At the end of last year, I made some optimizations and improvements to my thinking workflow, making it more concise and clear.

Therefore, today I'd like to share it with you, hoping it can inspire you.

1. Collection

A crucial but often overlooked practice is to jot down your thoughts in a timely manner.

We have over 6,000 thoughts every day. Even if only 1% of these thoughts are useful, that's still 60. And if 10% of these 60 thoughts can be put to use, they can create considerable value.

However, most thoughts are fleeting—they often exist in a momentary flash. It could be an association with what you've read, an inspiration for a certain task, or a plan for the future...

They last for a very short time, perhaps only a few seconds, and then our attention is immediately drawn to new thoughts and information.

Therefore, maintaining a process that allows for the timely recording of thoughts is extremely important. It's the simplest step but also the entry point and the first link in the entire thinking workflow.

Currently, my method of collecting thoughts on the computer is: Quicker + QuickAdd (Obsidian plugin) + Obsidian Web (Chrome plugin). This can basically achieve "frictionless" rapid information capture.

I've set up a "quick note" command in Obsidian using the QuickAdd plugin and assigned a shortcut key (e.g., Ctrl+0). Then, I created an action in Quicker with the content: switch to Obsidian and press Ctrl+0. Finally, I set the shortcut key F2 for this Quicker action.

As a result, I've achieved this effect: no matter which software I'm using, whether I'm reading a book or browsing a webpage, as long as I have a thought, I can press F2 at any time to immediately create a new note in Obsidian and save it to my designated path.

If I want to save webpage text, I select the text I want to save and press the Obsidian Web button in the browser plugin bar. This will transfer the webpage's URL, title, and the selected text to a new note in Obsidian and save it to my designated path.

It's even simpler on mobile devices. I've written a shortcut command on iOS. With a single click, I can enter text and save my thoughts to a designated location.

All this information will be stored in the "Inbox" folder in my Obsidian. I've created a homepage in Obsidian and used the dataview plugin to list all the notes in the Inbox folder. This way, every time I open Obsidian, I can see all the thoughts I've added at a glance.

After capturing all the thoughts, I need to set aside some time to organize them. I usually spend three to four times a week, whenever I'm free, taking a little time to browse through the new thoughts I've recorded in the past few days to see how to develop and utilize them and how to "extract" their value.

If it's a thought that can be acted upon immediately, such as trying out a certain software or a particular technique, I'll record it in the "Action List" in TickTick and schedule time to execute it.

If the thought involves a new and unfamiliar knowledge point, I'll label it with "#Topic", which means "this is a knowledge point to be learned". Then, during my scheduled study time, I'll open the "#Topic" list and randomly select one to study.

If it's an inspiration or an idea, I'll label it with "#Follow - up" and add it to the "Follow - up List" in TickTick. This way, when I'm free or during fragmented time with nothing else to do, I can open this list, think about and consider the content, and see if it can be developed into a full - fledged project.

If I think it's suitable to be written into an article for sharing, I'll label it with "#Topic Selection". Then, when I'm free, I'll think about how to elaborate and clarify it. It could be written as a short article and stored in my material library for future use, or shared in the student group, etc.

This process is fluid and dynamic. For example, I came across a concept called "thinking chain" and was very interested in it, so I labeled it with "#Topic". Two days later, when I was free, I opened the "#Topic" list, found the entry for "thinking chain", and conducted a thematic study on it. All the information and thoughts I obtained from the study were recorded in this note.

After several rounds of study, when I felt it was coming to an end, I labeled it with "#N" and moved it to the N category. Then, I referenced it in the K category of "Artificial Intelligence" and incorporated it into my knowledge system.

Furthermore, if I want to try using the thinking chain technique to have a conversation with ChatGPT, I can label it with "#P" and record the feedback, feelings, and insights I get from using it. Finally, if I think I can write a short article summarizing my understanding and experience of it, I'll label it with "#Topic Selection"...

Every step is clear. All I need to do is place it where I need it and develop it during the scheduled time. In this way, I handle one thought after another, allowing them to take root, grow, and finally bear fruit, becoming my harvest.

This is a "fluid" process—it's also the core that I've emphasized many times in the INKP knowledge management method: let knowledge flow.

2. Reading

I've talked about many reading methods and techniques. If I had to choose the one with the highest cost - effectiveness and the easiest to get started with, I think it would be "question - driven reading".

What is question - driven reading? Simply put, it takes questions as the core and uses questions to drive your reading. When a book is in front of you, you can read it from the beginning, from the end, skip around, read only a part of it, or even look for other materials to assist your learning. None of these matters. The only thing you need to consider is: how can it answer my questions?

Let me briefly share my own operation process.

When I'm about to read a book, I'll first look at the table of contents to roughly understand the book's chapter structure. Then, I'll quickly flip through each chapter, read the first and last paragraphs to get a general idea of what the book is about and how it's presented.

Then, based on the book's content, my existing knowledge background, and my curiosity, I'll pose several questions. These questions are what I hope to get answers to from the book and what it can offer me.

When reading, I'll focus on these questions. Instead of being restricted by the author's chapter structure, I'll use these questions as the main thread to search for all the content that can solve the problems and write them down in my notes.

