I hate new year resolutions…that’s why I start thinking about fresh starts and new focus around this time. Part of this is, admittedly, my innate desire to go against the crowd, but I also think that a lot of the ways people tend to approach January is flawed.
Timing matters—we have rich psychological experiences with timing, such as the beginning and the ending of projects, relationships, and life itself. (If you want an excellent and engaging book about all of that, consider When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Dan Pink).
It makes perfect sense to start the new year with fresh goals and renewed resolve to accomplish what we didn’t last year. However, that’s exactly the problem: we too often want to somehow “catch up” on everything we wanted to do last year and the year before. I just think that the time scale of an entire year is way too long for most people to successfully plan for.
Rather than one big, start-of-the-year plan, I like to check in with myself many times throughout the year. Discarding goals that have lost interest or relevance, tweaking my current patterns of behavior, and adding new challenges that are shorter-term have been my most successful practices.
I also realize there’s still a magical feeling that comes from that fresh January, so if you’re still adamant at following the collective ritual of new year resolutions, here are my top three tips I’ve discovered this year to help with personal knowledge management (PKM) work. Hopefully with this quick check-in, we can get ready to meet the new year with better systems to carry us further than we would just winging it (like I’m prone to do).
PKM might be one of the most impactful practices we can have now that we’ve entered the age of AI. I am convinced it has far-reaching benefits from work to skill development and even the fun, personal projects that we do.
1. Save previously solved problems
There’s nothing I hate more than coming back to something that I’ve done before, but that’s complex and unfamiliar. For example, renewing SSL certificates on my websites or managing a subscription or even folding up a tent or canopy so that it fits back into the original bag.
It’s the stuff that you have to do infrequently, so you don’t remember the specifics, but that has a system or set of steps that makes things super easy provided you figure it out!
For these cases, I highly recommend jotting down the steps in your note system. This year, when I’m setting up something new, I’ll crack open Obsidian and drop really quick keywords and screenshots as I’m working through something. When I’m done, I’ll clean it up just a bit and make sure I have enough in the title or the note to be able to find it again.
It has saved me so many times when I go back to do that same thing 5 months later. URLs, hints, or steps all right there waiting for me. And if I missed something, or if something changed I can just update it right then when I’m doing it.
Work processes are where this has been especially useful—quickly getting back on the same page with old projects, finding resources that are always buried in Slack messages, and helping me keep everything I need at my disposal. No AI needed ;)
2. Productivity isn't everything
I recently came across an argument that has rattled my analytical mindset. Normally, I try to determine the value of some thing or activity based on its effectiveness or how it relates to my productivity. That even includes trying to rationalize the benefits of physical exercise or juggling or any of the other random things I do for fun.
The challenge to this was a question of the worth of seemingly unprofitable activities. Why read fantasy? It won’t make you any money. Why learn traditional martial arts when so much of it “doesn’t work” (says the keyboard warrior in the comments, anyway)?
What I’m realizing is that not everything is directly tied to economic productivity—and that doesn’t mean it has no worth!
When it comes to PKM, it can seem like extra work at times. Maybe it isn’t magically making me more productive or creative. And yet it is something I enjoy. I love exploring topics, I love capturing ideas, and I love reading old notes or thoughts on the random things I’ve written about.
PKM can absolutely help with productivity, but productivity isn’t the most valuable goal to me anymore. Working towards peak productivity has left me feeling empty, like I fell short of something. Instead, working towards better thinking, more clarity in my writing, and more exploration in topics and conclusions has become much more rewarding.
3. Don't get trapped in settings
Formatting, naming, and setting things up is a completely different state of mind than actually creating.
I’ve seen a pattern in me—especially with my design background—in which I want things to be aesthetically pleasing and typographically ideal when I’m working on things. However, it really is a trap to do this too early.
Every time I start with changing font sizes or fiddling with colors, it’s just procrastination pretending to be creativity. Instead, I like to start in my notes (Obsidian) because I don’t have controls over much of the formatting.
I almost always throw in a “Scratch” section in my CYBORG_ articles. This is where I dump ideas or bullet points that I might use in the newsletter. It helps me get over the scary blank page and blinking cursor. Having a plain text, minimal setup for your workspace can be extremely helpful in focusing on the right things first: creation then formatting.
Cyborg
Approaching the upcoming year with a few tips and some pre-planning will hopefully set you up for better success. If there’s anything else I’ve learned this year, it’s that I need to treat myself with more compassion and understanding.
We fail, make mistakes—it’s inevitable. Maybe the trope of new year resolutions only lasting to February (if you’re really lucky) is a chance for us to collectively remember that we all fail sometimes. Compassion can help take the sting off of the missed marks.
Wishing you the best as this year is closing and we’re gearing up for the next one.