Writing Helps People Transform
I’ve been tussling with a podcast episode about personal knowledge management for a few months.
Distillation.
It sounds easy right. We learn summarization in elementary school. Yet, I’ve continued to wrangle and evade the techniques and routines that make it easier.
The process of transformation might be different based on the content. Grapes into wine, distillation, grapes into raisins, dehydration, grapes into jam, extraction. Taking what I’ve learned from a book or article and continue to transform the kernel of truth into new products like a conference presentation, a blog, a podcast episode, or to mine more depths of the idea into a new form.
The process that works for me is writing a series of 3 to 5 sentences and practicing verbally with people. Through that I can receive feedback, notice gestures, and let people reflect.
What makes this quite hard is you must write a unique sentence.
Now that I am saying it out loud it sounds almost silly. Something that I would have read again and again.
Can we skip that? No.
Overused language stops people from thinking. For example, It is what it is.
It is our duty to add value to people. Let them pause and reflect.
The feedback loop becomes easier each time. This creates a bond and cements our neural circuits.
Personal Knowledge Management Podcast Feedback
Right now I’m working on:
- Condense
- Index Cards
- Organization
- Planning
What do you think? Is distillation easy for you? Do you have a different technique?
Would love to hear what is working for you or not!
Until next time, Alan.