Linking Your Thinking

LYT (Linking Your Thinking) is a personal knowledge management (PKM) framework developed by Nick Milo. It’s designed to help individuals manage, connect, and grow their ideas using a note-taking system that emphasizes interconnectedness, fluidity, and long-term development of knowledge. LYT operates under the assumption that knowledge is most useful when it’s organized in a way that reflects how thoughts naturally form and evolve.

Core Principles of LYT

1. Linking:
   - The cornerstone of LYT is creating connections between your notes. This mirrors how the brain works, associating new ideas with existing knowledge. LYT emphasizes the importance of linking ideas, not just categorizing them. Instead of siloing information into folders, LYT encourages creating a web of knowledge where notes are connected based on context and relevance.

2. Thinking in Maps (Idea Emergence):
   - LYT focuses on Maps of Content (MoCs), which are overviews that represent high-level ideas and organize other related ideas within a broader context. These are living documents that evolve over time. MoCs help to visualize how smaller, detailed ideas connect to larger themes, aiding in the discovery and development of insights.
   - MoCs are different from traditional “notes” because they serve as hubs or overviews where ideas branch off. For example, a MoC about “Productivity” would contain links to various related topics like time management, focus strategies, etc.

3. Ideas vs. Notes:
   - In LYT, ideas are the primary focus, not just the act of taking notes. While notes are a tool, the goal is to capture and develop meaningful insights. Notes are considered starting points that should lead to idea generation and refinement through linking and contextualization.

4. Actionability:
   - Notes should serve a purpose and lead to action, whether it’s further thinking, deeper research, or practical application. LYT encourages the use of atomic notes—small, actionable pieces of information that can be reused and recombined in different contexts.

5. Evergreen Notes:
   - LYT encourages users to create evergreen notes. These are notes that aren’t time-bound and remain relevant over time, growing as you add new knowledge and insights. Evergreen notes reflect deep thinking and long-lasting understanding, contrasting with fleeting or “once-off” notes.

6. Fluidity Over Structure:
   - LYT promotes a balance between structure and flexibility. It uses linking and associations to organize information in a way that adapts to how ideas naturally grow. Instead of forcing information into rigid categories, LYT evolves with the individual’s thinking process.

7. Contextual Creation:
   - Contextualizing notes is key to the LYT approach. When you link notes, you do so in a context that makes sense for how you’re currently thinking or what you’re working on. This approach allows you to revisit notes in different situations and extract new insights based on changing contexts.

Key Components of LYT

1. Maps of Content (MoCs):
   - MoCs are the heart of the LYT framework. These are “maps” that help guide your thinking and connect different ideas. MoCs are not static folders but dynamic hubs that grow as you add more notes and make more connections.
   - They act like an evolving table of contents but in a non-linear format, helping you keep track of various themes and how they interrelate.

2. Notes and Atomic Notes:
   - In LYT, notes are small, focused pieces of information or insight. These are often referred to as atomic notes because they should be concise and self-contained, able to stand alone or be linked to other notes.
   - Each note should contain a single idea or concept, which can be linked to other relevant ideas or elaborated on in different contexts.

3. Evergreen Notes:
   - These are notes that are designed to last and evolve over time. You come back to them, refine them, and add new connections. They’re meant to grow with your knowledge and never truly “expire.”
   - Evergreen notes can cover fundamental concepts or core insights that continue to remain relevant, regardless of when they were created.

4. Linking and Backlinking:
   - In LYT, links are what transform a collection of static notes into a dynamic knowledge base. By linking notes to one another, you create pathways that allow ideas to build upon each other.
   - Backlinks (the ability to see all notes that link to a particular note) are also emphasized as a way to discover new relationships between notes that might not have been immediately obvious.

5. Daily Notes / Thinking Sessions:
   - A core practice in LYT is the use of daily notes or thinking sessions, where you capture your ongoing thoughts, ideas, and reflections in real-time. These notes often serve as incubators for more refined notes and insights later.
   - Over time, as you revisit and refine these daily thoughts, they get linked into your broader knowledge network.

6. Clusters and Hubs:
   - Through consistent linking, your notes begin to form clusters of related ideas. These clusters naturally grow into hubs of knowledge, which can be curated through MoCs. Over time, these hubs serve as central resources for deeper exploration and synthesis of new ideas.

Comparison with Traditional Note-Taking Methods

Unlike traditional note-taking systems, which often emphasize hierarchies or predefined categories, LYT encourages more fluidity and interconnectedness. Instead of organizing notes into folders, LYT prefers maps (MoCs) and links that allow ideas to emerge and evolve. This makes LYT particularly useful for individuals who deal with complex or evolving knowledge systems, such as researchers, writers, and creators.

Tools Used in LYT

While LYT is a methodology, it is often implemented using digital tools that support backlinks and linking, such as:
- Obsidian
- Roam Research
- Logseq
- Notion

These tools facilitate the kind of interconnected note-taking that LYT advocates.

Benefits of LYT

1. Enhanced Creativity: By linking thoughts together, new insights can emerge from existing knowledge.
2. Improved Knowledge Retention: Creating connections between notes mirrors how the brain works, helping improve memory retention and recall.
3. Action-Oriented Knowledge: Notes in LYT aren’t just passive records; they encourage action and insight.
4. Scalability: As knowledge grows, LYT scales naturally, as opposed to hierarchical systems that become cluttered.

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Older note (2022)

MOC

“Map Of Content”

ACCESS

• Atlas
• Calendar
• Cards
• Extras
• Sources
• Spaces

ENCODED = the knowledge loop

“Knowledge process”:

![[Screenshot 2022-05-16 at 20.55.41.png]]

• Encounter
• Note (noting things that you come accross) = “That’s interesting”
• Connect = “That reminds me of…”
• Organize = “That’s related to…”
• Develop = “That means…”
• Express = “I think…”
• Driven by…

![[Screenshot 2022-05-16 at 20.58.42.png]]

#knowledge #concepts

Page last modified: 2024-11-13 09:17:00