How to Make a Map of Content (MOC) to Get More Out of Your Notes & Ideas — Transcript

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1. 0:00one of the things that draws people to
2. 0:02the idea of personal Knowledge
3. 0:03Management or PKM is that they want to
4. 0:06discover these hidden connections
5. 0:08between their notes and ideas so they
6. 0:10can gain more inspiration and make it
7. 0:12easier to be creative
8. 0:14but just dumping your notes into an app
9. 0:17like obsidian won't get you the
10. 0:19productivity payoff that you're looking
11. 0:20for trust me I've made this mistake
12. 0:22myself and in this video I want to share
13. 0:25a key mental model you really need to
14. 0:27understand if you really want to make
15. 0:29more of your notes and ideas now let's
16. 0:32start by briefly talking about what Nick
17. 0:34Milo calls a map of content and I credit
18. 0:37him because I first heard this term when
19. 0:39I attended his linking your thinking
20. 0:40Workshop back in cohort 3 and I highly
21. 0:43recommend that Workshop if you have a
22. 0:45chance definitely go through it but in
23. 0:47one of the live sessions Nick mentioned
24. 0:49that a map of content is kind of like a
25. 0:50workbench for developing your ideas and
26. 0:53that really resonated with me I was
27. 0:56intrigued by this idea of working with
28. 0:58my ideas in a temporary space where I
29. 1:00could take them apart and put them back
30. 1:01together again in an effort to discover
31. 1:03what I really had to work with
32. 1:06now around the same time I also read the
33. 1:08book The Great mental models volume 1 by
34. 1:10Shane parish and Rhiannon balbin and
35. 1:12this is a great book which looks at
36. 1:14several mental models which are
37. 1:16basically lenses for looking at the
38. 1:18world so you can figure out how to make
39. 1:20better sense of things now nothing in
40. 1:23this book is completely original in fact
41. 1:25several of the mental models like
42. 1:26Occam's Razer which is basically the
43. 1:28belief that the simplest solution is the
44. 1:30best solution I was already familiar
45. 1:33with from other places but there was one
46. 1:35mental model in particular that really
47. 1:38resonated with me and which complemented
48. 1:40what I was learning in the link in your
49. 1:42thinking Workshop extremely well that
50. 1:45mental model was the map is not the
51. 1:48territory you see when you're looking at
52. 1:50a map you're looking at a visual
53. 1:52Recreation of the territory that it
54. 1:54represents but any map that you're
55. 1:56looking at by definition cannot actually
56. 1:59be the territory because to be the
57. 2:01territory would require a one-to-one
58. 2:03recreation of the actual territory so in
59. 2:07other words the map would be as big as
60. 2:09the territory it's supposed to represent
61. 2:10and would be in fact completely useless
62. 2:14so the inherent limitation with maps is
63. 2:16that they can't show you everything
64. 2:18which leads to another limitation when
65. 2:21it comes to map making any map you're
66. 2:23looking at can never be perfectly
67. 2:25accurate all maps are in some way
68. 2:28technically wrong just like mental
69. 2:32models let's go back to that Occam's
70. 2:33razor example the simplest solution is
71. 2:36in fact not always the best solution
72. 2:38there are instances when that mental
73. 2:40model should not be used but you need to
74. 2:43experiment and figure out when and where
75. 2:45these models and maps are most useful
76. 2:48so the fact that they're wrong in some
77. 2:49way that doesn't mean they can't be
78. 2:52useful just don't mistake your knowledge
79. 2:54of the map for knowledge of the actual
80. 2:56territory so what happens when we look
81. 2:59at a map is we look at what the map
82. 3:01maker has determined is important for us
83. 3:04to know about the territory
84. 3:06for things like driving directions this
85. 3:09is pretty straightforward we need to
86. 3:10know the street names major landmarks
87. 3:13Etc we can all agree what's important
88. 3:16enough to appear on that map
89. 3:19but the map is nonetheless an
90. 3:21opinionated representation of what the
