Update your daily practice: [https://notes.andymatuschak.org/My_daily_routine](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/My_daily_routine) [https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zHTevHGZQPu8QHpRhUmtsuK](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zHTevHGZQPu8QHpRhUmtsuK) Spark file / inbox (where does blogging fit in?) # Routine Ideas - Writing inbox - this will require a daily time to deal with this inbox [Inboxes only work if you trust how they’re drained](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zGKqPvetpYbvbXmPmuuvfx8) - Creative work - Remain curious - Too much doing-focus will crowd out the expansive mindset which generates new insights - [Process over product](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zY4QE4Q6NJpGZZh4Binv2xB) - Creative work requires openness, interplay, slack, [Sense of abundance](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z6UeyEqpiLy4E6CSkTbN8Tc). Fixation on output often creates [Scarcity mindset](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z99vBTQN4Rp1DSxZDYpAufr), subverts its own goal. Also readily makes creative work miserable. - “And insight density, not output density, is the most important metric for my work.” - Try and have different times for exploring vs exploiting - also make sure you have time for reflection and processing. Make space to think about your _own_ ideas - Evergreen notes - It’s not just about accumulation. There’s also no pressure to synthesize your new ideas on the concept with your prior thoughts about it. Is there tension between them? Is some powerful distillation only visible when all these ideas are considered simultaneously? [Understanding requires effortful engagement](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z8ccRLda8BqJafNxjQBpzis) - [Prefer note titles with complete phrases to sharpen claims](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zLhoRUyjKU665EY16u4XXJy) - If we push ourselves to add lots of links between our notes, that makes us think expansively about what other concepts might be related to what we’re thinking about. It creates pressure to think carefully about how ideas relate to each other - Finding the right links requires reading old notes, so it’s also an organic mechanism for intermittently reviewing the notes we’ve written - [Evergreen note maintenance approximates spaced repetition](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zWbMsEFW9LD4vsoVhaDcF4u) - You’ve got to wonder: where does this apply and where does it not? What are the implications? What are the assumptions? Whose view is represented here? What does this refute? etc. - mornings are often spent writing and revising [Evergreen notes](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z5E5QawiXCMbtNtupvxeoEX). This is typically the most challenging work I do all day, so I like to do it when I have the most clarity and focus. It’s not for “note-taking” in a traditional sense—writing down other people’s ideas, or recording things that happened—it’s for developing ideas. - Deep research requires a slower pace than tech - [San Francisco tech culture makes research hard](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z3DJpNZe7vVd9fsjNGU4S86) - [Deep research requires a slower pace than tech industry work](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/zGeqdWaGnGqP86hZBTUvTBm) - Learn to develop a stance on things. Being wishy washy isn’t useful - that is where the phrase “strong opinions weakly held” comes from # **Conversation with others often emphasizes the most well-understood elements of an idea** There’s an unintuitive danger in talking about an emerging idea with others. The clearest, most familiar parts are the ones which you’ll have the easiest time communicating and which your conversation partner will have the easiest time grasping. Often, those notions are already somewhat mainstream or even clichéd; others are likely to have lots of cached thoughts around that idea, and they’ll tend to interpret it incrementally. But if you’re doing something original, the most interesting elements are the ones which others—and you!—understand least well. Particularly early on, you may not be able to articulate the new element you’re reaching for very clearly. It may just sound like an unusual adverb choice or an innocuous-seeming qualifier. In any case: because their replies will tend to emphasize the most mainstream elements and pass over the elements you least understand, conversation will often drag you back towards the mainstream. It’s a kind of “regression to the mean” for ideas. Of course, the best colleagues and collaborators actively avoid this trap! One of my favorite [Michael Nielsen](https://notes.andymatuschak.org/Michael_Nielsen) behaviors is that if he hears me talking about some idea that seems fairly banal, he’ll deliberately tug at the places where I’m straining to reach past typical interpretations. # Quit your job [https://www.palladiummag.com/2022/01/06/quit-your-job/](https://www.palladiummag.com/2022/01/06/quit-your-job/) ### Questions - How can I ensure that each day progresses forward creatively? How can I ensure that each day I get better at something important? - What practices can help me reliably develop insights over time? - How can I shepherd my attention effectively? ### Weekly practice - One 2 hour “First principles thinking” session - e.g. how do stars form given newtons first 2 laws / relativity - One paper each week on creative measurement - Goal: be reading a Fermat last theorem paper each week - What is the world bringing next? Double down on science and technical know how? Or entrepreneurship? - Get back to first principles thinking, problem solving practice. How do you know you are improving as a scientist week over week? - Time yourself writing to try and improve and articulate more clearly, quickly - Paul graham writing