Folders or Links? The key to both is A.C.C.E.S.S.

in humanity's knowledge management efforts the  ongoing battle is always between order and chaos   the most common part of that battlefield is  between knowledge and action on the side of   knowledge we want to make sense of the world  so we can live a life that we can be proud of   in that sense we are the philosophers but then  on the other side of action we want to get things   done so we can get the things that we want on  this side too much time thinking and we never   actually move in the world our thoughts and our  bodies become fragile the thoughts become fragile   because they're never tested against reality and  yet too much time striving and we easily lose   track of what matters our hearts and souls become  fragile as the amount of information we consume   daily has exploded exponentially it has opened  up a new battlefield between folders and links   now all these battles should not be to the  death no they should be tensions that we balance   so how do we balance these ongoing tensions in  our efforts to manage knowledge in the digital age   what if there was a way to balance the efficient  order of folders with the creative chaos of links   what if there was a way to balance our love  of wisdom with our desire for progress well   i'm excited to offer one possible solution called  access a folder structure built from the ground up   to work with folders and links together not  as an afterthought and not as a retro fit   but as a fundamental part of the design process  i believe the access folder structure will   get you closer to having a holistic system to  manage knowledge and action in the digital age   but first let's look at how we got  here starting with microsoft word   okay check out this map before i show you where  microsoft word is on it let's talk about what   we're looking at this is the emphasis of knowledge  management systems so those two tensions that we   were talking about between knowledge and action  that's where they are on the map check them out   knowledge is at the top of the y-axis and then  action is at the bottom and this is a tension   that we have to manage and then same thing with  the x-axis over on the left we see folders over on   the right we see links this is another tension in  the modern digital age that we're trying to figure   out how to manage and when it comes to knowledge  and action that management that tension that   we felt it has has gone up for as long as we've  possibly been alive as homo sapiens so it's really   interesting to check out that tension in the  digital age and how that relates to folders and   links so let's hop in number one microsoft word  came on the scene and think about what microsoft   word is doing it is a folder-based document  system and it's mainly to manage knowledge   that's the intention behind it not many people are  using microsoft word to get things done they're   not using microsoft word to link out to a million  different documents that's just not what happens   so word goes up here what's next wikipedia so at  the start of the 21st century wikipedia bursts   onto the scene and what do we have with it we have  online links and what is wikipedia trying to do   manage knowledge so it is sort of in in some  ways it's the opposite of microsoft word it's not   personal it's public it's all about knowledge just  like word except instead of folders it is relying   on links are we getting a sense of how the map  is working let's keep going then something else   that was coming onto the scene around the same  window of time was gtd which stands for getting   things done the seminal work by david allen to  help people manage information for the purposes   of getting things done so guess what that's all  about action so we can see that gtd is far down   here on action now as far as folders versus  links the system itself is a little bit more   structured towards folders but that doesn't mean  that some people haven't tried to retrofit it to   work with tags and links and other things so for  our purposes gtd is right here on the map of where   knowledge management systems are emphasizing their  importance now next up we have the zeddle casting   coming on the scene very strong in the past decade  where does that land up on our map and we can see   zetta locastin is all about the link it is all  about the links that is the emphasis when you're   connecting ideas together in a zl cast in now you  can see though the cloud covers a little bit of   knowledge and a little bit of action and it's kind  of in between both but it's definitely a little   bit more on the knowledge side although when you  are using the zettocast in for outputs you get a   little bit more of that action-oriented side of  things okay and then we had a splash of three   different systems all around the same time and  that would be johnnydecimal the parasystem and ppv   i don't have time to go into all the details here  but i'll say johnnydecimal is very folder oriented   and it's a little bit more about knowledge  although you can still do some action with it   para is in many ways the spiritual successor of  gtd uh allowing us to take those concepts and   apply them and not just for action-based stuff but  also for knowledge based stuff but it is designed   it was designed to work with folders doesn't mean  that it can't be retrofitted but that's definitely   where the emphasis was and then we have ppv i'll  have links to all these below in the description   ppv is something that works with notion and  databases databases are really hard to show   on this map but they are definitely closer  to links and the dynamic aspects of linking   information than they are to folders so i put ppv  here and really it's both in action and you can't   tell with the clouds here but it's going  all the way up to knowledge as well   what are we missing we are missing something  to unify these concepts and that is access   the folder structure and that's what i'm about  to introduce to you the access folder structure   balances knowledge and