DeveloPassion's Newsletter #150 - Level Up

Edition 150 of my newsletter, discussing Knowledge Management, Knowledge Work, Zen Productivity, Personal Organization, and more!

DeveloPassion's Newsletter #150 - Level Up

Welcome

Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩

This week, I've received my new toys: a reMarkable 2 and a RocketBook fusion. I've continued reading Stumbling on Happiness, and started using the reMarkable to take notes. I've always considered my analog notes to be transient and waiting to be converted into digital form. Thanks to these cool devices, I'm now able to go digital first, making it much easier for me to convert the notes I take into much more valuable atomic and connected notes.

The notes I take using the RocketBook are easy to scan and share, and those I take using the reMarkable are immediately available to my other devices. From there, I can easily convert the images to Markdown using ChatGPT and import those to my Obsidian vault where I can connect those notes with the rest of my knowledge base ❤️

Alright, let's gooooo 🚀

The lab 🧪

This week, I've also launched a new promotion to celebrate the end of the year. You can find all the details over here:

End of Year Sale
I’m launching a sale for the end of the year. Some of you might have missed my Black Friday Sale, so this is the next best offer of the year ;-) You can get 25% off all my products and newsletter subscription using the following discount code: EOY2023. It will

Productivity + Knowledge Management = Win 🚀

This week I had a few coaching sessions, one of which was particularly interesting. It centered mainly on Personal Organization and how to go from idea to execution across all slices of life. I've summarized what I explained during the session with the following diagram:

It is a vital one that I'll be covering in great length in the Knowledge Worker Kit and share with the private community there. In that diagram, I show how a Personal Productivity System can leverage a Knowledge Management System to build a powerful Personal Organization approach.

The key elements in the diagram are the daily notes and the periodic reviews. That is where the actions to realize are ultimately stored to help focus on achieving what matters. That is also where the output is stored: new knowledge, achievements, etc. On the other hand, the periodic reviews help review the past, adjust plans, plan ahead, but also help ingest new knowledge.

Last but not least, the Learning System feeds daily notes and leverages the knowledge base that expands over time and generates compounding returns thanks to an Idea Capture System that can be visualized as follows:

This is just a high-level overview, but I'll go much further in the Knowledge Worker Kit. Don't forget to check it out!