91. 3:23map maker or the Cartographer has
92. 3:26decided is important for us to know so
93. 3:28every map reflects the values standards
94. 3:30and limitations of their creators and
95. 3:34this led to the big aha moment for me if
96. 3:37I'm going to lean into this role of the
97. 3:39Cartographer or map maker and I'm going
98. 3:41to create these maps of content for
99. 3:43things that I want to better understand
100. 3:44then I am free to choose what I want to
101. 3:48be on that map and that means that one I
102. 3:50get to decide what's valuable and what's
103. 3:52not a concept I touched briefly on in my
104. 3:55last video on taking book notes and that
105. 3:58to any map that I make doesn't need to
106. 4:01be perfect it just needs to be useful so
107. 4:04because I'm making the map for myself
108. 4:05I'm free to change it and update it at
109. 4:08any time which is important when you're
110. 4:10thinking about creating and using mental
111. 4:12Maps as you try to navigate your
112. 4:14thinking about a particular concept for
113. 4:17example what does a mental map or a map
114. 4:19of content around the topic of habits
115. 4:20look like well you could try and collect
116. 4:23every fact statistic and piece of
117. 4:24information about the topic that Google
118. 4:26can find but if you did that I don't
119. 4:28think you'd actually be any closer to
120. 4:30figuring out what all that information
121. 4:31about habits really means for you it
122. 4:34wouldn't give you any practical value so
123. 4:37the trick here is that you need to have
124. 4:39an opinion you can't just absorb all
125. 4:42this information you can't collect it
126. 4:44and assume that you now have an
127. 4:45understanding of the territory remember
128. 4:47the book you're reading the video you're
129. 4:49watching the podcast you're listening to
130. 4:50it's simply a map that the author or the
131. 4:54Creator made as they attempted to make
132. 4:55sense of things for themselves
133. 4:57consider the Cartographer do your best
134. 4:59to understand the map but then you have
135. 5:01to decide for yourself what you change
136. 5:03and what you'd keep if you really want
137. 5:05to make it your own and this is a
138. 5:07mistake that I made for a long time when
139. 5:09reading books because I believe that I
140. 5:11just needed to find the right book with
141. 5:13the right information and then things
142. 5:15would break free the Revelation would
143. 5:16come the heavens would open and it would
144. 5:18all make sense I assumed it was the
145. 5:20right book and the system it contained
146. 5:22that was going to unlock things for me I
147. 5:24needed to find the right guy the right
148. 5:25Guru who could show me the way but when
149. 5:29you realize that all cartographers are
150. 5:30limited and all the maps they make are
151. 5:32broken in some way it kind of destroys
152. 5:35that fantasy that's actually a good
153. 5:37thing though because I've found that the
154. 5:39real key to inspiration and breakthrough
155. 5:40comes from working with the ideas I've
156. 5:43collected and asking myself what does
157. 5:46this mean to me so in other words it's
158. 5:49not the book that unlocks things it's
159. 5:51the ideas contained in the books that
160. 5:54fit together with the other ideas that
161. 5:56I've collected when I take the time to
162. 5:58examine them on my mental workbench
163. 6:00every time I read a book I have an
164. 6:02opportunity to update my map and make it
165. 6:05even better and it's when I embrace the
166. 6:07role of the map maker myself and I
167. 6:09decide what's worth keeping and what
168. 6:11should be gotten rid of that I get those
169. 6:13aha moments now reading lots of books
170. 6:16certainly helps with this in my last
171. 6:17video I walked through my whole
172. 6:19note-taking workflow when I read books
173. 6:21and talked a little bit about Mortimer
174. 6:23Adler's four levels of reading if you
175. 6:25want to know more about the philosophy
176. 6:27behind taking better book notes go watch
177. 6:29that video but the takeaway here is the
178. 6:31idea of syntopical reading where you're
