Every thread of my life has been connected to one desire: holding all of the information I come across in my hands, without a single grain of it slipping through the cracks of my fingers. It has never been enough to sit it on a shelf as a library, but necessary to comb through it and take it in at every moment I can.
As a young child, I always asked “why?”, and then panicked at the thought of not knowing the information when I needed it most. My most formative idea of anxiety was muraled with the fear of Forgetting. My memory has always been fluttering and fickle. I believe that most of my lost potential in life is from forgotten ideas. It makes sense to me now that as an adult, I am obsessed with information ecosystems and personal active reviewing. I am constantly iterating on how I store information and I actually don’t believe I’m very good at it. At least, not in the way I need to be if I want to achieve my goals. What has resulted from my toil is a fragmented system; it is an ever-changing ratio of digital to analog methods that leave me often unable to find what I’m looking for.
However, I do believe I am getting better at it, steadily. One of my focuses for the remaining bits of the year is to take stock of current buckets of information I have, consolidate what I do have even in abstract, and find the right balance that works for me.
I have some working principles that are subject to change at any moment in time.
- When committing things to long term memory, analog writing is king – but slow at scale.
- If the process is not joyful, I will not do it.
- Regardless if the information bucket is analog or digital, I must have access to it at all times for best results.
- Some information buckets largely benefit from working in public. Some do not.
- All or nothing approaches do not work; there is no one-size-fits-all medium to capturing certain strands of information.
- Consistent and active review as routine is key for maintaining focus and a north star of my pursuits in life.
These principles have informed systems that work for me over many years of my life, most notably that paper planner > digital calendar for me, every time. Keeping a paper planner is one of the most consistent and quality systems I’ve adopted. Although it is not perfect (no system is), it has kept me organized, focused, and active.
I must remember that if it is not in front of me, it is not at my disposal.
For now, I must marinate on these ideas and take stock. If you have found systems that work for you with a brain similar to mine (why yes, I do have ADHD, how did you know?) please email me. I’d love to hear about what works for you.