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)
Who is this for?You are a Knowledge Worker or Lifelong LearnerYou feel disorganized, unproductive, or overwhelmedYou don’t know how to go to the next levelYou want to learn from someone who’s always on top of thingsI have a proven track record of delivering at work and with my side projects. I have worked as a software developer, team leader, project manager, IT architect, information management specialist, CTO, founder, coach, and solopreneur. I have also written and published 3 books, 300+ articles, courses, YouTube videos, digital products, manage communities, and more! And I did it all with a busy life and kids. My personal system works and helps me achieve my goals consistently.You want a solid system that scalesBeing a Knowledge Worker today is much more challenging than it ever was. Getting started ain’t easy, and there are many traps to fall into. Spare yourself some time and benefit from my experience and battle-tested system. I’ll share everything I know with you: my approach, my systems, my routines, templates, guidance, and more! My mission is to help you avoid the pitfalls of Knowledge Work and empower you through technology.After you finish exploring the guide, you’ll have:Clarity in your life and an obvious path forwardSolid habits, routines, and systemsClear ideas about how to “manage” your careerAn effective approach to learning new thingsSolid knowledge management and personal organization systemsKnowledge about how to organize, plan, control, and manage projects (large and small!)A toolkit to prioritize workA system to manage your tasks at scaleEffective means to focus your attention and manage your timeWork methods that will propel your career forwardWhat is this?I’ve been passionate about information, knowledge management, learning, personal organization, PKM, and productivity for more than 20 years. As an author, blogger, knowledge worker, entrepreneur, coach, and father of 3 kids, I needed effective solutions to be and stay organized, focused, and productive. The Knowledge Worker Kit includes everything I know about these topics, and more!What’s included?WARNING: The Knowledge Worker Kit is in BETA. The content will be added and expanded over time. If you buy access now, you’ll benefit from a lower price. The product is already available so that I can find early adopters and get as much feedback as possible in order to make it great for everyone.If you buy access to the Knowledge Worker Kit, you’ll get:The user guideAll the templates and guidanceLifetime access to the private community for support and knowledge sharingLifetime access to all community events (meetups, workshops, knowledge-sharing sessions, invited talks, etc)Ask Me Anything (AMA) Q&As with meIn addition, you’ll also get free access to all future updates. Over time, I’ll continue expanding the kit with new ideas, techniques, systems, templates, and more!What’s in the user guide?The user guide is a growing and evergreen knowledge base. It includes detailed explanations covering a wide range of topics that all Knowledge workers should explore:01. Clarity: values, behaviors, goals, non-goals, priorities, and intentions02. Habits, routines, systems, processes and methods03. Career Management and Anticipation04. Learning05. Projects Knowledge Management and Journaling06. Projects Organization07. Planning and Prioritization08. Task Management09. Focus, Attention, Time Management and Action10. Personal Development11. Control: periodic reviews, progress tracking, course-adjustment12. Personal Organization13. WorkThe user guide is a Notion space including tons of articles, how-to guides, guidance, and links to useful templates and resources.You will get to explore the content at your own pace, and to focus on what is useful to you right now, as each section is actionable on its own.Evergreen ContentThe Knowledge Worker Toolkit is going to expand over time. Day after day, week after week. Buy it once, and you will have access to all future updates.Overview of the main topics01. ClarityThis part explores key elements that help bring clarity to one’s life:NeedsValuesPrinciplesGoalsPrioritiesEach of those is important to know what matters, what has value, and what to focus on.02. Habits, routines, systems, processes and methodsThis part explores the base elements of productivity systems:Habits and routinesSystems, processes, and methodsThose are key to building an “effortless” life, requiring as little willpower/motivation as possible to make things happen.03. Career Management and AnticipationThis part focuses on career management: its importance, your responsibility, the mindset you need to acquire, and all the related ideas.04. LearningThis part shares ideas about how to…Learn how you best learnLearn more effectivelyExplore new topicsResearchFilter informationLeverage AI and LLMs…05. Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and JournalingThis part explores how to collect, organize, and link all your knowledge and information. It explores the main concepts of PKM, note-taking, note-making, tools of the trade, and structures/tips to help you keep everything useful, manageable, and maintainable as your knowledge base grows.It also introduces journaling and how to approach it to support your whole life.06. Projects OrganizationThis part focuses on how to organize projects and their information in a way that enables you and your teams to make focused progress.It shares ideas about how to organize project information, how to document projects, how to organize backlogs, etc.07. Planning and PrioritizationThis part focuses on how to plan projects and tasks, how to deal with deadlines, and how to prioritize work using various methods.08. Task ManagementThis part focuses on task management for personal and professional projects. It explores ways to keep tasks under control, how to organize personal work, and how to make the link between your different backlogs and your day-to-day life.09. Focus, Attention, Time Management and ActionThis part focuses on how to make things happen every single day, regardless of whatever is going on in your life. It’s all about techniques, tips & tricks, and tools to help you better manage your time, focus, and attention in order to ACT.10. Personal DevelopmentThis part explores important aspects of Personal Development that can make a big difference in a Knowledge Worker’s life. A sane mind in a sane body.11. ControlThis part is dedicated to control. How to control your progress, your trajectory, your projects, etc. And also, how to adjust course when things don’t go as expected.12. Personal OrganizationThis part helps better organize yourself and your information. It shares “zen” techniques you can use to remain organized, independently of how much information you have to juggle with.13. WorkThis part is all about WORK. How to do the work, how to improve your attitude, your results, and your recognition. It also dives into how to better collaborate with others to achieve your goals and those of your company/group.

New articles

No new articles this week.

Quotes of the week

  • If you can’t do anything about it then let it go. Don’t be a prisoner to things you can’t change — Tony Gaskins
  • Don't count the days, make the days count — Muhammad Ali

Thinking and learning

The Journal as a Tool for Thought — The Eudaimon
The humble journal is a valuable tool. The journal, and its pragmatic cousin the ‘Commonplace Book’, have been used for millennia — the…
Extreme brainstorming questions to trigger new, better ideas
We know, “no idea is a bad idea,” but brainstorming is often unsuccessful. These prompts actually work. They could even lead to a unique business model.
22.00.0012 Being disorganised: $4bn║J•D
Johnny.Decimal is a system to organise your digital life
Building a Second Brain — the pain points
PARA didn’t go smoothly for me at all.
How Tana Made Me Choose Obsidian as My Note-Taking App and It’s Amazing
Choosing the right note-taking application can be overwhelming. I didn’t fail to fall into this trap. Quick look on my decision process before choosing Obsidian
Why I Migrated 300+ Posts From Obsidian Publish to Ghost
303. 303 posts manually backfilled one by one from Obsidian Publish to Ghost, with great effort and mental + physical expense. But why? The Goal of a Zettelkasten For the uninitiated, a zettelkasten is a form of a personal knowledge management system (PKM). The Zettelkasten method prioritizes small pieces of information
An aperiodic monotile