Creative card file
Card file is an old tool for generating new ideas.
Among the tools for working with information and developing creative thinking one of the most suitable for me was a very archaic thing. I met the most universal and clear description of this tool at the guru of the national time management, comrade Gleb Arkhangelsky, but the idea itself flashes in the noosphere here and there, starting, probably, from writers of the 18th century. It is called (in the Archangel) creative card file.
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The idea itself is simple and intuitive. The bottom line: make a sort of feeder for the subconscious, its “swinging” to develop creative ideas on the desired topic, and at the same time implement one of the basic principles of GTD, according to which everything should be promptly fixed somewhere on the external media and thrown out of the head. Mechanism: you write down successful ideas on separate cards and afterwards periodically some sort of meditative way you sort through them. Everything.
Now more
For a start, what is considered an “idea”?
And it depends on the type of your activity. For a scientist, there are facts about which he senses with his spinal cord that “it’s not just like that, but so far he cannot prove it. For a journalist and a copywriter - some successful phrase, headlines, topics. For the writer - sketches, sketches and so on.
A very useful thing - a card index - for a start-uper, a marketer, and in general a person who needs to “give birth” to some new vision, a new approach to the problem. This needs to be written on the cards in general, everything that, according to the instinct, may be relevant to the task at hand, and in general everything that pleases. The tool involves associative thinking, so that the beautiful move described in the book about military intelligence (and the idea of ​​which was outlined on the card) may suddenly melt into solving an old problem, for example, with personnel.
The main thing here - the idea should be one. It does not need to be tied to anything, it is a separate semantic quantum, whether it is a two-word pun or a synchrophasotron operation scheme.
Filling
Here we just touch the rules of GTD, which say that any garbage that interests you should be fixed, leaving its description (or reminder of this garbage) in a special drive, and rake this drive with a certain regularity.
It is important to find a drive that you will be comfortable working with. Not so long ago, the palm firmly held the recorder firmly, but today it’s easier for many to sign on a tablet in Evernote.
If you start to do this, it turns out that quite a lot of interesting thoughts come to you during the day. Much more than you yourself thought, and most importantly - they always come unexpectedly and at the wrong time (this is where the convenience of the drive begins to play the role). And in the evening, some of these ideas immediately "go into action", and some have nowhere to go, but it is a pity to throw them out. Here they also need to be placed in a card file.
The record should be short, but informative and clear, so that you do not have to try to understand what it is about. An abstract with adequate abbreviations and possibly drawings is the most it. In addition, the record should be well readable, prominent.
Device
The card index is haphazard, i.e. Cards should not be kept in order. They, on the contrary, should represent chaos, confusion, a gathering of everything at once. And in one place. Actually, this is the whole trick.
My very first filing cabinet was, as expected, on cardboard boxes that I kept in an old shoe box. When I shook it, they rumbled cool inside.
Now - how to work with it
The file should be treated regularly and meditatively.
What to look for?
A) Answers to your questions.
B) Structures.
I will explain.
The first. The meaning of this tool is precisely in the search for non-trivial solutions for current tasks. Just do not wait for the answers to come and be obvious. Perhaps you yourself will not understand that the solution to the actual problem for you was formed thanks to the work with the card file (by association with something), and you will only reflect on it later.
The second. Semantic "quarks" in the file will constantly try to connect with each other. The process is unhurried, and at the output you will receive certain concepts, complex (relative to its source) semantic structures. These could be the structure of articles, ideas of startups, ideas “how to restructure the company” or just some kind of formed ideas about certain life phenomena. (“Look, the actions of the Chinese government towards India repeat the principle of operation of the synchrophasotron”).
Reap the rewards
When such a structure took shape, i.e. several cards for you are tightly linked together in semantic terms, the resulting macro idea must be removed from the card file (physically remove these cards from there) and, if possible, be put into operation. (Most likely, the idea will be not abstract, but related to the solution of the problems you are concerned with, see clause A).
Structure is very important. For example, I have read about the use of such a filing by Hollywood screenwriters. The modern scenario is also a well-known structure, and a rather rigid one. "Stringing" events on the desired frame, holding them, and him, in the head, is quite difficult. Cards help out: when you spread them along the same frame, which is visualized on the board, you see that these ten pieces, for example, all relate to the same stage of the plot, and that means you need to throw out half; but the other stages sag. (Prior to this, a large number of cards created the impression that the script is sound).
When it comes to the formation of any other semantic structure, the same principles work: having placed its elements in the right order, you see whether it is whole or “lame”.
Many cards never come in handy. If you are tired of the card, become familiar, blurred your eyes, the thought contained in it became a common place for you and ceased to be perceived as something independent and original - down with such a card. In the card file you need to regularly conduct an audit.
Card file vs. electronic
Still a controversial point.
On the one hand, storing cardboard cards in a shoe box is already somehow not comme il faut. On the other hand, I personally note the lower efficiency of all attempts to transfer the card file to the electronic medium in comparison with its paper existence.
The reason, in general, is clear - you can touch paper cards, touch them, physically fold the combinations out of them. Obviously, this motility “swings” the subconscious is more powerful than moving virtual cards with the mouse.
Half measures - stickers or pieces of paper on a magnetic / corkboard. It looks more adequate than self-made cartons, but still less “material” and convenient. But with such a card file some kind of teamwork is possible.