action folders and links  into a dynamic hybrid system that was designed   from the ground up to give you the best of all of  these worlds and to manage these ongoing tensions   in knowledge management okay i hope that got you  thinking about what is actually in the access   folder structure and i just want to say this  this map is meant to stimulate thought into what   is actually going on with knowledge management in  the digital age if you are better informed to how   all these different systems are working then  you'll know the ones that will work best for   you and for what you are trying to accomplish so  without further ado let's jump into access itself   introducing access a folder structure for  easy access to your world of knowledge   what does the folder structure look like here we  go you have a for atlas c for calendar c for cards   e for extra s for sources and s for spaces let's  dive into each one so you can see how it applies   number one atlas when you work with linked  knowledge you need something new you need higher   order notes what do those notes look like they  are maps of content there are dashboards overviews   logs data scopes these type of notes that sit  on top of the rest of your notes and give you a   bird's eye view into all of your knowledge that is  your map of maps that is your atlas what does it   help you do helps you gather develop and navigate  your ideas successfully and what lives here maps   to your world of knowledge going to the next one  calendar it turns out when we remember things   we use location maps but we also use time and the  way that we use time with knowledge management is   through the calendar folder and the notes we save  here it helps us log track and review what matters   what lives here is your time-based information  so some examples that you'll see are daily notes   meetings plans reviews and journals the next  folder cards now cards might sound kind of strange   but in the world of linked notes when you're  trying to save ideas into their own container   of thought a note you'll have a lot of different  cards and what cards allow you to do is just   a way to say note but it gives  it a little bit more flexibility   cards help you build and connect your ideas so  what goes in ideas insights and other things   what are some examples ideas things you could  have a people cards folder section subfolder   concepts statements if you are a cook recipes if  you're into exercise something with a physical   exercises you can make any sort of card subfolder  as you need to but all these bits of knowledge   that you gather over your lifetime they go into  the cards folder next up extras extras covers   everything in between it helps you keep your  support material handy what goes in support   material like attachments graphics images manuals  templates hand drawings whatever it is extras can   handle that next up we have sources this helps you  build your external library of ideas so something   that we're coming to terms with in the digital age  is that there's this explosion of knowledge and   there's also what we think about internally and we  don't want to confuse the two all the time so when   we look at cards that's more of our place where  we're creating our own little nuggets of knowledge   that we can link to each other effectively but  then in sources we can save and keep outside   sources and make sure that they're organized in  a way that we can find quickly through folders   just as easily as we can find through links so  the things that you encounter are what go in here   and some examples that you encounter that  are sources are articles books podcasts   research papers courses talks movies and  tv shows that you want to take notes on and   videos and much more and last i'm very excited  for this one spaces what are spaces spaces are any   big spaces in your life and you should probably  have two maybe three spaces at any given time   in your life so you're always going to have your  life space the stuff that you have to take care   of in your personal life and you'll also have  one that's work now depending on how ambitious   rambunctious or how much time you have you might  also have a third space you could call that your   hobby space maybe it's something else maybe it's  your side hustle who knows so you'll at least have   two spaces and in each space in your life in this  folder structure you deploy maps and so that is m   a p s maps so within the life folder you have four  subfolders for your maps of content those are mocs   areas projects and support notes we're going  to cover this in depth in the next section so   you can see how it actually tangibly can work for  you so remember the tension we were talking about   between folders and links spaces and maps are part  of that solution because anytime you have a new   space in your life all you have to do is deploy a  new set of maps so if you have one for hobbies you   just deploy a new set of maps and you're off to  the races and that is where you're managing your   actions so look at the access folder structure  that vertical structure and do you remember that   on our map we had knowledge at the top and action  at the bottom and if you look at the access folder   structure it is mimicking that sense our knowledge  comes when we have our higher order maps and our   dashboards we take some daily notes we have  our knowledge cards and goes all the way to   the bottom two spaces and in spaces that is where  all the action happens knowledge to action that is   the access folder structure so to dive deeper  into the access folder structure i'm sharing   two lessons from the light kit tutorial videos  the light kit is a free downloadable starter   kit to get you exploring ways to manage your  digital notes it's been downloaded over 33 000   times probably more by the time you watch this  and the download link is in the description below   try it out experiment learn by doing and discover  the power of linking your thinking okay and now   to the light kit version of nick to show  you the access folder