Zettelkasten

Highlights from the slip box. Notes revised in place.

1. NoteJul 2026

   Judgment only runs backwards

   I have never once known in advance which one would be the good one. The entries I was certain were the point turn out to be throat-clearing, and the one that actually holds an argument shows up on an ordinary day, at the end of a long run of them.

   So the ratio isn’t waste — it’s the cost of entry. Sorting is something I can only do afterwards, which leaves making as the only thing I can do beforehand. Produce a lot, then choose. Choose first and there’s nothing to choose from.

   See alsoEffort precedes the liking

   • writing
   • practice
2. NoteMar 2025

   Gratitude, made operational

   Gratitude has always shown up after the fact — lucky, grateful, what a day — reported like weather I happened to be standing in.

   Today it worked the other way. I was low, closed my eyes, pulled up one specific afternoon, and the mood actually moved. That makes it a technique, not a report. A cookie jar: you reach in.

   Which means the stocking matters. The memories worth retrieving on a bad day are the ones I was present enough to lay down properly on a good one.

   See alsoEffort precedes the liking

   • practice
   • memory
3. NoteApr 2021

   Effort precedes the liking

   I only get excited about coding after a long, ugly session with it, and I’ve been reading that as a sign I picked wrong — passion is supposed to arrive first, unbidden, and mine keeps showing up late.

   But I already know better from running. Running got good when it got hard. The enjoyment was downstream of the effort, never the reason for it. Things that come easily aren’t fun, because nothing is being asked.

   So the rule isn’t follow what you love. It’s: don’t judge a thing on a bad day. If it’s still flat when the work goes well — that’s the signal worth acting on.

   — after Adam Grant, WorkLife — “The Perils of Following Your Career Passion”

   • practice
   • patience