Among the tools for working with information and developing creative thinking one of the most suitable for me was a very archaic thing. I met the most universal and clear description of this tool at the guru of the national time management, comrade Gleb Arkhangelsky, but the idea itself flashes in the noosphere here and there, starting, probably, from writers of the 18th century. It is called (in the Archangel) creative card file.
')
The idea itself is simple and intuitive. The bottom line: make a sort of feeder for the subconscious, its “swinging” to develop creative ideas on the desired topic, and at the same time implement one of the basic principles of GTD, according to which everything should be promptly fixed somewhere on the external media and thrown out of the head. Mechanism: you write down successful ideas on separate cards and afterwards periodically some sort of meditative way you sort through them. Everything.
Now more
For a start, what is considered an “idea”?
And it depends on the type of your activity. For a scientist, there are facts about which he senses with his spinal cord that “it’s not just like that, but so far he cannot prove it. For a journalist and a copywriter - some successful phrase, headlines, topics. For the writer - sketches, sketches and so on.
A very useful thing - a card index - for a start-uper, a marketer, and in general a person who needs to “give birth” to some new vision, a new approach to the problem. This needs to be written on the cards in general, everything that, according to the instinct, may be relevant to the task at hand, and in general everything that pleases. The tool involves associative thinking, so that the beautiful move described in the book about military intelligence (and the idea of ​​which was outlined on the card) may suddenly melt into solving an old problem, for example, with personnel.
The main thing here - the idea should be one. It does not need to be tied to anything, it is a separate semantic quantum, whether it is a two-word pun or a synchrophasotron operation scheme.
Filling
Here we just touch the rules of GTD, which say that any garbage that interests you should be fixed, leaving its description (or reminder of this garbage) in a special drive, and rake this drive with a certain regularity.
It is important to find a drive that you will be comfortable working with. Not so long ago, the palm firmly held the recorder firmly, but today it’s easier for many to sign on a tablet in Evernote.
If you start to do this, it turns out that quite a lot of interesting thoughts come to you during the day. Much more than you yourself thought, and most importantly - they always come unexpectedly and at the wrong time (this is where the convenience of the drive begins to play the role). And in the evening, some of these ideas immediately "go into action", and some have nowhere to go, but it is a pity to throw them out. Here they also need to be placed in a card file.
The record should be short, but informative and clear, so that you do not have to try to understand what it is about. An abstract with adequate abbreviations and possibly drawings is the most it. In addition, the record should be well readable, prominent.
Device
The card index is haphazard, i.e. Cards should not be kept in order. They, on the contrary, should represent chaos, confusion, a gathering of everything at once. And in one place. Actually, this is the whole trick.
My very first filing cabinet was, as expected, on cardboard boxes that I kept in an old shoe box. When I shook it, they rumbled cool inside.
Now - how to work with it
The file should be treated regularly and meditatively.
What to look for?
A) Answers to your questions.
B) Structures.
I will explain.
The first. The meaning of this tool is precisely in the search for non-trivial solutions for current tasks. Just do not wait for the answers to come and be obvious. Perhaps you yourself will not understand that the solution to the actual problem for you was formed thanks to the work with the card file (by association with something), and you will only reflect on it later.
The second. Semantic "quarks" in the file will constantly try to connect with each other. The process is unhurried, and at the output you will receive certain concepts, complex (relative to its source) semantic structures. These could be the structure of articles, ideas of startups, ideas “how to restructure the company” or just some kind of formed ideas about certain life phenomena. (“Look, the actions of the Chinese government towards India repeat the principle of operation of the synchrophasotron”).
Reap the rewards
When such a structure took shape, i.e. several cards for you are tightly linked together in semantic terms, the resulting macro idea must be removed from the card file (physically remove these cards from there) and, if possible, be put into operation. (Most likely, the idea will be not abstract, but related to the solution of the problems you are concerned with, see clause A).
Structure is very important. For example, I have read about the use of such a filing by Hollywood screenwriters. The modern scenario is also a well-known structure, and a rather rigid one. "Stringing" events on the desired frame, holding them, and him, in the head, is quite difficult. Cards help out: when you spread them along the same frame, which is visualized on the board, you see that these ten pieces, for example, all relate to the same stage of the plot, and that means you need to throw out half; but the other stages sag. (Prior to this, a large number of cards created the impression that the script is sound).
When it comes to the formation of any other semantic structure, the same principles work: having placed its elements in the right order, you see whether it is whole or “lame”.
Many cards never come in handy. If you are tired of the card, become familiar, blurred your eyes, the thought contained in it became a common place for you and ceased to be perceived as something independent and original - down with such a card. In the card file you need to regularly conduct an audit.
Card file vs. electronic
Still a controversial point.
On the one hand, storing cardboard cards in a shoe box is already somehow not comme il faut. On the other hand, I personally note the lower efficiency of all attempts to transfer the card file to the electronic medium in comparison with its paper existence.
The reason, in general, is clear - you can touch paper cards, touch them, physically fold the combinations out of them. Obviously, this motility “swings” the subconscious is more powerful than moving virtual cards with the mouse.
Half measures - stickers or pieces of paper on a magnetic / corkboard. It looks more adequate than self-made cartons, but still less “material” and convenient. But with such a card file some kind of teamwork is possible.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/242861/
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