Conceptual Resource Digestion Process (an abbreviated view)

• Investigate conceptual resources (books) to purchase or acquire

• Add conceptual resouce to my Conceptual Resource database (Bookpedia)

• Use a scanner to create images of document pages and OCR (optical character recognition) them

• Import OCR text output into Scrivener and break output text into "bite sized" sub documents

• Create a table of contents document that can be reviewed for areas of future time investment. Add this document to the TLN site along with links to other related documents, Google and Amazon.

• Review each Scrivener sub-document. Add keywords, document notes, references to external documents, and highlight key phrases. Clip key ideas (using Mac OS X services) to an outliner application (Circus Ponies NoteBook, NoteTaker, and sometimes OmniOutliner). These smaller bite sized notes are similar to mind map phrasing and are structured accordingly. This structure makes integration with other resources easier and can be the jumping off point for calendarization. This calendarization can be integrated with David Allen's Getting Things Done or OmniFocus.

Scrivener setup:

NoteBook:

NoteTaker:

OmniOutliner:

OmniFocus:

• Export finalized Scrivener document to DEVONthink Pro. This provides a searchable (DEVONagent) database with related documents. DTP Version 2 is on the way

DEVONthink Pro:

DEVONagent:

• Write an Amazon.com review

Implementation process

The purpose of the foregoing work is to provide an informed launching pad to implement something valuable in the outside world—directly or through some contribution to others.

The digestion process outlined above introduced the idea of calendarization. Part of this calendarization process involves harvesting action ideas from conceptual resources and working them into specific action steps.

This workflow may involve several types of tools:

• Project planning
  • David Allen's project planning guide
    
    
  • Tom Peter's Project 50

• Thinking resources for attention shifting

  • Thinking broad and thinking detailed
  • Six Thinking Hats
  • TO/LOPOSO/GO (Teach Yourself To Think)
    
    

• Thinking documentation software: outlining; mind mapping and other thinking canvas software; project planning software (Gantt chart); day-to-day task management software (see OmniFocus above).
  
  
  
  

• Conceptual resources in other topic and skill areas
  
  

A core tool is needed that lists all work areas with their supporting work modules.