Zettelkasten Forum


What are you working on this week? (2020-11-02 to 2020-11-08)

What are your plans and projects for the coming week?

Academically, I've got two papers to write and a dissertation to critique. Professionally, I've got a change management strategy to sketch out for creating an innovation climate in my workplace. Will be hitting my ZK hard for those. Personally, I've got to make sure my seat belt is securely fastened and my belongings are safely stowed under my seat as we move into the formal US election space.

Comments

  • Working on the concept of the video series "Let's create Zettel" (working title). I envision something like a mixture between Bob Ross and Let's Play.

    I am a Zettler

  • After four weeks in the lab I need a slightly less intense week :smile:

    @Sascha: "Happy little accidents" is definitely integral to the growing and spontaneous nature of a Zettelkasten.

  • Very busy last week and this week with video-conferencing for work meetings. Can't seem to get anything else done. Even with some time management, breaks, etc., I'm still exhausted at the end of the day. I did spend a couple of hours on my ZK yesterday, just checking connections.

  • @Sascha - Bob Ross also always used to say "this is your world" so you can create whatever you want on your canvas. Also seems to apply to mindsets and ZK. (in other words: don't worry about painting Bob's painting or duplicating Luhmann's system - this is your ZK to create in your own way. :^)

  • Last week I turned in my statement of research interest (the document just prior to a prospectus) for my thesis, so this week I am hoping to be a little more relaxed. In ZK terms, that hopefully means playing in the chess wing of my archive, where I'm starting to keep notes on strategy. I also have a lecture I am attending on Wednesday night with this group which always leads to a flurry of notes post hoc.

    In a few weeks when the semester ends, I have a stack of books just calling to be processed, when I have the time.

  • This week I'm continuing the processing of my second reading of 'Quintessential Dzogchen'. This is a slower process and is creating more notes than expected, It is so rewarding creating notes and linking them into my note cloud. I'm working on implementing into my workflow two styles of links.

    1. For placement on Annotated Structure Notes

      UID Title
      - Summary phrase

    2. This is a system of 'just' links, without associated notes, using "The Archives" "Generate Zettel ID". This allows greater granularity in linking. A phrase in one note can be linked with another phrase in the same note or what I've found powerful is to use this to link to a phase in a different note and even better is when I can link a phrase with several notes.

      ›[[UID]]‹ - (This gives a visual queue of the type of link it is as The Archive behaves differently with this style of linking.

    As I link the new thinking into the old thinking, I have found surprises in how lazy I was in the past and I find I have a new desire to be more through.

    There is a lecture I'm attending at the university on GitHub and Jekyll. Making a static website based on markdown. All this together is a challenge, on top of which I have the usual class writing assignments, all my surplus cognitive cycles are spoken for. This feels like a privilege, I'm so lucky.

    Will Simpson
    I must keep doing my best even though I'm a failure. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
    kestrelcreek.com

  • An unexpected turn of topics:

    Recently, I looked for help with a little web project -- one that y'all will be able to enjoy in a couple of months time :)

    I noticed some patterns in applications, and wanted to write about the experience, and then found interesting anecdotes about hiring freelancers on the web -- and just today I realized that I haven't systematically tackled this topic. There's room for structure notes for my old #freelancing notes (for freelancers) and now there's a growing department around #hiring, too.

    And all this leads me to the larger topic of running my own business. I have lots of scattered thoughts, and also many notes and outlines around independent software development, but really not that much about the practice of an entrepreneur. Apart from tips and anecdotes around entrepreneurship, I don't have room for my own journey, and more importantly, no scratchpad to think about the stuff that lies ahead.

    This is an interesting (and in part worrying) find. I have a hard time wearing the head of an entrepreneur. The technician's hat fits naturally. And even to some degree the hat of the manager, partly because I'm into self-organization and productivity as a topic in general. But hiring is something different. So is long-term growth strategies.

    It appears that part of what I neglected the most, and where I have the most trouble time and again, is now slowly growing -- reflected in a department in my Zettelkasten that begins to take shape.

    And since interacting with folks I hire produces material for future notes, I think I'm also shaping a mental space that is some kind of work-bench for working on my business.

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • @ctietze said:
    And all this leads me to the larger topic of running my own business. I have lots of scattered thoughts, and also many notes and outlines around independent software development, but really not that much about the practice of an entrepreneur. Apart from tips and anecdotes around entrepreneurship, I don't have room for my own journey, and more importantly, no scratchpad to think about the stuff that lies ahead.

    This is an interesting (and in part worrying) find. I have a hard time wearing the head of an entrepreneur. The technician's hat fits naturally. And even to some degree the hat of the manager, partly because I'm into self-organization and productivity as a topic in general. But hiring is something different. So is long-term growth strategies.

    Regarding the technician/entrepreneur issue, it's an incredibly important mindset shift you're touching on here. May I recommend Gerber's book, The E-Myth Revisited? His discussion about what it means to be the one running your business (as opposed to being a technician or, in my case, the service provider) was priceless when I was getting started with my own business. It helped me not just switch heads, but in doing so it helped me create and protect the space for my own journey and what laid ahead.

  • @jeannelking Thanks for the recommendation! That book is where I got the terms (owner being technician/manager/entrepreneur) and "working on the business" from. It's great. But also tough ;)

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • @ctietze - I get it. I started my own business back in 2009, and relate to the journey you're experiencing. So, one last resource to share here and then if you would like to talk further about this stuff I'm happy to via DM.

    Read the book, Business Model Generation. Or just read about it online and print out a canvas to use as a scratchpad for yourself. RIDICULOUSLY powerful and effective. (It was my template of choice when I'd work with startup founders as part of Google NEXT's team of consultants.)

    Pro tip: post it up so that it's big and visible in your workspace. This will help your brain work on those business components in the background while you work on other things, and you might be surprised by what you come up with for your business as a result.

    Entrepreneurial soap box is now being put away. ;^)

  • Hello everyone! Been away for a while while finishing up my schooling and transitioning jobs. Happy to say that I passed my defense, and have survived my first week as a post-doctoral researcher.

    New research, new knowledge to collect in my ZK! I'm primarily reading and taking notes on papers in my new area of research, trying to get a handle on the new material that I'm expected to work with while simultaneously looking to generate short-term and long-term research and publication goals.

    On the software side of things, I've been playing around a bit with Obsidian and Roam Research. Starting an entirely new area of research, completely disconnected from my current ZK notes, provides a great opportunity to examine my current system and look for more efficient and useful ways to structure my notes and my workflow.

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