{"id":34704,"date":"2024-01-12T10:13:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-12T18:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=34704"},"modified":"2024-01-12T10:50:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T18:50:36","slug":"zettelkasten-overthinking-and-a-baby-guinness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/zettelkasten-overthinking-and-a-baby-guinness\/","title":{"rendered":"Zettelkasten, Overthinking, and a Baby Guinness"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

I have made multiple attempts to pen this premier blog. As a champion overthinker, I visited numerous rabbit holes to critically consider what a self-assessment means and what standard I compare. Framing my evaluation in humility may sound disingenuous, and efforts to incorporate humor did not seem as funny the next day. So, the cycle of deleting content and beginning again with a blank page continued. After a fair amount of time spent staring at an empty screen with a Baby Guinness in hand, I heard God’s still, small voice remind me of the fabulous Zettelkasten method that Niklas Luhmann used to capture and organize his thoughts. Yes, that is it! While my library of notes currently resides inside dozens of book covers, thousands of page margins, and occasionally an extra piece of paper folded inside to also serve as a bookmark, I have plenty of thoughts to draw inspiration from.

Reading is one of my favorite activities. Considering my collection of books, I prefer biographies, memoirs, historical and political texts, and other non-fiction content. When I began my job at Prison Fellowship, a national prison ministry founded by Chuck Colson, a former Nixon advisor and accomplice in the Watergate scandal, the ministry provided a welcome gift of books from Chuck’s personal library. He, too, collected thoughts, ideas, and questions inside the covers and margins of the pages, which are fun to read.

In addition to the required coursework, I am reading “Making Sense of the Bible<\/em>” by Adam Hamilton and “Letters and Papers from Prison<\/em>” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The inspectional reading approach learned from Adler’s “How to Read A Book<\/em>” has proven useful, and I look forward to further developing this skill.<\/p>\r\n

Taking notes is a natural extension of reading; however, I have been very excited to learn about the Zettelkasten method. I have already established a system using Microsoft OneNote and am working to form a new habit of adding thoughts to it daily. Admittedly, a small celebration ensued when I figured out how to create bi-directional links through the software. This program will help me capture and organize thoughts for better and more efficient productivity. While I may still enjoy a Baby Guinness occasionally, I hope never again to do so while launching a writing project staring at a blank page.

In 2010, the world saw the release of the Apple iPad, the term “Snowmageddon” was introduced by then President Obama, and Mark Zuckerberg was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. It was also the year I composed my most recent academic essay, which feels like ages ago. Today, I frequently write grants and other proposals designed to move people into action. I am blessed with a front-row seat to witness firsthand what God is doing to transform the lives of men and women in prison. Strengthening my writing skills by learning different techniques will help me tell those life-breathing stories better.

But wait, what about the Baby Guinness? A fellow seminarian taught me about this delectable treat in Oxford. It is a shot-glass dessert cocktail with one part Irish cream and three parts coffee liqueur. The Irish cream floats atop the liqueur for the look of a world-famous Guinness beer. I highly recommend it to alleviate writer’s block or to help craft a Zettelkasten of your own.

Enjoy. Cheers!<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have made multiple attempts to pen this premier blog. As a champion overthinker, I visited numerous rabbit holes to critically consider what a self-assessment means and what standard I compare. Framing my evaluation in humility may sound disingenuous, and efforts to incorporate humor did not seem as funny the next day. So, the cycle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[660,2986,1943,1026,2985],"class_list":["post-34704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adler","tag-babyguinness","tag-bonhoeffer","tag-hamilton","tag-zettelkasten","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34704"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34873,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34704\/revisions\/34873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}