structure in action   take it away nick let's introduce access  what is access is an acronym that stands   for atlas calendar cards extras sources and  spaces access is the solution to tension   that has been coming in three different dimensions  when it comes to knowledge management the first   tension is between knowledge itself and action  so what are you using your knowledge for   well it's going to be some mixture of these two  things knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself   which i find is a worthy pursuit but often  we also want to accomplish things in the real   world that lead to real outcomes real results and  allows us to survive in a world where you have to   provide value and get compensated for it  so how do we balance the tension between   ideas and projects that's what's happening here  what's another tension folders versus links   we've had folders forever we're relatively  new with links how do we manage that tension   and then the third tension that we're trying to  manage is structure which folders provide a lot   of versus the chaos which sometimes we can feel  in a environment completely filled with links   the intention around the access folder structure  is that we get the best of all these worlds we can   manage knowledge just as effectively as action  we can use folders and the strengths that they   provide as well as links and the strengths that  they provide we can have both structure when we   want it and the chaos because the chaos is where  some of that beautiful bottom-up energy comes from   where we start generating really unique insights  and we can really tap into our creative selves   how does that accomplish it well let's kind  of twirl these down the first place is called   encounters because generally speaking we encounter  things and then we express ourselves in between   we do something called thinking but mainly  it's encountering and expressing and that's a   feedback loop and we just go back and forth  between those two things so the first folder   after we encounter something this is where we can  put new ideas by the way and then we have a place   to access some of those maps of content some of  them are more of the data scopes like this essay   so this only has one link home but it has  all these saved searches this essay note is   actually pulling content in a bunch of queries  saved searches data scopes all the same thing   and we can see different essays so that's  pretty interesting what else scopes these are   very specific data scopes and we looked at a few  already there are some that i'll let you discover   and so the atlas folder is your top down  view it's very important it's up high too   in the folder structure to to allow you to have  that visual sense that we're starting up high   and then we're going down into something  for those knowledge management enthusiasts   we cannot downplay the importance of time-based  understanding temporal context how else can i   say this well just daily notes we understand  and we can remember things through when they   happened that was when i was in high  school that was when i was a little kid   that was when i lived in this town and from that  we can start to understand when we had an idea and   we can tether knowledge that way so that happens  in the calendar i won't go into that for now   cards cards is the great catch-all this is where  your zettles go if you're familiar with that term   these are where your atomic notes go and so much  more so you can have people cards you could have   concept cards you could really really expand  that into all sorts of sub-folders or you don't   have to have any sub-folders that's the beauty of  links it just depends how many folders you want   what is the appropriate amount of structure for  you because in this digital age of linked notes   folders can still serve structuring purposes but  we still have the freedom to whenever we want make   a link so we get the best of both worlds extras  is where the extra stuff goes media templates pdfs   files documents sources is where all that outside  stuff goes the outside world sources can go here   i could twirl down books and see a few books  here i encourage you to explore all of these   then we have spaces very excited for spaces before  i go into spaces i want to make sure i've covered   everything here i always want to reiterate that  access what separates the access folder structure   from a standard folder setup is that it's this  unique hybrid that takes into account links into   a folder system it's a it's a beautiful thing i'm  very excited to to have more people understand   that we can have the best of both worlds it's  a folder-based pcam framework that also uses   link based maps of content so we can  dynamically connect notes across folders   whoa that just blows my mind so that is the  access folder structure i would like you to   spend some time twirling these things down seeing  all sorts of hidden gems you don't need folders   you can get by without but i find that i do  like a few and i think you might be the same way   yes links are exciting but we don't have  to throw the baby out with the bathwater   with that in mind i want to talk about very next  lesson the next lesson is about managing projects   in a link based system using the spaces  folder and more specifically how we can deploy   maps and that is for our final lesson  very excited to see you in that one   because we're going to see how we can manage  action in the same area in the same pkm system   as knowledge and we are introducing spaces so  if i twirl down the spaces folder i'm going to   make this even bigger you can see that there are  two spaces within this folder life and work now   for me work i'd use an acronym called lyt for  linking your thinking but what do you do for   work can you use it as an acronym there was a  time where i had three spaces all at once i had   my life space we all had that one i also had  my entertainment workspace when i was editing   and then i also had this one that was starting  to become something the