Storage
Right place for relevant info.
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Speaking of the human brain, as we all know, the brain is a great place to generate ideas but not so great for storing those insights.
There are these distinct storage units within and beyond us that, when utilised correctly, can get us substantial peace and enable us to generate real high-quality work.
Working from the inside out, these levels would be:
The Soul
The Heart
The Brain
The Book
The soul is where our faith resides. It is also where we record all our values and principles. It is hard to rework on the soul level as it takes a lot of conscious effort, and most people are either unable to put in the work or are unwilling to do so for various reasons.
Keeping these things at the soul level makes them less vulnerable to outside influence. There is this immune system inbuilt that prevents even us from reconsidering the stuff we put in there.
The heart is where I keep my feelings. All the things that are a source of entertainment to me and the few things I enjoy reside there. It works like an amplifier, you put something, and it tells me if it feels right or wrong. The right feelings get multiplied, and the wrong get divided.
The brain is not very good at conveying feelings. What may seem like anger may be caused by a source of envy, and it is tricky for the brain to say between the two, while deep down, by default, the heart knows if something is right or wrong. That is why I entrust my heart to guide me around feelings.
The way I think about it, the only information we need to store in our brains is about people. Their names, characteristics, capabilities, likes, dislikes, and things they care about because it's not something we can store elsewhere and look up when it's needed or whenever we want.
I can't emphasise enough how important it is to remember people, and it is pretty obvious why one must.
Finally, the book.
This is where you store everything else. All the thoughts, ideas, discoveries, logs, and all other necessary information are too much to remember. When you pen it down, the articulation, understanding and overall weight of the thought/idea can be gauged precisely. It is out there in front of you that allows you to look at it externally and understand how it looks up-front. Once you have that part sorted, you can revise, refer, redo, revisit, and relearn it anytime.
It doesn't necessarily have to be a physical book, though. It can also be the note-taking app on your mobile—preferably a book.
I've been maintaining a diary for a while now to write down stuff, take notes, scribble concept sketches, and device frameworks. I've also been actively posting blogs like this and micro-blogs on Twitter.
For me, the inconvenience is that their thoughts and ideas pop up in my brain randomly, and most of the time, I can't record them. Some of them I eventually recall, but several such ideas get vaporised into thin air, never to be seen/heard again.
How do you stack all your info?
Do you know any other storage?
What do you keep where?