179. 6:33comparing the information from the book
180. 6:35you're reading against all the other
181. 6:37books that you've read and all the other
182. 6:38ideas you've collected and this is where
183. 6:41personal Knowledge Management or PKM
184. 6:43comes in this is where we're going to
185. 6:45make the connections between the notes
186. 6:46and we're going to get the insights but
187. 6:48it doesn't happen without having an
188. 6:51opinion there's something magical about
189. 6:53getting done with the book and forcing
190. 6:55yourself to write an opinion note on
191. 6:58what you think about what you just read
192. 7:00it's the act of trying to figure this
193. 7:03out that brings the Breakthrough the
194. 7:06minute that you try to codify your
195. 7:07thoughts on a topic number one you'll
196. 7:09realize how many questions you really
197. 7:11have about it and number two you'll gain
198. 7:13Clarity that you couldn't get just by
199. 7:15thinking about it there's an old saying
200. 7:17I like that thoughts disentangle
201. 7:19themselves through lips and pencil tips
202. 7:21but I would add to that also clicky
203. 7:23keyboards every single time that I force
204. 7:25myself to write an opinion note I get
205. 7:28clear Rarity so what does it look like
206. 7:30to create a map of content how do you
207. 7:33actually work with your ideas on the
208. 7:35workbench and how do you connect ideas
209. 7:37from different books and authors to
210. 7:39figure out what is important to you
211. 7:41about this particular topic well let me
212. 7:44walk you through an example by sharing a
213. 7:46map of content that I created in
214. 7:48obsidian as I was trying to figure out
215. 7:50my thoughts on the topic of habits so at
216. 7:53the top I've got the reason for this Moc
217. 7:56existing it's a simple sentence saying
218. 7:58that the goal of this Moc is to codify
219. 8:01my thoughts on the topic of habits next
220. 8:04I've got a visual from the book The
221. 8:05Power of Habit by Charles duhigg which
222. 8:08explains the Habit Loop there's a cue
223. 8:11which triggers a routine which gives us
224. 8:13a reward and then this reinforces the
225. 8:15loop now below this you'll see an
226. 8:17opinion note that came to me as I was
227. 8:19reading this book for the first time
228. 8:21this has never really sat well for me so
229. 8:24then I've got a call out here on what my
230. 8:26problem is with this model which is that
231. 8:29as soon as the queue is triggered the
232. 8:31routine happens automatically I would
233. 8:33like to think that I have some choice in
234. 8:35the matter and I'm not going to
235. 8:37automatically engage with that routine
236. 8:39so then I read Atomic Habits by James
237. 8:42clear this next section talks about
238. 8:44James clear's method on the four laws of
239. 8:47behavior change which I actually like a
240. 8:50lot better now the four laws of behavior
241. 8:51changes actually its own Atomic note
242. 8:54I've got a separate video which talks
243. 8:56about the value and the power of atomic
244. 8:59notes in obsidian but this basically
245. 9:01shows that there is a cue then there's a
246. 9:03craving before the routine and the
247. 9:05reward and I like what James's model
248. 9:07this craving piece that's been added it
249. 9:09means that I have a choice on whether
250. 9:11I'm going to actually follow through
251. 9:12with that routine and this is really
252. 9:15important I think we have to exercise
253. 9:17agency we have to assume responsibility
254. 9:19for our choices if we want to have the
255. 9:22power to change them
256. 9:23so next I read tiny habits by BJ Fogg
257. 9:26and was introduced to the BJ fog
258. 9:28behavioral model this again is a
259. 9:30separate Atomic note but the gist of
260. 9:32this is that there is a Formula here on
261. 9:35whether we give in to that craving or
262. 9:37not that is the behavior and it's
263. 9:39determined by our motivation to do or
264. 9:42avoid the activity our ability to do or
265. 9:45avoid the activity and the prompt that
266. 9:47is used to trigger the craving so here's
267. 9:50another visual which shows where the
268. 9:52prompts will succeed or fail based on
