Topic: Education & Growth

Blog archives

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• Traction Heroes Ep. 19: Pruning

  Exploring a key question: How do you decide when it’s time to let go?

• Traction Heroes Ep. 12: Levels of Learning & Change

  A framework for telling your story in ways that engage listeners.

• Solsbury Hill

  Celebrating a classic song about the excitement and apprehension you feel when changing paths.

• My Current Note-taking Practices (2024)

  An overview of how my knowledge management system has evolved over the past year.

• Seminar: Combining Hand-written and Digital Notes

  A video presentation explaining how I integrate my hand-written notes into Obsidan.

• Build a Personal Knowledge Garden

  A workshop that teaches a modern approach to note-taking.

• Five Books for Career Switchers

  Holiday reading for guidance on self-understanding, adaptability, and perspective during times of change.

• The Informed Life with Karl Voit

  Learn how a life hacker uses open source tools to manage his personal information.

• The Informed Life with Karl Fast

  Reading is good for you. This conversation gives you a glimpse of how an avid reader extracts knowledge from books.

• The Informed Life with Sönke Ahrens

  An interview about the zettelkasten note-taking system with the author of ‘How to Take Smart Notes.’

• The Informed Life with Aidan Helfant

  Personal knowledge management in service to getting more from your studies.

• The Informed Life with Nicole van der Hoeven

  Summary of my conversation with a Developer Advocate and YouTuber on how they use Obsidian to learn and play in public.

• Principles for Selecting PKM Apps

  Select PKM components that serve your needs as they evolve over time.

• The Informed Life with Michael Becker

  An overview of my conversation with a prolific knowledge worker, communicator, and Tinderbox master.

• Evergreen Notes

  Some notes are transient; you let them go shortly after writing them. But others should stick around longer.

• Note-taking and Note-making

  Knowing the difference between these two common note modalities will help you think better.

• Writing a Book? These Tips Will Help

  Five ideas to help you achieve your goal of writing a book.

• No Year’s Resolutions

  Reflections on the start of the year, and the only New Year’s resolution that’s stuck with me.

• How to Take More Effective Notes

  If you know *why* you’re taking notes, you can take better notes.

• The Informed Life with Kat King

  Notes on a conversation about the virtues of note-taking as a means for learning.

• Three Types of Notes

  A peek into how I organize my notes.

• How to Swallow a Frog

  We all have to do unpleasant, yet important, tasks. Do them with equanimity and joy.

• The Informed Life with Oliver Caviglioli

  Graphic organizers help us teach and learn better. This conversation explores how and why to use these diagrams.

• Book Notes: “How to Take Smart Notes”

  Overview of a book about how to improve your academic or nonfiction writing using Zettelkastens.

• Why Do You Take Notes?

  We write down stuff for different reasons. One surprised me.

• How to Pick a Note-taking App

  Looking to switch away from your current notes app? This set of criteria can help.

• The Informed Life with Madonnalisa Chan

  An overview of my conversation with taxonomist Lisa Chan on how she manages notes in her personal life.

• The Informed Life with Boon Yew Chew

  An overview of our conversation about the note-taking tool Roam Research.

• Never Forget a Good Idea Again

  Building habits around a simple three-step process will help you harness the power of your mind.

• Work and Meta-work

  Understanding the difference between doing the work and working on the work can boost your effectiveness.

• How to Use Transclusion in Obsidian

  A short YouTube video that explains how I take more effective notes using transclusion in Obsidian.

• The Project Engagement Dilemma

  How to manage the changing balance between value creation and personal growth in projects.

• Book Notes: “Mindset”

  Overview of the book by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D. on the difference between fixed and growth mindsets.

• Two Things to Keep in Mind When Evaluating Note-taking Apps

  Choosing a new personal knowledge management system can be intimidating. Here are two things you should keep in mind.

• Saying No

  Reflections on how hard it is to turn down requests.

