How to Make a Complete Map of Every Thought you Think | Page 3

brief introduction for the sake of introducing some major concepts from my notebook system.
3) Color and Glyph Management
Abbreviations/Shorthand, and Color. You MUST use a 4color pen. (I mean, you don't NEED one, but it's so amazingly helpful, that once you start using it, you'll NEVER want to go back.)
You'll develop shorthands, and you'll want to trust that you can decypher them later. You'll thus need systems for cataloging your shorthands, and there is such a system in the notebook system I am describing.
4) Speed Lists
You will be capturing EVERY SINGLE THOUGHT. Well, every thought that is more interesting than "I need to go to the bathroom", or "I need to take the trash out".
(Actually, needing to take the trash out may enter, as per the Getting Things Done system. SHOULD you decide to integrate my system with the GTD system. More later on the subject.)
Speed lists are the answer to the demand. Speed lists are vast lists of simple thoughts- about 1-50 words. Generally around one line.
There are two types of speed lists- pan-subject and subject. Pan-subject speed lists are for all thoughts, you take a pan-subj speed list out with you to work or to wherever you are going. Subject lists you keep in a cache notebook, and you have one per subject. You'd prefer to just use your subject lists, but sometimes you have to make do with a pan-subject speed list, and then transfer out from there to the individual speed lists. More on all of this later.
In particular: You do NOT want to be just scribbling thoughts out on a piece of any old paper. You want at least a pan-subj speed, with a few exceptions. (If you are having a thought-attack, you may need to make do w/ just any old piece of paper, and then go from there to the subject pages.)
OKAY: I'm getting too much into details.
So four advantages are: * Strategy * Mapping * Color/Glyph * Speeds
They work together marvelously. In particular, Strategy, Mapping, and Speeds all directly affect and rely on one another.
So there we have it.
1) What this system will do to you. (EXPECT IT.) 2) The nonexistence (to date!) of an Internet study of Notebooks. 3) How I am spitting this text out. 4) The advantages of my system.
The Introduction is over.
---------------------------------------- System Overview ----------------------------------------
I will be talking about the following things:
* Intra-Subject Architecture * Extra-Subject Architecture * Materials * The Question of Computers - don't get all excited now. * Theory of Notebooks * General Principles
Let me talk at a high level about what this is all about.
The notebook system roughly divides all of your thoughts into "Subjects". What subjects? Depends on your thought patterns. In the Subjects section, we'll talk about how to divide your thoughts amongst subjects.
Now, there are two domains: "Extra-subject" and "Intra-subject": that is, outside and inside of your subjects.
Intra-subject: Within a particular subject, you'll have an organization. You'll have your speed thoughts for that subject, you'll have your maps, you'll have your big dissertations ("Point of Interest", or "POI"), you'll have your cheat sheets, your abbreviations/shorehands ("A/S") particular to that subject, all sorts of wonderful things. Most important though, are your speeds and your maps.
Now, beyond the subject, there is a whole field of all your subjects. You'll have the "GSMOC"- the "Grand Subject Map of Contents", whereon you'll see a gigantic map of EVERY THING THAT YOU THINK ABOUT. Just imagine that right now: _Wouldn't you be interested in seeing such a thing?_ When I think about my GSMOC, I see a mirror of my mind, for the 3-5 months that I kept my notebooks. (The borders are fuzzy, because I gradually evolved into the notebook system I am describing to you.)
I mean, that, right there, is worth the price of admision. The GSMOC is a pretty impressive thing. =^_^=
Okay. So there are steps and promises that apply beyond the field of a single subject, and there are steps and promises that apply within the field of a single subject.
Now extra-subject and intra-subject *float on top of* your *MATERIALS*. We're talking about pen and paper and your binders. And some other things: You'll need those little donut holes things to protect your paper, and you'll need little stickies to put onto your paper, your maps. This will help with strategy and other map management functions. So I have a section on materials and all that stuff. Great stuff. What to look for in picking a binder. Wonderful.
There: We've knocked off the first three: * Intra-subj * Extra-subj * Materials
Three more to go: * The ? of Computers * Theory of Notebooks * General Principles
Okay, I'll take the ? of Computers last. General principles first, then Theory, then ?'s of Computers.
General Principles: There are many patterns common in the steps and promises of