Thanks for the extra thoughts. I’m more of a notebook guy as well.

The idea of chronological capture without thought to category and then looking at what emerges weeks/months later is pretty interesting. I wonder whether one would truly see something emerge that you couldn’t have categorized as a possible “task force” in the first place?

Your idea about using it for academic articles (as needed) seems more traditional, and in a sense illustrates my above point, i.e., you already have a vague (or better) idea for a paper (=task force) and your index cards are dedicated to exploring that idea, even with tangents, etc.

Interesting blog!

Thanks for the comment. PoIC is a fascinating tool, but it does have limits. I still use it, but only on occasion, so it isn’t a daily exercise for me as it is for Mr. Sugano.

My idea generation tends to go in bursts, separated by relatively little activity. So I tend to dust off PoIC when I’ve got a major idea stream brewing and I want to pin all those ideas down. Last year I had an extended brainstorm where the ideas were flowing like water for about 48 hours. Without PoIC I could never have caught it all.

As I state in this post, I do tend to carry a small notebook with me wherever I go and often my ideas get written down there first. A couple of times I’ve taken a pile of my notebooks and gone through them, using PoIC to keep the ideas that seemed worth holding on to. I’ve used PoIC to start a second article for an academic publication, and created a couple of stacks of cards for some future projects.

So, the bottom line is that PoIC can be used with profit on an intermittent basis, although I think that the more often you use it, the more useful it becomes. Since I have been jobless for the last 16 months or so, the chaos this causes does not make for the serenity or regular structured time needed to make this work at its best.

I prefer to think that by the time you land between 40 and 50, you have an epiphany that most of what passes for news or even entertainment is just bullshit and a waste of time. We don’t watch as much because there’s nothing TO watch.

I don’t know if he told you, but when he described your job to me I had a bout of serious, heartfelt envy. It sounds like tons of fun.

Thanks for making contact. I hope to meet you in real time some day, and do check in here from time to time.

Hey, hello. I am Nelson, Ted’s son. My dad sent me the link to this blog, and I figured I’d introduce myself. So…here I am…doing that. Anyway, this is mostly just to say hello. I am currently on the road writing for the Let’s Go travel guides. I have a blog here http://www.letsgo.com/profile/ngreaves

That is mostly idiotic things I have time to jot down while I’m rushing around. Anyway, hope all is well, and why shouldn’t it be!?

Nelson

Thanks for the good review. By all means don’t delay and start listening to Mahler, preferably live!