Dealing with little golden nuggets

manynothings

Registered
Hello,

When surfing the internet or reading, I sometimes find little pieces of information that I find extremely impactful or useful to know (e.g. rules of thumb). I can capture them, no problem, however I am confused on how to organize them and be able to see them when I want to.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
I assume these items are reference material, not actionable or project support. There are lots of digital options:

Big do-it-all programs like EverNote, OneNote, Obsidian
Note programs like (Apple) Notes & Bear (Markdown)
Specialized programs for, e.g., web info, like Pocket or GoodLinks (Apple)

Of course the real issue is organizing and searching (this true with paper too). Opinions differ, but I think consistency and open systems are key. I have found the PARA system of Forte interesting and GTD-congruent. He has a lot of information on his website.

I use Bear and GoodLinks, but Apple Notes is too useful to avoid sometimes.
 

schmeggahead

Registered
Of course the real issue is organizing and searching
This is why I use Zettlekasten method on an Obsidian system. To make is simple, when processing a note upon entry, atomize components of the note & link it to at least one other entry.

The key is to consistently use a method to connect your system's information.
Thanks,
Clayton

Cross indexing is a tool to turn two thoughts into a new third idea - James Burke
 

cfoley

Registered
I stopped doing this too but two books I read recently changed my mind.

How to take Smart Notes: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/34507927
Building a Second Brain: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59616977-building-a-second-brain

These books or their concepts are mentioned above by others.

The idea is to create one note per nugget. You can include the original nugget and also your own thoughts on how it relates to your projects and higher levels.

A key insight for me in the Building a Second Brain book is to file notes by project. The consequence of this is that if a golden nugget would be useful for a project, then file it there. Notes should be easily searchable so that they can be easily moved into new project folders in the future. I think the key principal is to put the note where you need to see it. I don't use the suggested PARA structure but instead apply the same principal to my project support and reference folders.

In a Zettelkasten, this golden nugget note would reference (and be referenced by) other related notes. You can relate it to your projects by use of a "desktop" (which I believe is Zettelkasten terminology for a project in process). The linking system between notes isn't meant to be a comprehensive web. Rather, it is intended to allow discovery of related concepts by traversing threads of linked ideas.

For me in GTD, once I have captured a nugget like this, my filing priority for these notes looks a bit like this:

1. File it in an appropriate project support folder.
2. File it in an appropriate reference folder.
3. Create a new reference folder that maximises my chance of finding the note at the right time (maybe a folder for a higher level of mine).
 

mcogilvie

Registered
I mostly don't do this any more, because I realized that I never ever go back to look at them. if I did, I would probably put them in a Scrivener project.
The specialized information storage tool I use the most is Zotero, for storing research-related pdf’s and associated citation information. While I do use folders, by far the most common retrieval method for me is global search.
 

grahamen

Registered
I use a combo of the above two, Zotero and obsidian with Zettelkasten style notes, and yes there is a zotero plugin for it and best of all, obsidian is free. (although if you want it to sync across devices you do have to take out a "Sync" subscription). I spend a lot of time writing research papers etc like Mcogilvie above, and love the zotero integrations to Word etc for citations, but really like the markdown style of obsidian for capturing ideas etc
 

Roger

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I've pretty much abandoned trying to 'organize' such things -- for me, that's just resulted in more places for things not to be.

So I put them all into one big text file. Maybe on a nearby line I'll add some keywords or tags that I think might help me search for them later.

That doesn't help me actually remember that they're in there in the first place, of course, but I seem to have developed a habit of searching in there first, even if I doubt that I'll find anything. Sometimes it's a pleasant surprise.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
I've pretty much abandoned trying to 'organize' such things -- for me, that's just resulted in more places for things not to be.

So I put them all into one big text file. Maybe on a nearby line I'll add some keywords or tags that I think might help me search for them later.

That doesn't help me actually remember that they're in there in the first place, of course, but I seem to have developed a habit of searching in there first, even if I doubt that I'll find anything. Sometimes it's a pleasant surprise.
This is pretty much what people did when gigantic leather binders of 8”x5.5” paper walked the earth, except it was a “Note” or “Information” tab in the binder. The binders mostly died off in a cataclysmic event when PC’s hit the planet, leaving behind the small flip phones which eventually evolved into the modern smartphone.
 

boomer70

Registered
Hello,

When surfing the internet or reading, I sometimes find little pieces of information that I find extremely impactful or useful to know (e.g. rules of thumb). I can capture them, no problem, however I am confused on how to organize them and be able to see them when I want to.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
I love the clipper feature of OneNote. One area I do a lot of is seeing job postings for positions similar to those in my team or positions I would like to add to my team. When it comes time to re-write existing or wrote new job descriptions I go to that reference file and use them for inspiration.
 

gtdstudente

Registered
Hello,

When surfing the internet or reading, I sometimes find little pieces of information that I find extremely impactful or useful to know (e.g. rules of thumb). I can capture them, no problem, however I am confused on how to organize them and be able to see them when I want to.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Manynothings, Nice . . . on this end, "Gold Nuggets" usually means 'Principles' . . . Principles = Golden Nuggets . . . like it! So anyway, when coming across a seemingly worthy Golden Nugget, the question on this end is what Area-of-Focus does it pertain to and then simply add it to the particular Area-of-Focus and its Document titled "Golden Nuggets/Principles" --- on it --- that is placed in the particular Area-of-Focus Files. Ps. Great argument why Paper only is insufficient since it lacks Copy-&-Paste functionality. Thank you!
 

Oogiem

Registered
however I am confused on how to organize them and be able to see them when I want to.

Any suggestions?
All of that sort of stuff goes into my ever-growing Obsidian vault. Initially into the inbox there, for linking, refinedng and proper processing then into my Adversaria folder once properly linked somewhere, usually in one or more map of content or MOC notes based on how I think i will look for it later.

As I use my system during the day if I look for somethign where I thought it should be and it isn’t there, when I do find it I put a link back to it in the original place (or places) I looked. Over time I am finding things with one quick reference and no use of search at all which is a huge win in my book. I hate computer searches and I do not think in tags so having defined places is important. But I like the flexibility of having things in more than one place at a time without duplicating them, so Obsidian links are perfect for me.

I also use Zotero for scientific papers. But the annotations and notes related to those all end up in Obsidian.
 
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