🧮 The Knowledge Equation

A proven formula to improve your knowledge power.

In 2012, I just finished binge-watching two seasons of Mad Men. I wandered outside in a daze afterwards. I felt depressed. I was upset with what I had just done to my mind.

"Why did I just mind f*** myself?"

(Nick in his 30's would never use such language.)

I hated that feeling in 2012, and I still hate it today.

And I know I'm not alone. In fact, millions more are dangerously controlled by their devices—mindlessly consuming and extinguishing the flame of their own minds.

Yet, despite the unfair playing field we find ourselves in—where the algorithms are designed to devour our attention—we can take the power back.

We just have to know what to fix in our equation.

The Knowledge Equation is a framework you can instantly use.

It can help you diagnose your own knowledge needs at any point during the day.

(Here is the image. We'll talk it through below...) Now let's view the equation through my example of binge-watching Mad Men.

After watching several hours straight, I was dazed and confused (LACK OF CLARITY).

So the bottom half of my equation increased (not good).

That led to me getting depressed. I wanted to make something, but I because my mind was mush, I felt like I couldn't do anything at all (LACK OF CONFIDENCE).

Again, the bottom half of my equation increased (double-plus not good!)

The result?

My binge-watching directly lowered my Knowledge Power.

The biggest hack to boost your innovation and personal growth: Creative Thinking

Fortunately, Creative Thinking is a skill that can be nurtured and enhanced.

Here’s how (in just 10 tweets):

🧵 1/ Encourage curiosity.

Foster a mindset that is always eager to learn and explore.

The more diverse your knowledge, the more raw material your creativity has to work with.

The most valuable skill you were NEVER taught:

Note-Taking.

5 ways Note-Taking can enhance your learning process: (thread) First off, note-taking isn't just about remembering facts.

It's an active process of engagement with the content, helping you understand and internalize information better.

Ever felt trapped by rigid folders and overwhelming note-taking apps?

Discover the magic of the Zettelkasten method.

Embrace the freedom to structure your ideas in a way that sparks creativity and productivity: 1/ Around 2008, Evernote introduced fast note-taking, reshaping our expectations of what note-taking could be.

It allowed us to quickly create and navigate notes, accelerating our productivity.

The age of the linked note allows us to see the truth about notes:

• Notes contain thoughts ☁️

• Notes allow time travel ⌛

• Notes allow your old self to send messages to your future self

• Notes are not concrete. Like us, notes can change.

🧵 Most of us treat notes as containers of thought

Some of us recognize that notes allow conversations across time

Few of us treat notes as changeable

Top 10 Most Beautiful @obsdmd Knowledge Graphs (a visual thread): @obsdmd 1/ Unleash your imagination and reach for the stars with this celestial Obsidian map.

credit: CoffeeSmoker Reddit

Making notes is one of the best habits you can have.

But most people do it wrong - leading to mess, chaos, and frustration.

Here's how to do it right, using the 5-Step NoMa Method (thread) ⬇️: In the movie — 1987 Predator—Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, "If it bleeds, we can kill it."

Our thinking is, "If it's visible, we can build with it."

The NoMa Method is about making your thoughts visible—so you can build with them, like LEGO blocks - thanks @fortelabs

3 years ago I founded the Linking Your Thinking Workshop.

Since then, 1,000+ people have stress-tested the LYT frameworks for their own notes.

Here are 7 simple steps to have the PKM system of your dreams 🧵: You can have a powerful system for your ideas.

You can think confidently and creatively in your system.

If you're feeling scattered, you can use this system to get your thoughts in order.

The ONE-word habit from The Wizard of Oz that instantly improves your thinking: "Sit up straight. When the teacher’s talking, you’d better be writing. Taking notes means you must be learning."

Right? Wrong.

This habit is the Collector's Fallacy. It's based on the false promise that "if you capture information easier and faster, then it will all work out."

How to learn faster using the Lean Forward Technique: ⤵️ What is the best way to improve at something?

Watching or doing?

🔆 How can you learn to use notes powerfully?

Attend Linking Your Thinking Conference 2023!

