Influences July 2021

Process and Systems

I am continually tweaking my note-taking systems. I am still trying to figure out what goes into Notion and what should land in Obsidian. An area I am actively trying to improve is the creation of atomic notes. I am maintaining a document that captures broader themes in my writing. I am updating my weekly agenda to stack more daily habits. In particular, a daily journaling/morning notes habit that is going nowhere. I mistakenly subscribed to otter.ai, a voice transcription service. Walking and speaking are more productive for me to capture ideas. I want to put more effort into connecting my notes to higher-level topics.

Notion Database of Databases

I am experimenting with a database to track my databases. Before these were lurking in areas/resources of PARA, I never would stumble on them. So far, they are easier to find. I moved my contact management system out of Obsidian and back into Notion.

Databases:

• English vocabulary
• Media to consume
• Topics to learn sorted by effort/time
• Books to summarize
• Software development themes

Reviewing My Writing

Each weekend I edit a few of my old blogs and either delete them or improve them. Noting themes in my writing helps me avoid falling into old habits.

Media

I picked up a poetry book while on vacation called Sweet Dark. Savannah Brown has a dark lyrical sensibility in her writing. I am slowly making my way through the book.

I watched Bo Burnham’s Inside and the catchy song about Jeff Bezos. Bo’s struggle with the creative process over a year is central to the special. This theme was timely because I had some recent conversations around the act of creation. Sometimes you are working on content that is essentially packing peanuts because you have deadlines. I am thinking through changes to my processes to enable me to put more time into refining content.