For example:

When I was reading Reality+ by David Chalmers some time ago, I posed a series of questions like these:

• "What's the probability that we're living in a virtual world?"
• "How do philosophers view the issue of the virtual world? What are their perspectives and ways of thinking?"
• "How do physicists view the issue of the virtual world? What methods have they proposed to verify or falsify it?"
• "Is it possible for us to know whether we're living in a virtual world? If so, how can we know?"
• "Which well - known scholars hold the view of the virtual world? Why?"
• "Which well - known scholars hold the opposing view? Why?"

...

During the reading process, these questions are the top - priority content. I'll further read in detail the parts related to these questions and think about whether they can help answer my questions. As for the parts that have nothing to do with these questions, which are temporarily uninteresting to me, I might just skip them directly or take a quick glance but won't read them in detail.

Once a question gets a relatively satisfactory answer, I'll make it into a separate note, label it with "#N", and place it in the corresponding theme (in this example, it's "virtual world") as one of my thinking results.

So, I rarely "read a book from cover to cover" because my reading often goes like this: I might read a book several times. The first time, I might only read 10%, and the second time, another 10%... Each time, the content and questions I want to "search" for in the book are different.

Similarly, I usually read several books at the same time. These books may be in the same field or different fields. It doesn't really matter.

For me, "reading" is not a ritual or a sacred thing. It's just a way to obtain information. Books are carriers of information, so are experiences and people. Everything between heaven and earth can carry information, and all I need to do is experience them, gather them, and make them my own.

This is "putting myself first and making them useful to me", which is also the learning concept that I've been advocating and practicing.

3. Opinions

My knowledge system is stored in theme K. A theme is like a knowledge tree. When you open a theme, what's stored inside is the information that I know about this topic and that I think is necessary to record.

So, what does this information include? Generally, it can be divided into two major categories: one is "concepts", and the other is "opinions".

There's actually no fundamental difference between the two. The only difference is that the former is usually the content I "learned", which is external and objective, while the latter is the conclusion I reached after thinking and processing, belonging to "my view".

The most important thing in reading is not to remember what the author said but to form your own opinions. This is the real harvest you get from reading.

Simply put: for a topic, you may obtain a lot of information, which may cover many aspects and have a wide variety of content. So, how do you summarize them? How do you form an overall and concise view and opinion on this topic?

For another example, this information may not be consistent, with different opinions and stances. So, how do you integrate them? How do you judge which stance is more reasonable and which opinions are more powerful? How do you view these disputes from a higher level and reach your own view?

This is your real thinking result on this topic and what truly belongs to you.

These opinions can be big or small. Take a small example: there have always been many opinions about "the appropriate sleeping time" in the market. You may get different opinions from different channels. So, how do you integrate these opinions? Can you tell me in the most concise language what the most appropriate sleeping time is?

This is a small opinion. It's an important part of my "sleep" theme.

Let's take a bigger example: take willpower. In recent decades, the academic community has been divided on willpower, with many different opinions.

• Some think that willpower is a "mental muscle" that can be strengthened through training.
• Some think that willpower is a "mental energy" that is limited and needs to be restored after being used up.
• Some think that willpower is closely related to certain physiological factors, such as the accumulation of metabolic substances in cells.
• Some think that willpower is a redundant and unnecessary concept that only takes effect when you think "willpower is limited".

...

These are all external and objective discussions and studies. So, what's my opinion after reading these studies? How can I support my opinion with logic and evidence?

For example: if I think the view that "willpower is infinite" is correct, then I may need to answer these questions:

• Do I have actual evidence, cases, and experiences to prove it?
• What other factors might actually be at play in previous studies related to willpower?
• If willpower is redundant, what else can explain it?
• If willpower is unnecessary, what better model/framework can replace it?
• From my perspective, what's a better and more comprehensive way to view willpower?

...

Once I've thought through these questions, supplemented the evidence and logic, and presented it concisely, it forms an opinion—my final result of learning and thinking on this topic.

Of course, an opinion is not always correct. It may be overturned or revised at any time by new studies and information. Therefore, always maintain an open mind and never forget to ask, "What if I'm wrong?"

When we learn and think, we're actually accumulating one opinion after another and placing them in the corresponding themes to build our knowledge system.

Finally, let's talk about a key point.

What's the most common problem for many people? They only collect information but never organize it.

This results in the collected information always being messy and fragmented, unable to be transformed into effective knowledge and put to use.

This phenomenon is understandable: collecting can give us the fresh stimulation of acquiring new things, which greatly promotes the production of dopamine, but organizing can't. In fact, many people may feel extremely annoyed just thinking about organizing. They'd rather let the information gather dust in their notes forever than touch them.

How to solve this problem? My own approach is to get feedback from organizing and outputting and turn them into a kind of fun.

For example:

• When reviewing old knowledge, testing yourself by recalling the content through the title can be fun.
• When acquiring new knowledge, recalling relevant old knowledge and making connections can also be fun.
• Taking a certain theme as the core and organizing relevant knowledge cards/concept notes into a "card - collecting game" is also fun.
• Sorting out a series of messy information, systematically presenting your own opinions and views, and clarifying a problem is also fun.
• Writing your opinions into an article and publishing it, or telling your friends and discussing with them is also fun.

...

Turning these seemingly boring things into fun, you won't reject them anymore.

Of course, this may take some time to get used to and adapt, and it's not that simple. But I hope it can become everyone's habit, enabling our minds to work to the maximum and truly turn knowledge into our own.

What you hoard are just materials; what you can use is knowledge.