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How to Write Mini Essays (in Obsidian) — Transcript

by Linking Your Thinking with Nick Milo · 3,742 words · 511 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00the mini essay is one idea on one page
0:03of at least 100 Words and less than 300
0:07it has a beginning a middle and an end
0:09and that's it you can write them they're
0:12simple they're easy they're fantastic
0:14and what's more when you write them in a
0:16tool like obsidian where you can link
0:18them to each other you create something
0:20really amazing an idea verse of your own
0:22thoughts that grows and value with you
0:25over time now if you're feeling stuck on
0:26that treadmill of just reading and
0:29consuming other people's writings so
0:31much so that you barely write yourself
0:33then the mini essay might be one of the
0:35most important tools to help you unlock
0:37those sticking points and start writing
0:40some of your best work in this
0:41walkthrough I want to share with you the
0:44benefits of mini essays three ways that
0:46you can Kickstart your writing of mini
0:48essays and three examples with workflows
0:51of essays that I wrote myself are you
0:53ready all right let's go okay before I
0:55show you how I have written many essays
0:58and how I write many essays we have to
1:00talk about the benefits why even write
1:02them in the first place and it really
1:04boils down to three things the first one
1:06is it optimizes for the generation
1:08effect now this is what a bunch of
1:10research has shown us that the
1:12generation effect when you write
1:14something in your own words that you're
1:15learning it leads to improved
1:18comprehension and improved recall two
1:21really valuable things now the research
1:24doesn't say this but something that
1:26creators and writers know in our bones
1:29is that when when you write something
1:31you don't just improve comprehension and
1:33recall you actually catalyze more
1:35insights you you generate more meaning
1:37and you actually develop a bit of an
1:40intuitive sense when it comes to the
1:42topic at hand and all of that leads to
1:44this expanding surface area of luck of
1:47happy accidents of innovative thinking
1:49all this is accomplished by writing by
1:51writing your original words even if
1:54they're influenced by something that you
1:55read in fact they're going to be they're
1:58going to be influenced by the out world
2:00but what matters is how you take those
2:02Sparks and and go to remarks and that's
2:05what we'll cover in this next bit and
2:07one more I want to give a shout out to
2:08Odyssey whose YouTube channel really
2:11blew up recently thanks to a few videos
2:13including one on Mini essays and there's
2:16another Point that's relating to the
2:19generation effect which is when you
2:21write something in your own words like
2:24in a mini essay you uncover the gaps in
2:26your own understanding so thank you
2:28Odyssey for bringing light to the power
2:31of an essay especially a mini essay and
2:33after this video you should go watch
2:34that one the second benefit is that we
2:36are optimizing for the finan effect this
2:39is where the best way to learn is to
2:42teach so if we can put ourselves in an
2:44environment where we're crafting a very
2:46simple story just over 100 words with a
2:48beginning middle and end we can actually
2:51learn faster by having an audience that
2:55we're teaching even if that audience is
2:57just us in the future and number number
3:00three it optimizes for note making not
3:03note taking if you want to better
3:05understand things put them in your own
3:07words with your own insights and
3:09experiences the value of note making is
3:11that you get to understand your world
3:14better as you're creating meaningful
3:16things it's the best of both worlds so
3:19those are the three benefits combined
3:20and why I'm so excited by the mini essay
3:23is because it combines all these
3:25benefits into the most ideal measurable
3:29piece of work in anyone's knowledge work
3:32and even many creative efforts you know
3:35if you've written one or if you haven't
3:38it's fun it's simple it's effective and
3:40it has all these benefits so without
3:41further Ado let's go into how we even
3:44start the process it all starts with the
3:46spark boom kapow zap something resonates
3:50with you you're walking around the world
3:51and you say that's interesting or that's
3:55important when you do don't stop there
3:57don't continue to scroll that's the bad
3:59habit that we all have a bit of in the
4:01digital age we're just on these digital
4:04hamster wheels scrolling and scrolling
4:07and scrolling and some way somehow we
4:10have to get off the wheel and the best
4:12easiest simplest funnest way to get off
4:15this hamster wheel of consuming too much
4:17is to Simply say because that's
4:19interesting because that's important to
4:22me because and whatever you say next it
4:25doesn't matter what you say next it
4:26doesn't matter if it's any good if you
4:28even like what you say next the the
4:29point is that you go from leaning back
4:32to leaning forward you're active you're
4:35engaged and you're thinking and writing
4:37in your own words that's how we go from
4:40spark to remark that is the value of not
4:42making and it's the start of something
4:44meaningful it could be the start of a
4:46mini essay so in this next section I
4:48want to cover the three techniques that