🎟️ This is your official invite 🧵
linkingyourthinking.com/lytcon-3 On Monday, May 1st, I'll kick off LYT Con by introducing the ACE Framework to the public.
You'll then be able to use the ACE Framework to guarantee you get the most out of every event.

3 Mistakes Book Readers Make

➾ One-way reading
≠ Treating fiction like non-fiction
𝇈 Forgetting that books aren't for reading

⤵ ➾ Mistake #1: One-way reading

One of the biggest mistakes readers make is not knowing how to read a book in the first place.

People assume that all books should be read from the first page to the last page in an unbroken sequence.

Here's a fun way to learn and deepen understanding.

It's called the Primal Shout.

Let me explain... Some concepts and ideas are hard to understand.

The Primal Shout is an easy solution.

All you have to do just answer the following prompt:

"What would it shout?"

I propose a radical new practice of PKM:

SENSEMAKING SUNDAYS

One day a week, note-takers around the world have to put down their highlighters, web clippers, & regurgitated quotes...

They have to stop gorging on endless information.

Then something amazing can happen... In the silence that ensues, they are forced to fill the void.

In the gap that opens, they can light their own way...

What do you call the interaction of 1,000+ ideas in our day-to-day lives?

I call it the "Ideaverse."

Here’s what it means and how it will enrich your PKM and your life.

The Rules of Ideas Part V [Thread] How do you interact with ideas?

With knowledge?

Are these odd questions?

Or are they just hard to answer?

The brilliant book "The Extended Mind" by Annie Murphy Paul gives us a clearer picture of the answers.

At the beginning of 2023, thousands of people made the New Year’s Resolution to create…

“The Perfect PKM.”

But they will fail miserably.

Here’s ONE rule to avoid falling into this trap.

The Rules of Ideas Part IV [Thread] Have you ever dropped whatever you were doing to organize your notes?

It's a compelling impulse.

It happens when the pain of your own chaotic digital system becomes so intense that you choose to procrastinate on everything else—just so you can finally build the perfect system.

If you want to

• Learn
• Remember
• Imagine

at the speed of light…

You need to try this 1-minute technique.

1,027 top-notch thinkers already added this to their toolkit.

The Rules of Ideas Part III [Thread] Before I share this technique…

Let me illustrate the way our brains work.

Because as much as I'd like to think solitary confinement would be a vacation for me...

My brain would atrophy from the lack of human interaction.

Yours would too.

Here's why...

There is ONE word I used to level up as a TV editor for CBS, Paramount, and Sony.

Give me 3 minutes.

Here’s how you can use it as a creator to get unstuck and start sharing your ideas.

The Rules of Ideas Part II [Thread] How do you feel when you revisit an old idea that once sparked so much excitement in you?

Maybe some nostalgia?

Do you ever feel the pain of your inability to convert that excitement into ANYTHING shareable?

Yes, you had higher hopes. We all feel this.

So what happened?

There is a universal pattern of sensemaking that can accelerate your best thinking.

Don’t believe me?

Here’s how I used it to take a massive leap in my career.

The Rules of Ideas Part I [Thread] In 2019, I joined the Editors Guild in Hollywood and helped edit one of the best shows on TV.

I was working on a Netflix show as a Post Production Coordinator.

There were delays in production, which meant I had a lot of free time.

I reviewed over 800 Obsidian plugins 🤯

Here are my Top 44.

This super review includes "Core" @obsdmd plugins and special functions. You'll see what I mean...

100 - Plugin (Core) - Command Palette - Execute all commands

100 - Plugin (Core) - Quick Switcher - Fly around your notes

99 - Plugin (Core) - Backlinks - See notes mentioning the current note

99 - Plugin (Core) - Canvas - Use a visual thinking canvas

I'm continually amazed at all the Richard Feynman love, but the truth is...

...he deserves it. Here are three reasons why:

1. Triangulation
2. 12 Favorite Problems
3. Writing is the Thinking! No one I know cares as much about Triangulation as I do except for Richard Feynman.

Go to his lecture feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/TIPS_01.html. Search for "triangulation". Learn about this fundamental power and its implications.

Want more? Check out my video on it: