Comment by compacct27 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by compacct27 | Hacker News Reader

Think by writing. Someone on HN said this and recommended “How to take smart notes”, which I furiously read through and applied to my life.

That commenter said it and I’m gonna say it too: I’ve been able to think much more deeply, thoroughly, and most importantly much further along than my old self before doing this (and even further than my coworkers in ways that has already paid off).

One day I really went off on it and wrote out my thoughts for 4 hours on some important technical ideas I’ve been ruminating on. Not in one big doc, either, but using Obsidian to connect my ideas to each other. I used those ideas to knock out a massive technical problem we were having at work with half a day’s effort. Found a quick win swimming around in my head.

It’s been a game changer.

Edit: I found the original comment!! Read it, there’s two other books there that have supercharged my life. Probably the most influential comment I’ve read on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33594264

I use this method of thinking because my memory/concentration get worse sometimes and do that with age. Even a simple file or a piece of paper work like a huge L2 cache which you don’t have naturally. Outlining (indents basically) makes it even more navigatable, e.g. I write simplified sentences in a hierachical way and use that as references/structure of thought.

  Thinking by writing
    Enhances memory as L2 cache
  Simple file or piece of paper
    Outlining by indents
      Makes better navigation
      Easy references
      Allows structure overview

I usually write 2x longer sentences, the above is just an example.

How much of that value derived was thanks to Obsidian? I work with pen-and-paper notes, is it worth the shift?

A lot more than I expected. What I liked is that I could easily connect thoughts written down on separate notes. Lots of “oh hey…I could use this approach I outlined over there”, connecting sometimes 6 separate ideas under a new roof.

I was skeptical bc I’m huge on pen and paper, but one morning I just said screw it and put Obsidian on my phone. That alone unleashed a torrent of thought, I think always having something you can take notes on is the key. Paper isn’t always on you when an idea strikes. A phone typically is

Think its important to note here that you can use any tool and technology here (incl. pieces of paper by topic). I found that most prolific thinkers never used a PKM but have their own and usually very simple systems to take on information that is important to them and use it in the future.

Most people I've noticed that are successful and productive in their respective fields have very simple systems. Using simple systems prevents productivity porn, the act of over gardening your tool sheds. It prevents you from wasting time in things you shouldn't be wasting time on - chasing technology and processes instead of saving problems for instance.

They also publish mostly finished work (not necessarily perfect) semi frequently. These works could be blog posts, websites, YouTube videos, books, and a whole host of other things depending on what's being produced

This and 10x this :)

> ... I furiously read through and applied to my life.

how did you apply? or how does one take smart notes?

Could you provide a link to that post or comment?

Added it in an edit.

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