4:50can Kickstart your actual mini essays
4:52let's go now you've found something that
4:54sparked with you you've captured it
4:56you've put it into a note and you've
4:57even added your own remarks so you've
4:59gone from from a spark to a remark and
5:00you said why it's interesting but you
5:02might be thinking well how am I supposed
5:04to write something that has a beginning
5:06a middle and an end and I think that
5:09it's helpful to just have a few
5:11Frameworks to get us rolling faster to
5:14Kickstart our efforts so I want to share
5:16with you three fast ones and then give
5:17you actual examples of how I use these
5:20in actual mini essays that I've written
5:22and shared with others so these three
5:23techniques can be boiled simply down to
5:26experience opinion and event so the
5:29first one is experience you might start
5:31your essay by saying there I was 10,000
5:34ft above the air without a parachute
5:36wondering how I got there well okay
5:38we're hooked we want to know what's
5:40going to happen next so assuming
5:42something like that may have happened to
5:43you we're in we want to know what's
5:45going to happen that's a good start to
5:46an essay and all we're talking about is
5:49you sharing a personal experience that's
5:52it just start with an experience but
5:54lure Us in hook us with that so that's
5:56number one experience now number two is
5:58one of my favorites and and that's
6:00opinion so actually starting with just a
6:02really strong statement you might say
6:05strong statement and it's important
6:07because of this now I'm going to share
6:09why and give you a couple takeaways boom
6:11mini essay is over I think I lean on the
6:12first two a lot experience and opinion
6:14but the third one I'd like to share is
6:16event where you can simply say on this
6:19date this happened it's important
6:20because of XYZ I will share the reasons
6:23below and then I will also provide a
6:25couple takeaways boom you're done with a
6:27mini essay and remember the whole proc
6:29process of the mini essay you're
6:30improving your comprehension your recall
6:32you're finding gaps in your
6:33understanding as you're catalyzing new
6:36insights generating connections and
6:38creating some of your best works all
6:40this is happening just because you put
6:42the right forcing function in front of
6:44you a simple essay that's based on one
6:46idea on one page just over 100 words up
6:49to about 300 now of course there are
6:51plenty of more ways to Kickstart your
6:54essay writing efforts but these are
6:56three that I like to go to and I want to
6:57share with you three actual examples
7:00workflows all the way through with
7:02techniques along the way about how I did
7:04this myself are you ready for that I'm
7:06about to share my screen so let's get
7:08into it okay we're in you can see how I
7:11wrote this in my idea verse in obsidian
7:15this is a single note it has a bunch of
7:17different links we'll ignore those for
7:19now we're going to go down to the new
7:21section how I wrote three different
7:23kinds of mini essay let's just hop into
7:25it the first one is based on experience
7:29this thing thing happened to me so the
7:31Sparks here were I went to watch Dune
7:34part one and I was hyped up about it
7:36ready to be blown away and I was
7:38disappointed a couple years later I go
7:40to watch Dune part ton I'm expecting to
7:42be disappointed and I leave hyped up so
7:45what's this all about I had this
7:47experience I wanted to write about it
7:49how did I choose to write about it as a
7:52freewrite so I'm just going to write
7:54Loosely about something I love the
7:56freewrite because it gives me permission
7:58just to go wherever my mind takes me so
8:00as I wrote and this is the power of the
8:03free I discovered what I wanted to say
8:07that's it right there it wasn't that the
8:11hype was real it was that hype itself
8:15hype itself is real and so you can see
8:17what I wrote here let me just zoom out
8:19like how I would normally look at it so
8:20it's on a single page and this turned
8:22out to be 206 actual words when we get
8:26rid of some of the U the links that if
8:28if I click into a few of these notes
8:30you'll see that there are some extra
8:31words so we had 206 words this is a mini
8:35essay it's a story and it starts with my
8:39experience I just saw doe part two at
8:41this place and the hype is real and what
8:44I mean by that is hype itself is real
8:47and this was me writing about it
8:49figuring that out for my for the first
8:51time I didn't know what I was going to
8:53say until I started to say it and in
8:56fact let's see how do I I know what I
9:00think till I see what I link is another
9:03way that I talk about that to myself now
9:07I had free written freewrite to Insight
9:10I had my insight and it was hype is real
9:13now I wanted to rewrite it with that
9:15Kickstarter in mind so once I knew hype
9:18is reals like the big takeaway for me is
9:21I wanted to write with my newsletter in
9:23mind about this
9:25experience and that's what I came away
9:27with so if we just really quickly
9:29reflect on the techniques I had an
9:31experience and I chose to free write a
9:33free write led to an Insight that
9:36Insight led to me wanting to rewrite so
9:39if we look at this mini essay canvas I
9:41just spun up something very basic for us
9:43this is the basic process you have a
9:46spark you make some remarks you
9:48freewrite that's going to lead well
