The Stress of Guinea Pigs#
Temporary notes, instant inspiration, inspiration notes, and rough notes are all ways to describe a fleeting note-taking method. It needs to be dealt with promptly. After using it, it should be deleted immediately instead of being left there, commonly known as occupying the toilet without defecating.
It's like the accumulation of waste in the body after the absorption of nutrients from food. Why would you keep the residue and waste? The invisible inspiration has already put a lot of pressure on you.
This pressure makes you not want to write, not ready to write yet. I'll organize the inspiration notes, collect materials, and then write. In the end, it's still more appropriate to start writing after I'm fully prepared.
The greater the pressure, the less willing you are to write. That's why inspiration notes should be dealt with quickly and the reasons should be deleted immediately.
Similarly, the same should be done for collecting information from various sources.
We collect useful information and news from WeChat, Twitter, Telegram, RSS, and other channels. Although it is convenient to save them casually, some people, like me, are not anxious about not having time to organize the collection for a long time, but spend more time looking for an all-in-one collection tool.
I want to gather all the information collected from various sources in one place for easy and unified management. For example, Cubox, Simplified, Readwise Reader, optimizing collection methods.
Of course, the fastest way to save is still the built-in bookmark function of each tool, such as Twitter bookmarks, Telegram bookmarks, WeChat bookmarks, Chrome bookmarks, whether on desktop or app. Undoubtedly, this is the fastest way to save.
Information Hoarding#
This distributed collection, scattered information everywhere, quickly accumulates into mountains. At first, you will still screen them one by one, browse roughly. As they become more and more, the pressure you bear becomes greater and greater, so you unconsciously reduce the frequency of opening them.
I have had this experience when using Flomo. I collected with great enthusiasm, collecting every wonderful sentence and paragraph, and saved them all for later appreciation and digestion when I have time.
Finally, when I had time to open Flomo, I found a mess of fragmented texts. It's difficult to categorize them, and there is no connection for appreciation, resulting in poor readability.
In the end, I can only say, "I'm too busy today, I'll come back next time!" and hurriedly leave.
Since then, I have never opened Flomo again. I'm a little scared, facing those "brilliant inspirations". Because of my laziness, they become flawed and worthless.
This condition is also called "information hoarding disorder" or "information collection addiction". On the one hand, it stems from the personal need for security, the fear of missing out on good things. Others have it, why don't I? Others know it, why don't I?
Secondly, vanity comes into play. You guys are so outdated, you don't even know about this... Let me tell you, your tools are too outdated. Let me show you what advanced productivity looks like.
Lastly, it's quite important that there is a lack of security.
The blogger you like is inexplicably banned, the article you like is deleted, the website you like returns a 404 error. For various reasons, many articles, books, and movies that you think are good suddenly disappear.
To avoid the feeling of loss when something is clearly there but I can't see it, I keep collecting, which eventually leads to information overload, high blood pressure, and gout attacks.
Prevention and Treatment#
How to prevent and treat this "information hoarding disorder"? I think Obsidian, a person I really like, provides a good idea in his video Obs125 | 闲聊 Fleeting Note 的翻译与其本质 - YouTube.
That is, inspiration notes, including various collected information, articles, reading lists, watchlists, playlists, etc., are all things that can stimulate certain groups of neurons in your brain in an instant. Regardless of the purpose of collecting them, they are rough notes that need to be dealt with urgently and must not exceed three days.
Just think about what would happen if you didn't defecate for three days? The waste must be cleaned up in a timely manner.
Some people may ask why three days? Because with the current speed of information iteration, if the information is not processed within three days, it may not have the value of being saved. In short, those topics and efficient software quickly become outdated and are replaced by new topics and applications. If your articles quote or recommend these outdated information, it is meaningless.
When ChatGPT went viral on Twitter, there was almost a new clone app launched every day. If you don't do filtering and want to try each one, you will definitely miss out on truly useful information.
Three days does not refer to a specific time limit, but rather a preliminary screening and selection of the information you want to collect. If you want everything, you will end up with nothing.
"To read or not to read, to listen or not to listen, to keep or not to keep?"
If you want to read, set a specific time to read. If you want to listen, listen immediately. If it is indeed useful, save it. In this way, the collected information is processed immediately, categorized and stored in various places, becoming permanent notes. You can put down the heavy burden in your heart, rationally organize the collected materials, and not be hindered.
At this time, various app bookmarks have been cleared, and the brain becomes active again, no longer being emotionally influenced by the reminder that there are good things in your bookmarks that you should go and check.
In summary: Don't be too obsessed with an all-in-one collection system. Process the collected information within three days, and clear the bookmarks promptly after processing. The best state for inspiration notes is to be easily accessible and discardable at any time.