Naiman labs newsletter #29. Resonance calendar to keep them all

Hello, Friends!

Welcome to the 29th issue of Naiman Labs newsletter.

Naiman Labs is your go to place for career advice and productivity tips.

Recently I have finally formulated the mission for Naiman Labs. Let me share it with you. Naiman Labs is my own mission as well. What I want to do by developing Naiman labs is:

And today I want to tackle one of the biggest challenges we all face in our modern lives that might prevent us from enjoying our journey —information overload.

We are constantly bombarded with an overwhelming amount of information, and it's easy to feel lost in the sea of words and ideas. That’s exactly what I am doing to right now 😈 . Giving you another bite of information in addition to thousands more you have already consumed today.

According to some research on average, we consume around 100 000 words a day. the English version of "War and Peace," one of the longest pieces of literature, consists of about 500,000 words.

Did you know that on average, we consume around 100,000 words a day? To put it into perspective, the English version of "War and Peace," one of the longest pieces of literature, consists of about 500,000 words.

What happens with all this information we somehow consume? We lose most of it. As well as we often find a huge portion of it completely unnecessary and useless.

How many times have you read read an article, thinking it it has some important thoughts and insights. And when finish reading, close the tab in your browser and you never think of it again.

Or how many times have you finished a book only to remember just one or two key insights?

Same thing happens to me all the time. I often read a book, and while I read I highlight a lot and after I finish the book - I keep just 1 or 2 thoughts that has resonated with me the most.

Is there a better way? Let me share a few practices to consider:

Zero ground. First things first. I believe it's still better to consume knowledge than not to consume at all. Even if you read an article or listen a podcast and find just one valuable nugget of wisdom that resonates with you, it can make a positive impact on your life.

🖊️Tip 1. Thoughtful Highlights 

When reading, it's common to highlight important sections. Nothing new here. However, it's essential to be selective while highlighting. Don’t highlight everything, don’t highlight what you already know and don’t highlight the entire paragraphs. Focus on capturing the key points—around 10% of the source— that’s a good practice.

🗒️ 2. the Power of Summaries 

One of the greatest skills we can develop is the ability to create summaries (no with the help of AI it has become a bit easier to do). I am grateful that I was taught how to make good summaries at school and at my university. Try summarizing the piece you've read in one, three, and five sentences. This exercise forces you to distill the main idea, facts, and thoughts. Moving from simple capturing to analyzing and remembering the most crucial information.

📱3. Readwise App 

The Readwise app is an incredible tool to capture and revisit your highlights. It integrates with popular reading apps and browsers: iBooks, Kindle, Pocket, and Instapaper, Google Chrome. By saving your highlights and resurfacing them via email or in the app, Readwise helps you review and reflect on the information you've captured. By using this app you can develop the habit of reviewing the information you’ve captured.

Additionally, Readwise connects with note-taking apps like Notion, Evernote, or Roam, allowing you to export your highlights into a structured database. So when you’re about to do some research - you can start with this database.

(I added my invite link below, you can use it to get 2 months of Readwise for free).

📆 4. Create Your Resonance Calendar 

Inspired by the concept presented by Ali Abdaal, I created my own "resonance calendar." (I added my Notion template below - feel free to duplicate and use it).

It's a database where I compile highlights from articles and books that I find particularly useful and applicable to my life. The resonance calendar is not a storage of links or a read-later list. It contains the highlights, notes, and summaries of the content I've already consumed (articles, books, podcasts, videos). It is a structured collection of insights that truly resonate with me.

When I need to search for some information later - this database will be my first place to look at. Most likely there’s already something useful. My resonance calendar is sort of a combination of all the hacks mentioned above - a structured collection of summaries and highlights that resonate with you.

Here's how I built my resonance calendar in Notion:

It is a Notion Database with several properties:

1. Knowledge area. I organize it by knowledge areas or important questions that I'm interested in:Most likely the information that resonates with me will fall into one of these categories, since these are the areas I am most passionate about. I wrote about “favorite problems here” - this will be interesting for you too look at.

   1. HR

   2. Motivation

   3. Coaching

   4. Productivity

   5. Creatorpreneurship

   6. Business models

   7. Consulting skills

   8. Communication

   9. Money mindset

   10. World history.

2. Status. Each entry has a status, indicating whether I want to read it again, keep it live, or archive it.

3. Application. I consider the application of the knowledge. How can I apply it to my work projects, newsletter ideas, or personal development? When I add this information into Resonance calendar I should have in mind how I want to apply it. And if I don’t know the application, if I don’t know to which area of interest I should relate this piece of information - it shouldn’t be in this calendar.

4. Main idea. I include a brief one-sentence summary of the main idea of what I've saved. To be completely honest, I don’t fill this property in 100% of the time, but it is a good practice to have the one sentence describing the main idea of what I have saved.

Remember, the resonance calendar should be well-filtered and contain only the most valuable and summarized information. When you need to search for specific information later, this calendar becomes your go-to resource. It is not a read-later app, not the link database. It is a structured, well-thought collection of the pieces of information you’ve already consumed.

That’s it for today. I believe by implementing these practices, we can better navigate information overload and create a curated collection of knowledge that truly resonates with us. Stay tuned for more detailed insights and tips in the upcoming newsletters.

Wishing you a week filled with valuable knowledge and meaningful growth!

Don’t miss these sources: 

• Ali Abdaal’s resonance calendar

• My own Resonance calendar Notion template (free)

• 100 000 words a day

• My Readwise invite link (if you use this link you’ll get 2 months of Readwise for free)