Tag: PKM

Where I’m At #5

Where I'm At

“Where I’m at” posts are just random updates about what’s going on in my life at any random time, based on the areas / roles in my life. Any particular goals I’m working on will be highlighted, so you can easily see what I’m actively working on improving. Leave a comment & give me ideas for things you’d like to see me write individual posts about!

  • planner : I have a lot of projects planned for February! I’m finishing up my digital audit as I’m writing this, which is always quite a relief – I must have deleted a zillion things I didn’t even know I had! I still have to audit 10 years of Google Photos, but that’s another project all its own. (ETA : I realized I should add auditing my PKM to the list too, because the chaos I’ve created there is stressing me out – “actionability … only save things that contribute to current projects & areas … it’s not a museum of knowledge if you don’t absorb or utilize the information!”) Next month’s projects include a “What a Crock-Potluck Revival Party” (we haven’t had a crockpot party in a while, so I thought we’d get back on that wagon), I want to make an “Oh Shit!” notebook (in case I get hit by a dump truck & my husband needs to know things he doesn’t normally care about), as well as planning for fun stuff in warmer weather (travel, tattoos, concerts, etc)
  • self (body & mind, emotion & education) : Forever working on my eating habits – I’ve been focusing on eating more consistently throughout the day because I have a bad habit of barely eating until dinnertime, and then going a little too crazy (cuz I love my dinner recipes! 😋) I’ve been sleeping kind of crappy because I really like my quiet time in the mornings, and I should probably get back to my exercise routine, but…not right now 😆 My brain’s been doing pretty good lol – Lots of fun ideas abound, feeling pretty chill (albeit a little cabin fever), and learning all kinds of interesting things about blogging!
  • marriage (relationship & libido) : Not doing too bad here, actually! Humor keeps things interesting lol
  • mom (BooBoo & Bubby) : The girls are doing pretty good, though I’m sure they can’t wait til it’s warm enough to go outside every day! They’ve been keeping busy drawing, painting, & playing with their dolls mostly. And enjoying a little bit of Legs Marvel Superheroes on Xbox hehe
  • teacher (K & PK) : They’ve been doing really well with school, though it was hard getting back into the rhythm after the holidays. BooBoo surprises us (& herself!) every day with how well she can read already, and Bubby is getting really good at tracing lines
  • zB : Having a lot of fun (& driving myself absolutely crazy!) trying to choose which direction to go with everything related to the blog & products to create & everything. I know I’m overcomplicating everything though lol! I’ve been learning a lot about SEO, optimization tools (like Buffer for automating social media posts), and everything in between. (My brain hurts. 🤪)
  • homemaker (finance, cleaning, gardening, prepping, travel) : Everything’s fine & dandy here! I need to rebalance our general finances, which I keep putting off. Been maintaining the cleaning, but not really making any progress (no time!) And I’m looking forward to travel & garden planning soon!

Currently

eating : crockpot dinners

drinking : hot lime water, & hot grapefruit water (way better than lemon water!)

watching : Hubby keeps trying to make me watch movies. I don’t generally have the attention span for movies. Blink Twice was pretty good. Back to Action was pretty terrible. The show Younger hasn’t been too bad. And surprisingly, the series Maxton Hall has been pretty interesting. And Ripley, omg, that was actually pretty good lol!

reading – Nothing. I haven’t really had much interest in any particular books lately. But I’ve kept up with my Daily Stoic Journal every day!

playing : Board games with the girls, especially Candy Land hehe ☺️

buying : Not much. Went a little crazy on Temu because I really needed a new winter coat. I also ended up with a couple gifts for hubby, gloves, some new eyebrow rings, and a bunch of other things I’ll be surprised to see when they come 😅

listening to : My “Tunes” playlist on YouTube – lots of Green Day & Foxboro Hot Tubs, Reverend Horton Heat, & “Wish I Knew You” by the Revivalists (me & hubby’s dating anthem hehe)

celebrating : Midwinter & Valentine’s Day

pinning : wallpapers, self care, Green Day

planning – projects, a party, goals

feeling – generally good, but a bit restless!

Where are you at? Let me know in the comments below!! 😀

Stop Scrolling! : Mastering Intentional Information Consumption

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Do you ever feel like you’re hoarding information, and not doing anything with it? Saying to yourself “Oh, I’ll totally need to know that someday!”, & that day never comes? All those articles & notes you have saved are really a burden, not a badge of honor, if you never use or even review them! In this post, I’m going to share some no BS tips for using information intentionally to get things done.

Why Information Overload Sucks

Endlessly scrolling through social media or blog feeds sucks the energy right out of your brain. This can then suck the life out of the rest of your day, causing decision fatigue over every little thing (”blue shirt or black shirt – argh!”), & distract you from making important progress in different areas of your life.

The truth is, you don’t need more info – You need a system to make the info you do consume work for you.

Game Plan = Filter Ruthlessly

One filtering method would be to avoid saving anything that doesn’t contribute to a project you’re working on or a problem you’re trying to solve.

Tiago Forte has some good tips for information management (check out his website at Forte Labs). One tip is to keep a list of “Favorite Problems” – complicated life problems that don’t have a simple answer, & which should be edited occasionally to keep it relevant. For example, one of my favorite problems is “How can I create a reasonably profitable business that fulfills my need to help others, without consuming too much of my time?”

Tiago’s CODE framework is another good tip, which focuses on actionability – Capture useful information, Organize it by how the information can be used, Distill it down to the main points, & Express it as a new article or idea. But make sure you keep note of the source!

Build a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) System That Works

Like many people, I prefer to use a digital notetaking system because it’s easy to organize & search through. An analog system (such as a commonplace book or Zettelkasten) can be useful to help you remember important information, but don’t stop there!

Tiago’s PARA method works well for organizing information. Projects are considered anything you’re currently working on that has a short term end date; Areas are ongoing aspects of your life (household management, personal health, etc); Resources are topics of interest that don’t fit into the first two categories; and Archive is for anything that is currently irrelevant but may be useful in the future. These four main categories can be broken down further and used as folders or tags for whatever system you choose to use – I use a Notion database, but you could also use platforms such as Google Keep, Evernote, or Obsidian for digital note organization.

Another benefit of a digital PKM is that you can easily link relevant notes together, or even link them directly onto a project page (which Tiago refers to as “Intermediate Packets”).

Stay Out of the Info Trap

Set some rules to avoid saving all the things, & stick to it!

  1. Limit how much time you spend browsing new information
  2. Don’t save it if you won’t use it
  3. Review & delete or archive outdated stuff – Your PKM isn’t a museum

Conclusion

Information is useless if you don’t use it.

Audit your info intake today, & turn knowledge into momentum – Share how you’re cutting the clutter in the comments below!