Field Report #9: Excerpting Instead of Processing

The larger our repertoire and – perhaps even more importantly – how well we are practiced with this repertoire, the more value-adding we can work with sources.

We need to learn that what really matters is not how we want to work, but what processing the source requires.

A common question in relation to the interleaving of books (and other sources) is how to keep the sources once you have worked on them. People are often surprised when I say that I don’t keep any sources.

every workflow should be understood as a tool in your repertoire. All too often there is a misconception that the most important thing is to find “your own way of working”. I reduce my contemporary critique to the following: I consider it another manifestation of the modern and exceedingly narcissistic belief that one’s ego is the most important th... See more

Processing texts is not an end, but only a means to generate the most productive sessions possible. I therefore measure my productivity not by how many texts I can process or how thoroughly, but by the quality and quantity of thoughts unfolded, the quality and quantity of ideas understood.