linking your thinking   space so you can have hobby spaces with  workspaces with life spaces and that's kind   of the flexibility the beauty of a space  you might be asking yourself right now   well is a space just an area is it just like  a an area for projects what is a space exactly   well they're for any big area in your life  and so i want to talk about that a little bit   because when i twirl one down i think it'll make  a little bit more sense so i'm going to twirl down   the life space and here you can see how in each  space we deploy maps and maps is an acronym   for mlcs areas projects and support notes so why  not go back to our favorite note home note i want   you to see something here in our home note there's  a project section so i can click on projects or i   can plan and prioritize my work life which is the  light space for me or i can plan and prioritize   my personal life now let's jump into the life  my life space and here's what i want you to see   a p s maps this allows me a way to not just have  areas to not just have projects but to incorporate   link-based knowledge and how do we do that with  mlcs so this is the hybrid system this is how   we combine folders with links it's a very elegant  very simple solution so a good example this is you   can see my mlcs can take me to finances they can  take me to health and then when i want to go into   areas i can scroll back scroll down a little bit  further and jump into areas to plan and review   to work on financial notes and to work on health  related notes now these are not notes i'm going   to be showing you but you can see what you can do  here and then last we can go and jump into my life   projects now i also don't have this one available  to you but you can see what that looks like   i also give you a few other ideas that you can  play around with for life purposes this won't   mean much to you it means a lot to people who go  through the light workshop but let's check out   the last one which is going to be the light space  kit so now if you are managing some sort of small   business these are maybe some areas that you might  consider first you might want some maps of content   for big areas content creation for whatever the  the big thing is that you do for community related   efforts team management technical administration  and the financials for the business these are   just some basic things you might have some other  ones what about areas well things related to the   light kit i can put notes in a specific area  same thing with the workshop now let's see   what that actually looks like i don't know how  much i should actually show everyone here but   the one i do show is the light notes newsletter  i think i have a few examples in here   so it's kind of funny because i have some email  autoresponders here saying thank you for opting   in and things like that but amongst all of that  stuff we also have the light notes themselves and   they're all contained in a single folder and i can  move that folder around if i wanted to and where   does that folder live within spaces within the  workspace and with the areas within the workspace   pretty cool if you ask me and we can have that for  and i do for my flight school thing for my light   kit workshops light events those are my areas  and then we also have projects i don't include   this in the light kit but i think you can kind of  get the idea about what would go into projects so   that is the beauty now if we go all the way back  let me twirl this one closed again i just want you   to know what's possible here yeah project just an  example folder here nothing's inside let's close   spaces and there we go back to the walkthrough  for every space that's big and important and   distinct in your life all you have to do is deploy  maps mocs areas projects and support notes and it   works beautifully as a hybrid system between  folders and links and it ties it all together order versus chaos that's our constant tension  even since ancient times these two forces stood   at odds with each other apollo versus dionysus the  tension is at the heart of comedy and tragedy and   often times the difference is razor thin the  crease of a smile the glint in the eye if we   see it we laugh if we don't we cry and if the  tension is ever so right we might even do both   this same tension exists throughout our living  days it's the tension between streets paved on   a grid and untamed vines there's no right way it's  the balance that we seek and this tension doesn't   just exist in the real physical world it also  exists in the world of ideas since before the days   hamlet experienced paralysis by analysis we  have always had the same troubles of balancing   knowledge and action and it's even worse in  the digital age and now that the common person   you and i have the ability to digitally link  ideas together another plane of tension has   opened up between folders and links and that's why  when it comes to managing your digital knowledge   the access folder structure finds the balance so  give it a try it's actually meant to be broken and   reshaped by you because one of the fundamental  truths of pkm personal knowledge management is   that it's personal i wish you good fortune in your  efforts to manage the things that matter to you   i truly hope to help you get a grip on managing  the information that is important to you   because the world of information is crazy but  managing things that resonate with you can be fun   and when it is suddenly the world is so much more  interesting so if you haven't already download the   free light kit below open it up as a new vault in  obsidian and use it as a playground to run around   in experiment learn by doing and see what works  best for you hey if this video made you think   whether you agree or not please like subscribe and  comment below and until next time stay connected you

Channel: Linking Your Thinking with Nick Milo

Views: 98,596

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Id: p0zWJ-TLghw

Length: 25min 57sec (1557 seconds)

Published: Sun May 29 2022