Concepts
The irreducible epistemic atoms underlying the curriculum. 4,828 atoms across 8 types
Schedule recovery proportional to intensity immediately…
Schedule recovery time proportional to the intensity and duration of each high-demand period immediately after the period ends, as a structural calendar commitment rather than a vague intention.
Forecast high-demand capacity from last year's same-period…
Use reference class forecasting from last year's actual capacity during the same seasonal period rather than estimating from your current state when planning high-demand periods.
Reduce commitments ~30% during high-demand months vs…
Reduce project commitments by approximately thirty percent during months you have identified as high-demand compared to baseline months, based on your measured capacity data.
Open weekly planning by reviewing plan vs. actuals…
Begin each weekly planning session by reviewing the previous week's plan against actual outcomes, identifying the single biggest gap between intention and reality without judgment.
Process inboxes sequentially top-to-bottom, never…
When processing any recurring information inbox, work sequentially from top to bottom rather than cherry-picking items, to prevent repeatedly skipping difficult decisions that form the 'maybe pile'.
Title reference items with the words your future self…
For any reference item you store, write the title using the words your future self will search for when they need it, not the words that categorize what it is.
Separate reference material (static lookup) from working…
Separate reference material (static information for lookup) from working notes (evolving thinking) into distinct systems, as mixing them corrupts both retrieval and development.
Route actionable items to your task system and reference…
Route actionable information to a task management system and reference information to a separate reference system, never mixing the two in the same storage location.
Capture actions as specific next physical steps…
Capture every action item with a specific next physical action (not 'handle client project' but 'email Sarah the revised timeline') to eliminate re-processing friction at execution time.
Organize actions by execution context…
Organize action items by context of execution (@computer, @phone, @errands) rather than by project, because you execute tasks based on where you are and what tools you have available.
Keep a Waiting For list with delegation date and expected…
Maintain a separate Waiting For list tracking items delegated to others with delegation date and expected completion date, reviewing it weekly to follow up on overdue items.
Triage before processing
Perform information triage by spending no more than 3 minutes scanning the full landscape of waiting items before processing any single item, sorting into urgent-high-value, high-value-not-urgent, low-value, and discard categories.
During triage, scan surface indicators only — opening…
During triage, scan subject lines and senders without opening items or reading full content, because reading during triage collapses sorting into reactive processing.
Every ~500 words, close the source and write the core idea…
After reading any segment of approximately 500 words, close the source and write 1-3 sentences capturing the core idea in your own words before continuing.
Every new permanent note must link to at least one…
Every new permanent note must link to at least one existing note in your system, forcing you to identify relationships at the moment of creation rather than deferring connection to future review.
Write permanent notes for your six-months-from-now self…
Write each permanent note to be comprehensible to your future self six months from now without access to the source, eliminating context-dependent shorthand and 'see above' references.
One atomic fact per spaced repetition card, answer under…
Create spaced repetition cards testing exactly one atomic fact per card with answers under one sentence, because cards testing multiple components produce vague retrieval that the algorithm cannot accurately schedule.
Add 5-10 new cards per day in a mature SRS — this pace…
Add 5-10 new spaced repetition cards per day when maintaining a mature system, as this moderate pace produces a daily review load of 50-100 cards taking 10-15 minutes.
Create SRS cards only for information you already…
Create spaced repetition cards only for information you have already understood through processing, not for definitions you cannot explain, because memorization without comprehension produces brittle unusable memory.
Tag time-sensitive information with explicit expiration…
Assign explicit expiration dates to time-sensitive information at the moment of capture using the format 'expires:YYYY-MM-DD' or equivalent, rather than attempting to remember which items are time-bound.
When uncertain about lifespan, expire at 3 months not 1…
Err toward shorter expiration windows when uncertain about information lifespan, setting expiration at 3 months if unsure rather than 1 year, because expired items can be renewed while accumulated stale information cannot be easily detected.
Monthly expiration sweep
Conduct monthly expiration sweeps reviewing all items whose expiration dates have passed and either archive/delete if expired or renew with new expiration date if still relevant.
Mark genuinely timeless material as evergreen/no-expiry…
Mark genuinely timeless material (principles, frameworks, mental models valid for decades) as 'evergreen' or 'no-expiry' rather than assigning artificial expiration dates that create unnecessary maintenance.
Four expiration categories at capture
Classify information into four expiration categories at capture time: expires within 1 week, 1-6 months, 1-5 years, or evergreen, to standardize expiration decisions and reduce cognitive load.