I've kept a file called "ventures.rtf" since 2007. Quite simply, it has every business idea I've had that's worth writing down. Every year or so I go through and delete the stupid ideas. To say this has become the most valuable document in my life is an understatement. It is my career, in a file.
I used to keep a larger, more generic "spark file" but I found it got to be too big to navigate. So I throw away more ideas now, and only write down ones that have serious merit, placing them in specific files instead of a "kitchen sink" catchall file.
I also have "possible programmers" and "possible designers" files, which I've kept since 2007. These are just lists of great people that I've found over the years, and may wish to hire at some time. I've initiated relationships with some of these people, knowing that one day I might want to bring them in to one of my ventures.
Finally, I have a "rules to live by" file. I've kept this since November 2011, so it is much younger than the rest. So far, it's about 560 succinct adages. I work on it for 30m-1h ever day. I study life and draw conclusions, abstracting the particular instances I experienced into broader maxims.
I review this file before any major decision is made. It's sort of like a file on disk that I can load into my memory; it puts my mind in an optimal state before making a decision. It's like putting everything I've learned into my brain's electro-chemical RAM banks. The quality of personal and business decisions has increased 10000x since starting this particular file.
I do this as well. Everything from the spark file (I call it a "ideas journal"), to the freelancers file, to the maxims file (I call it the "laws of life", inspired by a character on Star Trek TNG).
Would you be interested in putting one of your files online? Or is the information too personal/ valuable to share? Keeping the possible programmers/designers and the spark file secrets I could understand. Sharing the "maxims" file could spawn an interesting website.
I suspect the personal effort involved in creating the file is more valuable than the file itself. Reading someone else's maxims is never going to have the impact on you that it has on them, or that creating your own list would have on you. He says it himself, "It's like putting everything I've learned into my brain's electro-chemical RAM banks." What good is the reminder of things learned to someone who hasn't learned the same things?
One of the maxims my wife and I use for decision-making is to take a step back and consider the big picture... to ask ourselves, "Is this even what we want to do in the first place?" But without having had the experience of almost making a decision that wasn't what we wanted big-picture because of focusing too much on optimizing the details, the maxim wouldn't have the same power.
What you're saying is that the process of experiencing the maxim and internalizing its lesson is more valuable than the maxim itself. I disagree - the bible and quran's lessons for life have been shared with and digested by many millions of receptive minds. It is the sharing of knowledge and experience, accumulated over generations, that allows our species to make the incremental improvements that leads to advancement. Keeping truths to oneself may be valuable, but if you have a powerful truth, the leverage you obtain by sharing with the world is a lot more powerful.
Nevertheless, you do have a point - how do you create value for people through a maxim that they haven't experienced? I would argue that the credibility of whom the maxim originates from is very important.
For example, The Bible has tremendous credibility and respect from its believers (and many non-believers too); this significant ethos prepares people to be receptive towards the maxim. Or for a modern day example, imagine the difference between a regular joe giving you career advice on his blog (as you wonder, 'who is this guy?', vs. reading maxims from Mark Cuban's blog.
In order to solve this problem of ethos, a site would have to employ reputation or karma for each maxim, with people weighing in on how valuable / truthful each maxim has been through their personal experiences. A maxim written by an anonymous becomes more credible when Mark Cuban, PG, or other famous people publicly vouch for it.
The following is a stream of thoughts, not a well-worked out position I'm trying to defend. I find this line of discussion very interesting and have no sure answers.
The Bible (and other holy books) often teaches maxims with stories though, which is like indirect experience.
Even if everyone I respect publicly vouched for "today you, tomorrow me" as a maxim, I don't think it would have as much impact as reading that story. And the impact of reading that story can't possibly compare to the impact the events had on the person who actually experienced them.
Why do science classes do experiments if not to add experience to facts which are already supported by almost universally recognized authority? Is there anyone on Earth who doubts f=ma? Yet the experience of it makes it more "real" somehow.
I'm not trying to say reading the maxims of others is useless. I tend to read most lists of maxims that come up on HN. But usually if one really becomes meaningful to me it's because it resonates with what I've already experienced. It puts my experiences into words in a memorable way.
You've just inspired a new part of my brain. I need to write-up a new idea for a website.
btw I agree with everything you said. The reason I used the bible as an example is that it is didactic through stories. Not just lists of laws. The website idea I was thinking of would have, for example, PG, Cuban, et al weigh in with their own stories, corroborating or contradicting the 'maxim'.