• The Informed Life with Kat Vellos

  An overview of a conversation about friendship on The Informed Life podcast.

• Book Notes: “How to Read a Book”

  How to get more from your reading.

• My Personal Information Ecosystem

  Notes about the tools and practices that allow me to get things done.

• Possibilities for Greatness

  Tackling insecurity and imposter syndrome can unlock growth and greatness

• Book Notes: “Mastery”

  How to find fulfillment by pursuing excellence.

• Beginner’s Mind

  How expertise can stunt your growth and why cultivating a beginner’s mind keeps you sharp.

• A (Very) Brief Message to the Class of 2020

  Finding inspiration during tough times

• Book Notes: “The Optimist’s Telescope”

  Overcoming our culture’s fixation on the here and now to make better long-term decisions.

• The Informed Life With Maria Giudice

  My conversation with a design legend on how she found her purpose and is helping others do the same.

• The Golden Age of Learning Anything

  I learned to reupholster a chair. That's amazing!

• Back Friday

  How my family turned Black Friday into a day of repair and play, instead of mindless consumption.

• The Informed Life With Lis Hubert

  A conversation about living intentionally as a digital nomad.

• What Did I Learn?

  How I use my journal to reflect on what I learned yesterday to become more effective today.

• Mind Your Baobabs

  How maintaining my inbox keeps me from getting overwhelmed.

• Learning From Books

  How a 1980s computer manual imparted programming ""superpowers"" to an eager learner.

• Getting Rid of Ghosting in Notebook Scans

  Getting better scans with a simple hack.

• How I Go Offline

  A conversation about how I take back control of my attention from the noise.

• My Digital Memory

  How Gmail became my indispensable information repository.

• Persistence

  How sticking with something makes you better at it and boosts your self-confidence.

• Marc Andreessen’s Guide to Personal Productivity

  How Marc Andreessen keeps his priorities straight and why you should consider his advice.

• Stephen Wolfram’s Personal Information Ecosystem

  How a genius' personal information ecosystem helps him do so much.

• The Informed Life With Gretchen Anderson

  Blending digital and analog workflows to enhance collaboration.

• Introducing The Informed Life Podcast

  Discover how experts manage information overload on my new podcast.

• Getting Unstuck By Switching Environments

  How changing physical and digital contexts can boost focus and productivity.

• The Role of Paper in Learning

  How pen and paper deepen learning by making abstract ideas concrete.

• Discovering the Shortest Route

  Navigating a learning curve reveals the joy of finding your path.

• Uses for YouTube

  Using YouTube for both entertainment and essential life learning, from yoga to song tutorials.

• Making Changes at the End of the Year?

  Rethink New Year's resolutions: small, intentional changes beat grand plans.

• A Model for Teaching (and Learning)

  How making information relatable, distinct, and actionable enhances learning.

• Tracking Commitments

  Navigating personal and social commitments: why tracking them matters for growth.

• A Strong Body for Strong Workshops

  Facilitating workshops is like athletic work; it calls for training.

• OneNote

  How OneNote became my go-to tool for capturing ideas and staying organized.

• Working Towards Focus

  Keeping focus can unlock extraordinary potential.

• Your Personal Information Ecosystem

  How intentional are you in shaping your personal information ecosystem to serve you?

• Exploring the Possible

  Discover your purpose and engage others through a new initiative.

• Exercising Patience

  Discover how meditation teaches me to build patience through resistance and stillness.

• The Right Time for Feedback

  How timing shapes feedback's impact on writing and creativity.

• The End

  How endings — triumphant or not — offer moments for reflection and growth.

• Reestablishing Routines After a Break

  How simple actions can help us regain our rhythms.

• Internet Sabbatical 2017 Edition

  Taking a break.

• A Thought on Christmas Morning

  Christmas is more about than gifts.

• A New Notebook

  A fresh start with new notebooks sparks excitement that transitions into productive routines.

• Focus

  Why saying ""no"" is key to achieving goals.