A weekly newsletter where I help people apply values-based productivity principles and systems for personal growth, primarily using Obsidian. Subscribe if you want to make more of your notes and ideas.
🧮 Don't Solve Your Problems, Collect Them
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If you prefer to read this newsletter in your browser, click here. 💡 The Big Idea: If You Want to Better Answers, Ask Better QuestionsRichard Feynman was one seriously smart dude. He received a join Nobel Prize for “fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles,” figured out the source of NASA’s Challenger disaster, and even translated Mayan hieroglyphics. One of the reasons he accomplished so much was that he loved interesting problems. While most of us try to avoid problems or solve them as quickly as possible, he would collect them and let them incubate in the background. Unlike many of us, he wasn’t uncomfortable with not knowing the answer. He knew that if he stuck with a problem long enough, he would eventually be inspired and find a way to solve it. Richard Feynman's 12 Favorite ProblemsOne of the things Richard Feynman advocated for was keeping a list of your 12 favorite problems: “You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say, “How did he do it? He must be a genius!” When you create a list of problems like this, your brain is constantly working on them in the background. And given enough time, it will find the right answers. If we ask the right questions, the answers eventually become clear. My 12 Favorite ProblemsI have my own list of my 12 favorite problems (in Obsidian, of course). Here they are:
(David & I did a Focused episode on this a while back if you want to hear more about how I picked these.) Notice that some of these questions don’t have answers. That’s OK! Simply by thinking about these, I’m priming the pump for finding the answers. Inspiration usually strikes when you least expect it, but it happens more regularly when you’ve done the prep so your subconscious can continue to noodle on things in the background. 😎 Something Cool: Craft + CommerceLast week I was at Craft + Commerce, the incredible creator conference hosted by ConvertKit (my email service provider). I heard some amazing talks by people like Ali Abdaal, Codie Sanchez, Jay Clouse, Bonnie Christine, and many more. I didn’t get a chance to get to all of the sessions, but I did get to a bunch of them and I took sketchnotes while I was there (you can download my full notes from the conference here). What really impresses me though about the conference every year is the people. There are some pretty awesome creators there, but because the conference is fairly small, it’s easy to build relationships with fellow creators. I’ve met several people there that I now consider to be good friends. I don’t think that tickets for next year are officially on sale yet, but if you have even a small desire to make something online, you should get to Craft + Commerce. You won’t regret it. 📚 Book Notes: Super Thinking by Gabriel Weinberg & Lauren McCannSometimes all you need to do to get inspired is to look at things through a different lens. Mental models are a great way to do this by letting you see things from a different perspective. And if you want a bunch of mental models to upgrade your mental toolkit, you should pick up Super Thinking by Gabriel Weinberg & Lauren McCann. This book is full of mental models that you can use to get a fresh look at your favorite problems. We covered this a few weeks ago for Bookworm (you can listen here), and if you want to download my notes from this incredible book, click here. — Mike |
Practical PKM
A weekly newsletter where I help people apply values-based productivity principles and systems for personal growth, primarily using Obsidian. Subscribe if you want to make more of your notes and ideas.
In this edition of Practical PKM: 💡 The Big Idea: Zettelkasten my not be as crazy as I initally thought 😎 Something Cool: Animated gifs in Obsidian 🎉 📚 My book notes from A System for Writing by Bob Doto If you'd prefer to read this in your browser, click here. 💡 The Big Idea: Zettelkasten Isn’t Just for Nerds The zettelkasten concept swept the PKM world by storm several years ago with the release of How to Take Smart Notes by Sönke Ahrens. This is where I first came across the story of...
In this edition of Practical PKM: 💡 The Big Idea: Margin is a necessity, not a luxury 😎 Something Cool: A new book about zettelkasten I actually liked 📚 My book notes from Margin by Dr. Richard Swenson If you prefer to read this newsletter in your browser, click here. The Big Idea: You Need Margin in Your PKM System We all have our limits. When we get close to those limits, our systems overload and things break down. The thing that keeps the train on the tracks? Margin. The Importance of...
In this edition of Practical PKM: 💡 The Big Idea: 3 Keys to Effective Journaling 😎 Something Cool: An Obsidian plugin for publishing Dataview 📚 My book notes from 30 Lessons for Living by Karl Pillemer If you prefer to read this newsletter in your browser, click here. 💡 The Big Idea: Journaling Can Be a Big Driver of Personal Growth Before I started journaling myself about 15 years ago, I thought of it as keeping a diary. My view of journaling was that it was a place for stream-of-conscious...