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by ArcMex
1265 days ago
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The key is knowing how much preparation is required to start. Personally, I lean more towards “just enough to start”. Then I flesh it out as I go, if I hit a brick wall, then I pause “to prepare” for the next go. What this does is ensure that I always have enough to get a task done as opposed to overindulging in “preparation” at the cost of real progress. Good luck, everyone. Wishing you success 2023. |
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The idea is to treat knowledge work more like a cycle of "collecting/preparing" and then working through that until you've finished that pile, then repeating that prepare -> work cycle ad nauseam. They recommend using a pomodoro-type system where you pre-define how long you're going to collect information for.
It seems like a promising solution to "preparing" way too much and procrastinating on the actually doing anything part. Especially since I don't think it's possible to really know how much preparation you need beforehand.
The basic process is as follows:
> Start with 1 hour of research. Stick to the time limit. You will return to this later, so take note of your trails before you leave.
> Process all your findings of the first step. Take notes and connect them in your Zettelkasten note archive. Once you think you got everything in the archive, add the notes or references to them to your draft. Write a sentence or two to explain the connections between the notes you just inserted if you like. Do whatever it takes to really integrate the new findings into your current draft.
> Reflect on the process. How well did you do? Did you learn something new? Judge the processing work you had to do: Was the amount of material manageable? How long did it take to work through your findings Would you prefer to have more or less time to research? Keep book of your answers. It’s important to write them down in a log to review changes over time.
> Adapt the routine: change the time limit of your research. Try to double or halve the time at first to get a feeling for the direction in which you’ll have to push the time boundary. The time it takes to process your findings is part of the feedback you can use to change the boundary.
(ignore the references to Zettelkasten, I think the core idea works no matter how you take notes or process what you've collected)