Thread by @rroudt

To create, go from note-taking to note-making.

In week 2 of @ness_labs' phenomenal Collector to Creator course, we learned how to collect ideas, make sense of them in our specific context, and share our insights.

🧵 A thread with my key takeaways.

There are two modes of thinking:

1) Focused thinking—a conscious process of thinking around one idea.

2) Diffuse thinking—a subconscious process of thinking freely and connecting ideas.

We need both to go from note-taking (focused) to note-making (diffuse, then focused again).

For creative inspiration, we need to take time for three things:

• Ideation based on what we read, see, and experience.

• Introspection using journaling (self-reflection) and meditation.

• Idleness to allow time off from focused thinking and let diffuse thinking take over.

Now, what's the difference between note-taking and note-making?

Note-taking = quick, use author's language, doesn't tend to stick.

Note-making = slow, use your own language, sticks better.

Making notes happens after you took notes; you need time to process how ideas connect.

Use action-based tags to tell your future self what to do with (a collection of) notes.

• To read—any content you want to highlight/annotate.

• To process—raw notes ready to be used as input for note-making.

• To create—notes written in your own words, ready to be shared.

How to handle content tagged for reading?

• Read the content.

• Create highlights and annotations while reading (raw notes).

• Save raw notes in note-taking app and tag for processing.

How to handle raw notes tagged for processing?

• Revisit notes to distill key ideas in your own words.

• Create (evergreen) notes for each relevant idea.

• Tag new notes to be used for creation.

When processing raw notes, ask yourself:

• Why is this idea interesting?

• How could this idea be applied?

• Could this idea be wrong?

• Could this idea be right?

Bonus points:
• How does this idea connect to other ideas I know?

How to handle notes tagged for creation?

• Collect relevant notes that connect (max. 5).

• Create an outline based on the collected notes.

• Expand to connect the ideas from the outline.

• Add an introduction and conclusion.

• Optional: publish the article.

Note-making is more about your future self than others.

Writing permanent notes will deepen your understanding of the ideas you're exploring. Furthermore, you pass insights through time to be used later.

Make life for your future self easier by writing clear notes.

When writing permanent notes, think of:

Context
• Where and when did I read this?
• Is the context relevant for me?

Applications
• How can this be useful later?
• Is this relevant to my work?

Action items
• What's next?
• Is there anything I should do based on this?

Not sure if an idea is worth writing about?

Ask yourself if it's:

Reusable—Is it useful and worth revisiting?
• Templates
• Frameworks

Relevant—Is it personal and pertinent?
• Insights
• Niche knowledge

Recurrent—Is it frequently turning up?
• Trends
• Patterns

Fellow students, what are your main takeaways from the second module of @ness_labs' Collector to Creator course?

Any interesting connections you've made?

This map by @kaizenso is very useful to understand the process from raw notes to publishable output.