9:50actually let's go to this one that's
9:52going to lead to an Insight Insight is
9:54something you can rewrite with an
9:56audience in mind and boom mini essay is
9:59complete so that is number one this is
10:02an actual practical example can you see
10:05how you could apply this yourself just
10:07as a quick recap start freewriting about
10:09something as you write you'll discover
10:12what you really want to say and then
10:15write about death the second essay is
10:17about opinion so if the first was an
10:19experience this thing happened to me the
10:21next one is here's a strongly stated
10:23thing so for me this was where somewhere
10:25on the interwebs people were talking
10:28about AI and and saying that eventually
10:30it will feel as mundane as flying in an
10:34airplane after you've done it several
10:36times and all sorts of things so my
10:40initial remark was you know it's kind of
10:42like there's this magic to mundane meter
10:46I was like write something about this
10:48and so at the start let me just I
10:51actually have something ready for you
10:52from a a keynote I did so all I had at
10:55the start was just something I wanted to
10:57write about and then later on a day
11:00later a week later I expanded it with
11:03bullets of things I wanted to say then I
11:06sat on that for a while until I came
11:08back to it and started linking to other
11:11ideas in my PKM system my idea verse one
11:16was that compound interest is like magic
11:19another was this famous quote from
11:20Arthur C Clark that you can see here so
11:24what happened what was the process with
11:27writing this mini essay first I made
11:29that remark and then I played Garden
11:32master so I just showed you some slides
11:35and what what's a powerful with this is
11:38that you can write you can capture
11:40something that's a spark you can make
11:42some remarks and then you can have it be
11:44buried for a day a week a month years
11:47and then something happens and those
11:51Sparks were Embers smoldering and then
11:55with a
11:56sudden ignition these ideas take a life
11:59of their own and then I jumped back into
12:01it I was like the magic to mundane meter
12:03let's explore it let's add these links
12:05and that's when I added compound
12:07interest in any sufficiently Advanced
12:09Technologies indistinguishable
12:11indistinguishable from Magic and I felt
12:13like I hit something internally I hit
12:15this critical mass of energy where these
12:18idea Embers couldn't ignite into their
12:21own essay you'll feel that too you'll
12:23know when that moment is if you're
12:24writing things similar to this when that
12:27happens we go from G Master just kind of
12:30walking around pruning adding this and
12:32that to linking things link to ignite
12:35and then getting to the re rewrite with
12:37the kickstarter and on this one it's all
12:40about the opinion baby here's a strongly
12:42stated thing so in this case as I was
12:45writing I eventually found out that what
12:48I was trying to say and it took me this
12:50whole thing to write about until I got
12:51to the end it was actually the last
12:54sentence that gave me the title to the
12:56piece so I had to write the whole thing
12:58until knew what I wanted to say and it
13:00was that curiosity is the cure to the
13:03mundane these things don't have to
13:05become mundane over time I can this day
13:08in fact today you see that I'm somewhere
13:10else I actually flew from LA to Atlanta
13:14today so I was on an airplane and I was
13:17looking out the window I was taking a
13:19couple photos like it was my first time
13:21ever in an airplane so even the most
13:24mundane can become magical again with
13:28the missing ingredient inent of
13:29curiosity I wanted to write about that
13:32so my techniques spark to remark guard a
13:34master link to ignite and then rewrite
13:36and it was just because I captured
13:38something that sparked I Loosely
13:40gardened I Loosely cultivated these
13:42notes especially by linking and then
13:45something ignited and I wrote about it
13:48the bonus benefit of this is that these
13:50types of mini essays can lead to brand
13:52new efforts it might be a published
13:54piece in my case it might even be a
13:56bigger thing that it develops into even
13:59when that's not your initial intention
14:02That's The Power of writing and writing
14:05something easy and effective and simple
14:07like a mini essay the last one an event
14:09so now we're going to write an essay
14:11where we just focus on something that
14:14happened so the spark was last year
14:16LeBron James broke the NBA scoring
14:18record and that was held by Kareem Abdul
14:20Jabar and I remember watching it live
14:22and and they paused the game it was like
14:25what what's going on right now like
14:27there was basketball and then for the
14:28next 15 minutes maybe 20 minutes it was
14:32a ceremony for maybe 25 30 I don't know
14:35uh there was just a ceremony on the
14:37court in the middle of a basketball game
14:39to celebrate LeBron James breaking This
14:41Record now because I read up on it
14:44afterwards the YouTube algorithm fed me
14:47when Kareem Abdul Jabar broke the
14:49scoring record in
14:5084 and that was such such a more quaint
14:54experience they didn't stop the game
14:55they waited till they're back in Los
14:57Angeles in a Lakers home game and then
14:59before the game they had a bit of a
15:01ceremony and so I found that this this