269. 9:55how motivated we are to take the action
270. 9:57and how hard the action is to do
271. 10:00now I like this model because it shows
272. 10:02me what levers I can pull in order to
273. 10:04craft my own habits and routines if I
274. 10:07want to create a habit I can decrease
275. 10:09the ability required to trigger that
276. 10:11habit or I can increase the motivation
277. 10:14and this works in Reverse if we want to
278. 10:16break a bad habit we can decrease the
279. 10:18motivation or increase the friction
280. 10:20making the action harder
281. 10:22so now this is all starting to come
282. 10:24together but I've also got a couple of
283. 10:25additional resources listed here all of
284. 10:28the books that I mentioned above the New
285. 10:30Year Focus calendar which has a built-in
286. 10:32habit tracker the best habit tracking
287. 10:35app for iOS this is an article that I
288. 10:37wrote a while back for the sweet setup
289. 10:38that I referenced frequently and then
290. 10:41polar habits is an interesting web app
291. 10:43that I came across by Jessie J Anderson
292. 10:45which kind of goes against this don't
293. 10:48break the chain idea now I also use
294. 10:50obsidian for my own sermon sketch notes
295. 10:52I've basically Built My Own
296. 10:53cross-reference library in order for
297. 10:56that to work I've had to break apart the
298. 10:58entire Bible into individual notes for
299. 11:00individual verses so the next thing that
300. 11:03you see here are a whole bunch of Bible
301. 11:04verses about habits now some people may
302. 11:07argue that I should create a whole
303. 11:09separate Vault for this but I actually
304. 11:10like the ability to connect dots across
305. 11:13different domains so I've chosen to keep
306. 11:15them all in my main Vault here in
307. 11:16obsidian and this allows me to bring in
308. 11:19these individual verses these are all
309. 11:21their own Atomic notes now these are all
310. 11:24transcluded and all of these links
311. 11:25appear in the local graph down in the
312. 11:28lower right corner and in addition to
313. 11:30the verses themselves I've interjected a
314. 11:32couple of opinion notes along the way
315. 11:34here as to why I think these connect
316. 11:37so hopefully by walking through that map
317. 11:39of content you can start to see how you
318. 11:41might put one together for yourself but
319. 11:43the next question is what do I make an
320. 11:45Moc about well anything that you are
321. 11:48feeling even a little bit anxious about
322. 11:50is a good place to start anxiousness
323. 11:53usually comes from not knowing about
324. 11:55something and creating an Moc is a great
325. 11:58way to figure it out for yourself and by
326. 12:01the way it doesn't have to be learning
327. 12:03about a topic you could also create an
328. 12:05Moc or map a Content when you're trying
329. 12:07to make a decision I found the act of
330. 12:09writing things out often helps bring
331. 12:11clarity as to what the right course of
332. 12:13action is now you don't have to use
333. 12:16obsidian for all of this although I
334. 12:18believe it's the perfect tool for this
335. 12:19the important thing is that the next
336. 12:21time you're feeling some stress about
337. 12:23something you recognize that that is
338. 12:26likely coming from a lack of clarity so
339. 12:28create a new note and start to write
340. 12:30down what you think about things if
341. 12:33you're like me you'll be amazed of the
342. 12:35clarity that can come from spending just
343. 12:3710 to 50 15 minutes in that map maker
344. 12:39mode now obviously mocs can come in a
345. 12:41lot of shapes and sizes but I've found
346. 12:44that having a few clarifying questions
347. 12:45to get you started can be a big help so
348. 12:48I've actually created an mlc template
349. 12:50file and added it to my obsidian
350. 12:52University starter Vault you can
351. 12:54download the obsidian University starter
352. 12:55Vault by going to obsidianuniversity.com
353. 12:58Vault and it also includes a bunch of
354. 13:01templates tips and additional resources
355. 13:03to help you get more out of your notes
356. 13:05and ideas in obsidian