I agree completely that the proliferation of all the "rules of success" lists on the web proves ineffective in actually making a difference in the readers' lives.
>I used to keep a larger, more generic "spark file" but I found it got to be too big to navigate. So I throw away more ideas now, and only write down ones that have serious merit, placing them in specific files instead of a "kitchen sink" catchall file.
You could also use Devonthink Pro, as described here: http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/movabletype/archives/0002... as a placae for all this material, including the "rule to live by" file. DTP might help you find connections between ideas that you didn't realize existed.
EDIT: Mental note: Read article before commenting. You already know about DTP! Sorry.
With the exception of the contact list, I've been doing all the same things off and on for a while now.
It started with a generic idea file, simple titles and as much description as is necessary. More recently, I've started something like your "rules to live by" which I think of as "you learn something new every day". Quick adages and rules that I felt were worth noting.
You've inspired me get back in the habit of dedicating at least 30 minutes to my files each day.
I was watching the film "things to do when you're dead in denver" the other night and right at the end, the main character, Jimmy "the saint" Tosnia says to write down the ten most important things to you.
Does anybody remember that website which can automatically notify you on these ideas periodically? I think it was on Show HN the other day? I was hoping to hack my brain in this way.
"I study life and draw conclusions, abstracting the particular instances I experienced into broader maxims."
This is part of one of my maxims. A lot are methods of thinking which I use out-of-the-box to take an idea to the next level. A few are just basic ideas in life and architecture/development/nature which are fundamental building blocks.
My spark file is a google doc titled 'ideas'. Google docs or similar (jotit etc) are great for accessibility almost anywhere and anywhen, and you don't have to worry about backup.
Comments
I've kept a file called "ventures.rtf" since 2007. Quite simply, it has every business idea I've had that's worth writing down. Every year or so I go through and delete the stupid ideas. To say this has become the most valuable document in my life is an understatement. It is my career, in a file.
I used to keep a larger, more generic "spark file" but I found it got to be too big to navigate. So I throw away more ideas now, and only write down ones that have serious merit, placing them in specific files instead of a "kitchen sink" catchall file.
I also have "possible programmers" and "possible designers" files, which I've kept since 2007. These are just lists of great people that I've found over the years, and may wish to hire at some time. I've initiated relationships with some of these people, knowing that one day I might want to bring them in to one of my ventures.
Finally, I have a "rules to live by" file. I've kept this since November 2011, so it is much younger than the rest. So far, it's about 560 succinct adages. I work on it for 30m-1h ever day. I study life and draw conclusions, abstracting the particular instances I experienced into broader maxims.
I review this file before any major decision is made. It's sort of like a file on disk that I can load into my memory; it puts my mind in an optimal state before making a decision. It's like putting everything I've learned into my brain's electro-chemical RAM banks. The quality of personal and business decisions has increased 10000x since starting this particular file.
I do this as well. Everything from the spark file (I call it a "ideas journal"), to the freelancers file, to the maxims file (I call it the "laws of life", inspired by a character on Star Trek TNG).
Would you be interested in putting one of your files online? Or is the information too personal/ valuable to share? Keeping the possible programmers/designers and the spark file secrets I could understand. Sharing the "maxims" file could spawn an interesting website.
I suspect the personal effort involved in creating the file is more valuable than the file itself. Reading someone else's maxims is never going to have the impact on you that it has on them, or that creating your own list would have on you. He says it himself, "It's like putting everything I've learned into my brain's electro-chemical RAM banks." What good is the reminder of things learned to someone who hasn't learned the same things?
One of the maxims my wife and I use for decision-making is to take a step back and consider the big picture... to ask ourselves, "Is this even what we want to do in the first place?" But without having had the experience of almost making a decision that wasn't what we wanted big-picture because of focusing too much on optimizing the details, the maxim wouldn't have the same power.
What you're saying is that the process of experiencing the maxim and internalizing its lesson is more valuable than the maxim itself. I disagree - the bible and quran's lessons for life have been shared with and digested by many millions of receptive minds. It is the sharing of knowledge and experience, accumulated over generations, that allows our species to make the incremental improvements that leads to advancement. Keeping truths to oneself may be valuable, but if you have a powerful truth, the leverage you obtain by sharing with the world is a lot more powerful.
Nevertheless, you do have a point - how do you create value for people through a maxim that they haven't experienced? I would argue that the credibility of whom the maxim originates from is very important.