15:05was 39 40 years had pass and it was such
15:07a different different experience so it
15:11made me want to do research and I did a
15:13tremendous amount of research you can
15:14see this this uh this note has 2,000
15:17words um I'm exploring all sorts of
15:20topics I'm exploring Avenues ideas a lot
15:24of this hasn't gone into any outward
15:27form but it's really informed me when it
15:30comes to the Dynamics of sports and
15:32sports leagues how they evolve over time
15:35in the relationships between not just
15:38players but players between Generations
15:41all of this from this curiosity from
15:45LeBron scoring uh breaking the scoring
15:48record and I was able to finally
15:50summarize it with a really fantastic
15:53title LeBron's a billionaire but Kareem
15:56got a sound system and that's because
15:59during Kareem ceremony he was the NBA
16:02gave him a sound system and it sounds
16:04just so quaint that that's what he was
16:06rewarded and they didn't have to give
16:08LeBron anything because he's already got
16:10300 million from from Nike And he as of
16:132022 he's a he's a billionaire so all
16:17these different thoughts are
16:18encapsulated in this great uh mini
16:22thesis right here all of the
16:24intergenerational things and it it ties
16:27into strongly and what I'd put here for
16:30myself is
16:32c um and then I'd hit NB built on the
16:36built on the shoulders of
16:38giants and I even have a statement here
16:40that I I didn't finish but there it is
16:43load management is chopping it down so
16:45the Giants of wil Chamberlain and Kareem
16:48Abdul Jabar Larry Bird and Magic Johnson
16:51and then especially Michael Jordan all
16:53of those Giants have led to today when
16:58let's not talk about LeBron James let's
16:59talk about his teammate Austin Rivers
17:02who for his first few years in the NBA
17:05was or he started out as a benchwarmer
17:08and yet he was making as much as Kareem
17:12would make if he was playing today based
17:14on his 80s salary that's nuts so
17:18low-level players in today's NBA are
17:21making what stars were making
17:24comparatively relatively 40 years ago
17:28the NBA is built on the shoulders of
17:30giants and load management is chopping
17:32it down do you see the power we have a
17:34strongly stated mini thesis as the title
17:38and then the introduction is about
17:41LeBron James so if we go back to this
17:42one in February of 2023 LeBron James did
17:46this they stopped the game it was a huge
17:48deal so it's not the best intro but it
17:51does touch on the idea that we're
17:54starting with an event this thing
17:56happened February 2023 so what we're
17:59doing here is name it to frame it that's
18:01the big technique where I figured out a
18:03way to capture so much in a single
18:06sentence and then I can rewrite it and
18:09do all sorts of great things but the big
18:11technique here was naming it to frame it
18:13and so the recap and why I have this tab
18:15open too is at the end of the day the
18:18mini essay is the best unit of
18:20measurement that I'm aware of right now
18:22in knowledge work in the creation of
18:26intellectual capital and in many of our
18:28creative Endeavors and here here here's
18:30all you have to do just talk about one
18:32idea keep it to a page and do at least
18:34100 words that's it one idea one page
18:37100 Words and the best way that I like
18:39to go about it is that you're just
18:40writing about something that's
18:42interesting you talk about what the
18:44takeaway is and through that process
18:46you'll discover the title that's the
18:48order do the title last just talk about
18:51what's interesting what's the takeaway
18:53and what's the title so free right to
18:55Insight spark to remark and all the
18:57other techniques that we covered in this
18:58video
18:59they're part of my workshop writing
19:01original works and that's where
19:02participants learn and create their own
19:05reliable process using notes to write
19:08original works if you want to learn more
19:09check out the link in the description
19:10below okay so writing a mini essay is
19:12one of my favorite forms of notem making
19:14because what else allows you to make
19:16notes that force you to learn deeper
19:18generate insights and accidentally
19:20create some of your funnest proudest and
19:23best work as soon as you start making
19:25notes and not taking notes and as
19:27especially as you write these min essays
19:29you'll start to notice that your mind is
19:30sharper your insights multiply and
19:33especially your curiosity is nourished
19:35and I think some of you will start to
19:37wonder why you spent so much time trying
19:41to figure out the Dogma around zetel
19:44ctin when all that stuff is making you
19:46feel like you're doing it wrong what you
19:49need to do is open up a note talk about
19:51an idea keep it to about a page and
19:54write it in your own words link it to
19:56other stuff share it with future or
19:59share it with other people that's the
20:01process link those notes together over
20:03time and really amazing things will
20:05happen and it's that last point if you
20:07want to create a connected web of ideas
20:09of your knowledge and idea verse check
20:11out this video series where we get into
20:13it and you can learn how to create your
20:15own and until next time write mini
20:17essays and stay connected

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