sponge of references, ideas, visuals, stories and things you care about. Everything you don't care about (feel indifferent about) isn't soaked up and slowly fades into oblivion.

Rule #4. No rules

Don't save what you think you should be saving. Don't over-analyze what you save, or what it means about you. Just save it. The significance will be revealed later.

There's no need for organization here either – that only disrupts your natural flow. If a particular reference has no immediate purpose, there's no folder or category for it. And you don't want organizing to add friction to your saving process.

In mymind, you just search to find it later. No organization needed.

How to use your repertoire

✦ The random inspirational browse - The beauty of having your own personal repertoire is that you can browse through it whenever you feel uninspired and need a pick-me-up.

✦ Searching for specific references - Let's say you're working on a branding project and quickly need references for certain materials or packaging techniques. You just head to mymind, type in what you're looking for and immediately find it.

You never created a folder or collection titled “brand inspiration” or “black and white logos” which would be too broad anyway. In this case, you're looking for a certain material, or pattern, or technique, so that's what you search for. And there it is, because mymind sorted it for you.

✦ Serendipity - In Serendipity mode, mymind resurfaces one random thing from your mind at a time. This introduces some chaos or chance into your inspiration process, which is always good for new ideas.

✦ Same Vibe - The Same Vibe feature takes one image you've saved to your mind and collects others with the same look & feel. Here is where you might make connections or find the exact mood for a project you're working on. It was all there in your repertoire because you saved it – and mymind pieced it all together for you in an instant.

If you haven't already, start by installing the mymind browser extension and mobile app so you can save anything with a click. Then start passively but intentionally building your secret repertoire. Your future self will thank you for it.

The post Do you have a secret repertoire? appeared first on mymind.

✦ Step 1: Create your wishlist

First, create a wishlist of things you actually need. This could be a Space containing products you want for yourself, or gifts you want to give. Or it could be a simple checklist in a note.

✦ Step 2: Save potential purchases to your mind

Anytime something new interests you, save it to your mind. (You'd be surprised how this satisfies that initial urge to BUY.)

✦ Step 3: Think it over

Ask yourself: Is this new thing already on your wishlist? If not, mull it over in your mind for a few days. You may realize you don't need it at all. Then delete it and free yourself from it.

Saving products and gift ideas to your mind encourages more intentional spending. Instead of buying every shiny thing that shows up in your feed or inbox, you can slow down and think it over.

An added bonus:
This approach also helps you hone your personal taste and style. Instead of buying that random sweater or shoe that strikes you in the moment, you can more thoughtfully choose special items you'll want to wear consistently for a long time. Slowly, your unique style will emerge.

The post How to stop impulse buying appeared first on mymind.

Think of it like a moodboard for your life: A way to clarify your goals and dreams for the future.

► Watch the video

Your only rules:

1. Your vision board should be private. You shouldn't feel self conscious or pressured to curate for an audience. This is for you, no one else.

2. Anything goes. Don't worry about it being too ambitious or too weird. Whatever inspires or excites you goes on the board.

What do you want from your life? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What kind of environment do you want to live in?

Save it to your mind. See what patterns emerge. Think about what small steps you can take to meet your vision.

Then do it.

The post How to make a vision board with mymind appeared first on mymind.

We keep hearing from ADHD members telling us mymind works with their brain like no other tool has before.

So we made a little something inspired by these letters.

See our new page →

The post We didn’t mean to do this… appeared first on mymind.

This works beautifully with quotes.

How to save quotes on desktop

First, install our browser extension. Then highlight the text, quotation marks included, and right click to save a sentence or passage to your mind as a quote. (Without the quotation marks, it will be saved as a highlight.)

How to save quotes on mobile

Select the text, being sure to include the quotation marks again, and select Share from the options that appear. Share it to the mymind app (get the iOS app here or our Android app here).

Pro tip: You can pin the app so it appears at the front of your share options.

How to find quotes later

Just type quotes in the search field and hit enter. Or you can search for any keyword you remember from the quote.

If mymind were only a quote library, we'd still be in there every day for inspiration and energy. But of course, quotes are just one of many things you can save as you build your beautiful mind.

The post That’s a good quote appeared first on mymind.

Between photos of your new niece, a screenshot of a receipt. Among photos of your wedding day, a screenshotted meme. A screenshot of a text message next to a vacation photo. A screenshot of visual inspiration between photos of dinner.

It may be hard to believe, but some people still live this way.

The rest of us save screenshots to mymind.

✦ With the mymind iOS or Android app installed, saving screenshots takes a second. Just share it to your mind like you'd share anything else on mobile.

✦ You can add additional tags or notes to screenshots while saving them to add context and more easily find it later.

✦ And here's the best part: mymind has OCR text recognition, which means you can search for keywords in a screenshot to find it in your mind.

Cluttered camera rolls are a relic from the dark ages. The enlightened save their screenshots in one place where they can instantly find them later.

They just search their mind.

The post Your screenshots deserve more appeared first on mymind.

We call it Top of Mind, and it’s for those cards you want to focus on or prioritize.

Think of Top of Mind like your “working mind.” Some things stay up there for a while, others rotate out. Some people use it for inspiring quotes. Others for lists. Others for rotating visuals that inspire them.

Here’s how we use it:

✱ The first card in our Top of Mind is usually a todo. It’s a card we’re updating every day as we complete tasks. The list changes day-to-day, but the card stays up there, first in the row.

✱ Our second card is usually a random note or idea we’re thinking on that week. Sometimes it’s a quote that we find particularly motivating or thought-provoking.

✱ The third card is usually something we want to act on – an article we want to read or a video we want to watch.

✱ Those three cards are pinned to the top when we open mymind. The first one stays there, the second two are always rotating. And one or two others might make the list now and then.

We thought carefully about how we designed the Top of Mind area. The space is limited because if you have too much up there, it defeats the purpose.

Otherwise, feel free to use the Top of Mind area however you like. Drag cards in, take them out, and continue feeding your beautiful mind.

The post How prioritize with Top of Mind appeared first on mymind.

Today, it requires strong motivation and a sense of immediate payoff to do so.

We’re more accustomed to skimming summaries of those articles. Reading Instagram captions with two-sentence takeaways. Scanning whatever headlines we happen to catch from our push notifications.

If we do decide to dive into a full article, we have dozens of distractions (pop-ups! paywalls! clickbait headlines!) edging in at every line.

We’re left with a vague impression of the subject matter, at best – which sadly amounts to a shallow understanding of the world around us and the subjects we’re interested in.

This is why we created Reading Mode.

(a Mastermind-only feature)

Save an article to mymind and it strips away all the clutter, distractions and barriers that decrease your chances of actually reading. You’ll have one clean view of the full article, which you can read directly within mymind.

Watch the video to see how it works →

Reading Mode also serves as an article archiver. Your saved articles are kept in your mind whether the original source is deleted, broken or moved later on. You’ll have your own copy tucked away safely in your mind.

We hope this feature serves a small step toward more thoughtful consumption of information online. That it encourages more depth of understanding for the things that interest you, and less skimming and scanning.

The post How to finally focus while reading appeared first on mymind.