For example, The Bible has tremendous credibility and respect from its believers (and many non-believers too); this significant ethos prepares people to be receptive towards the maxim. Or for a modern day example, imagine the difference between a regular joe giving you career advice on his blog (as you wonder, 'who is this guy?', vs. reading maxims from Mark Cuban's blog.
In order to solve this problem of ethos, a site would have to employ reputation or karma for each maxim, with people weighing in on how valuable / truthful each maxim has been through their personal experiences. A maxim written by an anonymous becomes more credible when Mark Cuban, PG, or other famous people publicly vouch for it.
The following is a stream of thoughts, not a well-worked out position I'm trying to defend. I find this line of discussion very interesting and have no sure answers.
The Bible (and other holy books) often teaches maxims with stories though, which is like indirect experience.
Compare the Reddit post "Today you, tomorrow me", previously on HN here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2003515
Even if everyone I respect publicly vouched for "today you, tomorrow me" as a maxim, I don't think it would have as much impact as reading that story. And the impact of reading that story can't possibly compare to the impact the events had on the person who actually experienced them.
Why do science classes do experiments if not to add experience to facts which are already supported by almost universally recognized authority? Is there anyone on Earth who doubts f=ma? Yet the experience of it makes it more "real" somehow.
I'm not trying to say reading the maxims of others is useless. I tend to read most lists of maxims that come up on HN. But usually if one really becomes meaningful to me it's because it resonates with what I've already experienced. It puts my experiences into words in a memorable way.
Saving a comment now for a future response.
You've just inspired a new part of my brain. I need to write-up a new idea for a website.
btw I agree with everything you said. The reason I used the bible as an example is that it is didactic through stories. Not just lists of laws. The website idea I was thinking of would have, for example, PG, Cuban, et al weigh in with their own stories, corroborating or contradicting the 'maxim'.
I agree completely that the proliferation of all the "rules of success" lists on the web proves ineffective in actually making a difference in the readers' lives.
Inspired by our discussion:
see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4508273
I would be very interested to read your "rules to live by" document, if you are comfortable with sharing.
Thank you for the kind words! I am actually in the process of preparing it for publication. Will be sure to let HN know when it ships...
You should post a link to a mailing list! I'd join.
See above...
I would definitely sign up for a mailing list, +1
Get an email when the book is published: http://eepurl.com/pon-T
Like on Facebook Here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maxims/205350249545949
Follow on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/MaximsTheBook
+1 the idea for creating a mailing list!
Heh. I call my two files "foundation" and "empire".
Mine is called "A little bit of background" and "Biz Ideas"
Do you have a file called "mule" for bad ideas?
>I used to keep a larger, more generic "spark file" but I found it got to be too big to navigate. So I throw away more ideas now, and only write down ones that have serious merit, placing them in specific files instead of a "kitchen sink" catchall file.
You could also use Devonthink Pro, as described here: http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/movabletype/archives/0002... as a placae for all this material, including the "rule to live by" file. DTP might help you find connections between ideas that you didn't realize existed.
EDIT: Mental note: Read article before commenting. You already know about DTP! Sorry.
Interesting.
With the exception of the contact list, I've been doing all the same things off and on for a while now.
It started with a generic idea file, simple titles and as much description as is necessary. More recently, I've started something like your "rules to live by" which I think of as "you learn something new every day". Quick adages and rules that I felt were worth noting.
You've inspired me get back in the habit of dedicating at least 30 minutes to my files each day.
I was watching the film "things to do when you're dead in denver" the other night and right at the end, the main character, Jimmy "the saint" Tosnia says to write down the ten most important things to you.
I thought that was a pretty good list to have.
I have a lot of these.
philosophy.txt
{book/lecture/topic-name}.txt
tweets.txt
happiness.txt
Does anybody remember that website which can automatically notify you on these ideas periodically? I think it was on Show HN the other day? I was hoping to hack my brain in this way.
"I study life and draw conclusions, abstracting the particular instances I experienced into broader maxims."
This is part of one of my maxims. A lot are methods of thinking which I use out-of-the-box to take an idea to the next level. A few are just basic ideas in life and architecture/development/nature which are fundamental building blocks.
My spark file is a google doc titled 'ideas'. Google docs or similar (jotit etc) are great for accessibility almost anywhere and anywhen, and you don't have to worry about backup.
Thanks for your comments; brings other useful aspects of application to light.