A workspace for my brain

The over-arching process in the workspace for my brain is CHADE. It comprises five lower-level processes:

C - capture (interesting sources of information)

H - highlight (ideas of interest in source material)

A - annotate (the source material)

D - distil (ideas from source material)

E - express (the ideas in a piece of writing)

These processes run in parallel, but normally only one is active. My thinking begins with the capture of information. This comes in various forms, from fleeting thoughts and nascent ideas of my own to other people's ideas published online and in print.

Obsidian has a daily note feature. I use it to capture fleeting thoughts and nascent ideas. When I discuss these with an AI, I put a transcript into the ai chat folder.

Other people's thinking takes the form of online material (newsletters, articles, YouTube videos, podcasts) and books or other printed material. Where possible, I use the Obsidian Web Clipper to capture any online material of interest into Obsidian notes; otherwise I simply copy and paste it. I put these notes into a sources folder.

To start drawing out ideas from the daily notes, my AI chats, and someone else’s work, I use highlighting. If the material is already in a note, I just mark the relevant text. With video or audio, I jot my highlights at the top of the note as I listen. When I’m reading a book, I keep it low-tech: a pencil underline or a quick mark in the margin. The method shifts with the medium, but the purpose is always to pull out the pieces worth a closer look.

When I review a highlighted section of source material, I consider why it caught my attention. I think about its meaning, its relevance to the topic at hand, and how it connects to other ideas I’m working with. I weigh up whether it clarifies, challenges, or expands my understanding. Then I put those thoughts into a brief annotation, written in my own words.

When I’m working with a book, I write my annotations directly into an Obsidian note, always pointing back to the page I marked. The page reference keeps the link to the original text clear, while the annotation captures my own reading of it. That way, I can revisit the source if I need the exact wording.

To distil ideas, I take the mass of annotations I’ve gathered and focus on the points that resonate with my thinking. I look for patterns, insights, or tensions that stand out across the notes, then condense them into a clear set of ideas I can carry forward and build on.

The final step is to turn a set of distilled notes into a piece of writing., I use them to spark new ideas, pull different perspectives together, and shape an argument that makes sense. I work out the structure as I go, testing how the ideas fit and refining the line of reasoning until it holds up. Then I put them into clear language others can follow and use.