Pile of Index Cards

“… Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

Ref. : Stanford University Commencement address by Steve Jobs,
CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios,
delivered on June 12, 2005.

For me, the indexcards I write day by day is something like the “dots” that Jobs says.

ref. : Comment from Rick

As Rick mentions in the reference above, writing manual of the “PoI system” is an example of the PoI system itself.

Each article corresponds to a single indexcard. Same as analog system, I use title, small number of tags (3 = Record, Discovery, Reference - GTD), timestamp, link, and piece by piece contents. They are random in contents, but keep in chronological order in the “Blog” page. Writing article in the Blog page is kind of stress-free because I don’t need worry about the order. It is nothing but the indexcards in the Dock in analog system. Thanks to the HTML and blog, the idea of analog system is easily connected to the digital system.

For tracking newer contents, the “Blog” is o.k. For sharing with people, however, it is more convenient if the articles are reorganized and classified, as we see in a usual books. This is a purpose of the “Selection” page. The articles are reorganized to construct a manual of the “PoI System”. Even after such classification, it is easier to insert new article/chapter since the articles are piece by piece like LEGO. This manual is growing.

Perhaps we can write a book from indexcard in this way :)

ref. : Card Dock
ref. : Law of accessibility

Three partitions made from wood are attached to the Correct’s Dock. I made a big single sequence in the dock without the partition. I use index (separator made from paper) as indicator of a month, though. As a number of card increase, I skipped review process. Perhaps I felt difficult to break the big single lump of cards.

I realized a “partitioning” become more important according to a growth of system. It gives high accessibility to the system. Different from HDD on computer, a partitioning of the dock is easy even after constructing the system.

At this moment, I have two docks in my room. The most frequently accessed card should be close to me according to law of accessibility. I made partitions like in the picture above. From front of left dock to the end of right dock,

• Left Dock : Today / This week / Last week + Last 3 months
• Right Dock : Older than Last 3 months / Older than Last 3 months

If the number of the cards keep growing, I just prepare a new dock, and slide the contents.

ref. : Date and Time
ref. : Link between Cards

A date and time stamp is putted for all indexcard in this system. It defines absolute name, and plays a key role when link between cards. Then putting stamp is kind of routine work. What about I use rubber stamp for indexcard?

In fact, I have been using a rubber stamp for the fieldnote and other documents, but not for the indexcard. The reason is simple : I can’t find rubber stamp that match my requirement. My requirement looks like,

2006.11.22 Wed

I think an information about “the day of the week” is important. Because our life is based on the week system. It is easier to remember what I did on last sunday, than just a sequence of number like “2006.11.19″.

I have been looking for such rubber stamp for long time, but I still can’t find it (sigh). At this moment, the best is done by hand. The hand written stamp is quick and exactly what I want.

ref. : Inertia of writing
ref. : Avalanche writing

Every single morning, I feel difficulty with start writing. Consciously or subconsciously, whatever. I used to spent long time to start writing with thinking “what I should write…”. In terrible case, I couldn’t write even single card.

One day, I found there is a tip to overcome it. The answer is simple : just start writing. Anything is o.k. All I need is just pick up a pen and card, and start.

But same time, if I say “let’s start writing”, I feel a certain resistance. Rather, I say for myself “let’s start from diary“. More precisely, I start from a weather of the day, like “Fine”, “Cloudy” etc. In Japanese, it is just two or three letters (晴れ or くもり). Then record what happen in the morning, say “got up 7:00″ “arrive at office 8:30″, on the same card. It’s not difficult, too. Just describe without thinking. That way, I fill a first card of the day. And it’s enough to start avalanche of writing.