Above you see the Snippet Processing Loop. It’s like putting your ideas through a blender, then rearranging the tiny pieces into pyramids.
Let me narrate what’s happening from the top.
The little guy with the big eyebrows is you. You’re kinda intense.
You’re either consuming or generating information. Your dotted eyes go to the “info source” box.
If you’re generating info, you’re writing stuff down. Then that will go into either your “notes” vertical or your “actionables” vertical.
Actionables are the Most Important
We have a separate vertical for actionables to ensure that you keep up to date on stuff you need to do. That’s the highest priority info and it changes the fastest.
We don’t want to have to sort through all our notes just to get to the next action item for the day!
I also include critical reference info like passwords in the “actionables” vertical, because I refer to them so regularly. And I have a “habit instillation” section there as well.
Notes Comes Next
Everything non-actionable that you yourself write goes into “notes”. Obviously sorting stuff you’ve written is more important than sorting stuff you’ve copy-pasted from elsewhere. If you really thought it was important when you read it, you would’ve summarized it in your own words or made an action point from it.
Quotes Comes Last
The “quotes” vertical is represented by only one box in this graphic, but is actually four separate verticals:
- “Epic” quotes are single lines or at most a paragraph that encapsulate some absolutely brilliant life-changing idea.
- “Elite” quotes are really good stuff you want to remember.
- “Quotes” are regular quotes you want to remember.
- “Reference” are low-value, high-volume quotes that you copy in bulk.
Now You Can Backtrack Your Work
What’s the point of having these verticals? To preserve the chronological order of our information. This is very useful when backtracking.
That’s why we follow this rule: NEVER edit yesterday’s chronological tape. We keep the original order of capture.
Also, occasionally throw in a date stamp so you know what was added when.
Next, Outline It (Whenever Convenient)
Ok, now we need to turn this raw information into an organized intelligent mindmap.
Each chronological tape dumps into its own separate BrainStormWFO file. Whenever you feel like organizing a silo, just copy the latest text into the appropriate BrainStormWFO file and start sorting.
I live out of my “actionables.brn” file. That’s how I execute my daily tasks.
Occasionally I will sort deeper and start doing my “notes” file, but I really am not dealing with demanding levels of complexity right now. It’s been even longer since I sorted my quotes files. If I need to access something, I usually just search my chron tape. So you don’t have to spend all day sorting.
BUT… if/when I NEED to sort those files, it will all be there, and I’ll be able to go through it without duplicating effort.
And I DO plan to sort those files when writing the final versions of the various books I’m working on. That kind of effort brings together years of research, and this system is perfectly well suited for it.
The Snippet Loop lets you build up massive charges of information over years while remaining lightweight and executing on a day-to-day basis.