Thoughts

Thinking Things Through

inspired by some recent thinking I had to do, I thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce some of the most useful thinking tools I know in the context of a real-world project. We start our trip with the Trivium

Why I don't use MOCs in my PKM

Maps of Content (MOC) are widely used in the PKM world, and yet I choose not to implement them as they're usually presented. MOCs are a way of linking related ideas in a single note that brings all the ideas together. The recommended way of using this is to create a series of stand-alone documents...

Three Reading Mistakes from a Lifetime of Reading

I've always read a lot, enough that it's a family joke. One hundred books a year has been my default for well over a decade. About a year ago, though, I started considering the results of all that reading. I was doing it mostly wrong!

Here are the three biggest mistakes I make and one golden techn...

Is PKM Bullshit?

Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) is the idea that a systematic approach to storing and retrieving for personal use is helpful. Different systems like Building a Second Brain or Linking Your Thinking attempt to leverage software to enhance the brain's natural linking abilities. In a world awas...

Problem Definition: A Pre-Solution Framework

Everyone thinks they understand the problem that they’re solving. Unfortunately, our intuitive understanding, when applied beyond our personal experience, is almost always wrong. Proper thinking about the problem seems like a huge investment of time, so often gets skipped. It can save hundreds of ho...

Three Different Perspectives On Education

I stumbled across three different piece about education recently that all kind of tie together. In the first, an award-winning schoolteacher pulls back the curtain on the education kids are really receiving. Given the site this appeared on (UnSchooling.com), I initially read this rather cynically,...