It’s easy to see who we are as set in stone, but we’re not completely without the capacity to improve certain character qualities
Throughout the last few years of taking notes first for university, then for myself and creating content online, I’ve noticed two characteristics which appear to be more important for useful knowledge management than any others.
We’re going to cover them today. I’ll explain why I think each one is so important, as well as what I think you can do to tap into and build your ability in each one.
We’ll start with perseverance…
Perseverance
Things won’t ever go perfectly, and knowledge management is no exception. I struggled with perfectionism for a long time, not realising that it was simply my brain’s way of talking itself out of being satisfied with what I have, and actually doing the more difficult work of creating something valuable with my knowledge management system.
So long as you’ve got a basic system in place, most of (almost all of) the time you’re going to be better off just getting on with the work that you built the system for.
The very worst thing for my knowledge management journey was when I continued to flake on different systems and apps rather than persevering with one system and one app.
Now that I’ve turned things around and focus on one app and one system within that app, I’m much happier and have built exponential progress in my work. It’s easier than it’s ever been to sit down and get things done.
All it takes is a little perseverance — things aren’t ever going to be perfect in your systems and how you feel about your work. Everything’s in constant flux and the point of the game is to feel the resistance to doing the work and to continually push against it to turn thoughts and ideas into things that can help and provide value to other people.
That’s what I figured out when I found fulfilment in writing online and taking notes for university. The key is this — find something that you do or create outside of just tweaking your system for the hundredth time, and persist at getting that right instead. The system itself is not important. The work you do with it is. So focus more on the work, even when it’s tough.
But it’s going to take time to build up a system that’s right for you and allows for consistent work…
Patience
The two traits I’ve suggested that relate to personal knowledge management in this article are very closely related.
You might need some perseverance to get through the tough parts of time using your system where things aren’t quite right, but in my experience you can shortcut having to use persistence by just being patient instead.
In minimal note-taking, I talk about being slow and deliberate with changes to your system that you make. This relates heavily to being patient — if something comes up that you think you need to change or tweak or improve in your system, just wait a short time. Take a moment before you do anything.
More than likely, this isn’t a change that you need to make, it’s just your brain trying to protect you from the inherent resistance that comes from writing words down or getting other work done. After all, trying out the fourteenth theme or integration of the day is much easier than ploughing on with an essay or article.
However, if you’re patient with your system and just slow down the response time between coming up with ideas (most often distractions) and executing, you’ll find out that the things you thought were good ideas were often nothing of the sort, rather your mind wandering.
I’ll say something that might surprise you…
I don’t think twice about the system that I sit down to work in on a daily basis. Its features and components are not something I change or even consider that often.
There’s no excitement, and hence no distraction. This is because after years of making the mistakes I’ve already mentioned, and through now and again doing something right, I’ve discovered that the real power of a personal knowledge management system is patiently persevering consistently for a long period.
Working in a knowledge management system is like an investment — you make notes, day in, day out and you build connections between your knowledge. This doesn’t happen all at once, instead it’s better done little by little, every single day. It’s also better if done in one place, as early as possible and without switching, so you can allow the power of compounding your use in one place and one system to take effect (changing system or app resets this progress).
So how does one become more patient?
I like a certain idea from Alex Hormozi when it comes to this. Although I can’t remember the quote itself, he says something along the lines of the idea that you can automatically be more patient by spending time focused on other things. If something else fills up your attention, you’re automatically going to pass the time without noticing the thing that you’re impatient with.
This works perfectly with a knowledge management system. In my own example, once I settled into the groove of doing good work in my Obsidian vault, it felt as though I woke up one day and had the entirety of the PARAZETTEL system set out before me with folders filled with ideas. All it took was patience, and doing a little bit more work day after day.
I’m suggesting just these two characteristics for now. They’re the only ones that very clearly came to mind when I sat down to ideate for this piece.
There might be others, but getting these two right is a good start. You don’t have to get things perfect, you just have to stick to the plan for a long time. It’s more than an investing metaphor, this is a real investment only in a different dimension, and the gains will be a lot greater than what you expect.
Focus, stay resilient and stay patient.
Thanks for reading!