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🧵 Thread (36 tweets)

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

hypothesis: if you do barely anything with your life but take little notes every day, journal, diary, whatever – snapshots of your opinions, impressions, perspectives, predictions – and then you thread these notes over time, say, 10 years...

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1/21/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

by the end of it, if you reflect, review, corroborate, verify and discuss them with others, you will have an incredibly robust... mind? worldview? you will deeply appreciate the nature of human reality in a way that you cannot get from any single book or person or experience

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1/21/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

take note https://t.co/EtEtHj4CEH

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1/21/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

the thing about the ongoing process of journaling that you cannot get from reading a book, etc is – your own relationship with your own writing changes over time. you read things you wrote that you thought were smart last year, but look stupid to you now. and vice versa https://t.co/jxsGX8L8JQ

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1/21/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

"But I am very poorly today, and very stupid and hate everybody and everything." – Charles Darwin, to his friend Charles Lyell https://t.co/3C0G5ffoPL

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1/21/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Should everybody journal? I don’t know. I do think that most of us are kind of journaling anyway via our participation on the web. We journal with search queries and likes and favourites and clicks and so on

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1/21/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

But this information is very poorly packaged for the user - fragmented and sometimes outright inaccessible. So it’s kind of like we’re journaling for our corporate masters more than for ourselves 😅

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1/21/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Which is of course a function of... https://t.co/hIeYVTuxX4

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 7 years ago

The public is insufficiently educated on how to be a good public

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1/21/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

So in a way journaling for yourself is a radical act! It’s an act of self-ownership, self-education. It’s about setting your own curriculum, defining your own worldview, deciding for yourself what is important. I don’t think this should be outsourced to others, but that’s my POV

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1/21/2019

Moritz Bierling IS WRITING HIS BOOK@bierlingm• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

@visakanv A fun additional constraint in journaling for me: writing only in e-prime. That way I sharpen my mind while I write since it forces me to express myself without creeping ambiguity.

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1/22/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @bierlingm

@bierlingm TIL about e-prime! interesting. yup, good practice

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1/22/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

10 years https://t.co/ngEcyeYuOz

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 7 years ago

Got out of bed to think out loud about the passage of time and what you can learn simply from observing the world around you for about 10 years - say ages 17-27

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1/31/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

(There should also be an arrow from “take notes” to “be prolific”, will update in next version) https://t.co/8sTuHDB5sh

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2/16/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

https://t.co/xglezZWTer

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

If you’re like me, keep meticulous notes of whatever you do when you’re procrastinating. I think of it as “deep-self-directed work”. If you’re going to watch trashy movies then write down your thoughts after watching each movie. It’ll come in handy in ways you least expect https://t.co/fsR3rNnG3t

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2/16/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

take notes https://t.co/B53XVcU46Q

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2/24/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

Journalling aids jailbreaking your mind from the prison of your subvocalizations and the homeostasis of everyday life https://t.co/ArUw5TNtta

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

@infiniturtle This is backwards IMO Journaling is about discovering the prison’s blueprints Your interiority is already trapped by your subvocalizations Journaling makes it explicit; once you can View Source, you can change it

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3/5/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

take notes https://t.co/WjAXfysCom

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4/14/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

take notes https://t.co/vYguAxK7n2

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5/11/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

take notes https://t.co/AlV65jLIjs

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5/31/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

18. https://t.co/MAUUalxoLb

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6/20/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

19. Anais Nin – "In the Diary I only wrote of what interested me genuinely, what I felt most strongly at at the moment, and I found this fervor, this enthusiasm, produced a vividness which often withered in the formal work." https://t.co/I1WjnQsLX0

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7/29/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

20. "Since I take notes in outline form, I am forced to categorize the information logically, which helps me absorb it." – Andy Grove, High Output Management https://t.co/QWom6AD08S

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 6 years ago

take notes https://t.co/BWuO8eEVqf

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7/30/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 6 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

21. Francis Coppola’s notebook for The Godfather https://t.co/vqNz4Jetr8

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 6 years ago

"the sheer amount of ink on the page would tell me later on that this was one of the most important scenes" https://t.co/Gj9kkd1SWA

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9/12/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 5 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

22. “The only thing to do is watch someone over a very long period of time and try to piece it together.” https://t.co/dlEJJxTt7q https://t.co/Jl1NcsnNxk https://t.co/JI99DHG9Wi

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12/28/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 5 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

23. on the utility of meaningful information routing https://t.co/etiW0hxzHV

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 5 years ago

this is a great point and it also actually undersells the insane power of having an effective network of notes. good tools help, but it's not about the tools. it's about meaningful information routing https://t.co/RoLFx4dn51

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5/10/2020

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 5 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

24. 10 years https://t.co/CU2cZAV77S

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7/9/2020

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 5 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

25. "If you file your waste-paper basket for fifty years, you have a public library." – Tony Benn, prolific diarist, Postmaster General, UK Cabinet Minister in the 60s and 70s https://t.co/95Vs1kYgoT

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12/2/2020

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

26. "Do you keep a journal?" – Ralph Waldo Emerson to Henry David Thoreau https://t.co/WqdvraAb4T

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6/19/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

27. I co-sign this https://t.co/g2PEipbwpT

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9/14/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

28. You’ll find clues pointing to what you’re doing today when you look at what you said ten years ago and what you’re saying now will influence what you do 10 years from now https://t.co/To5rtDnL4Q

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9/18/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

29. Eminem’s boxes of notes (around 1:10) https://t.co/dgF5UeJfT9

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10/5/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

30. notice how he talks about navigating by emotion, which is the real powerful insight here https://t.co/O5MQyI5Cgj

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11/21/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

31. https://t.co/LPoWjjTvFI

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

whatever you think about him or his work, there's no denying that Seinfeld is a prolific mf. Here he is surrounded by his body of work (jokes he's written) https://t.co/tKZQTSamn9

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11/30/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 3 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

32. Joan Didion https://t.co/IIO6hTZYWq

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12/23/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 2 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

33. take note https://t.co/e86qKZLcRF

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10/4/2023

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 5 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

22. “The only thing to do is watch someone over a very long period of time and try to piece it together.” https://t.co/dlEJJxTt7q https://t.co/Jl1NcsnNxk https://t.co/JI99DHG9Wi

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12/28/2019

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 5 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

23. on the utility of meaningful information routing https://t.co/etiW0hxzHV

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 5 years ago

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5/10/2020

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 5 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

24. 10 years https://t.co/CU2cZAV77S

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7/9/2020

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 5 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

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12/2/2020

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• about 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

26. "Do you keep a journal?" – Ralph Waldo Emerson to Henry David Thoreau https://t.co/WqdvraAb4T

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6/19/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

27. I co-sign this https://t.co/g2PEipbwpT

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9/14/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

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9/18/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

29. Eminem’s boxes of notes (around 1:10) https://t.co/dgF5UeJfT9

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10/5/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

30. notice how he talks about navigating by emotion, which is the real powerful insight here https://t.co/O5MQyI5Cgj

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11/21/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

31. https://t.co/LPoWjjTvFI

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 4 years ago

whatever you think about him or his work, there's no denying that Seinfeld is a prolific mf. Here he is surrounded by his body of work (jokes he's written) https://t.co/tKZQTSamn9

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7 0

11/30/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• over 3 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

32. Joan Didion https://t.co/IIO6hTZYWq

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12/23/2021

Visakan Veerasamy@visakanv• almost 2 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

33. take note https://t.co/e86qKZLcRF

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10/4/2023

yatharth ༺༒༻@AskYatharth• over 2 years ago

Replying to @visakanv

@visakanv to write fluently, as the pianist practices piano

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5/10/2023