Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 17Member-onlyThe napkin and the whiteboard are tools for thought tooNote-takers, be aware of the tourist syndrome — There are notes born to be burned. Sometimes, taking notes is only about taking notes, without being worried about capturing the notes and keeping them in a folder, the cloud, or an app. The fact we have the technology — note-taking apps, tools for thought, or PKMs — doesn’t mean…Writing2 min readWriting2 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 25, 2022Member-onlyDon’t Leave Your Personal Problems At Home3 things to learn and do about emotions at work (and at personal productivity also) — There is this new trend in leadership and management that finally talks about emotions at work. You may have heard that a good leader or executive is the one who can overcome stress, anger, and difficult social interactions in the office. The emotional resilient leader can be productive in the…Productivity5 min readProductivity5 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 23, 2022Member-onlyHow You Can Write a Book on Wisdom (And Why You Should)After the experience, the sharing — You have the right age to be wise. Or you think you know enough on a topic to share your wisdom about it. Perhaps, at the end of a big project, long relationship, school years, long trip, you want to keep your deepest learnings in place. Maybe, you want to…Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 15, 2022Member-onlyThe sound of writingCan you hear the music? Can you hear the muses? — The sound of paper Writing by hand on paper is the more subtle sound of writing. I love the soft sound of the pen scratching the page in my notebook as well as the sound of the cap of the pen when opening it; or the snap when pushing in, if it’s a click…Writing3 min readWriting3 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 11, 2022Member-onlyPower-Up Your To-Do List with Action VerbsLanguage makes the difference — To-do lists are one of the most common power and popular uses for writing, particularly for not-taking. There are different methods, systems, apps, services… And what about levels of structure? From the simple to-do list on a post-it or a napkin, to very complex systems with hierarchies, folders, tags, colors…To Do List3 min readTo Do List3 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 10, 2022Member-onlyDon’t respond, reply, or comment to articles or stories—hold it and do this insteadI’m going to tell you something contra intuitive. You might have experienced the need to write a comment or reply to an article that had resonated to you in some way. Here on Medium, in a blog, or a social network. Maybe you liked the content a lot, you might…Writing2 min readWriting2 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 9, 2022Member-onlyTimeblocking with a Secret Ingredient from My Tricky RecipeHow to lock in your most important and valuable time boxes — You may already know and even apply timeblocking to manage time, tasks, and projects. Some call it timeboxing. I like the last because it let me imaging I put time in a box. My most valuable time. Let me share to you an extra ingredient to make it better by…Productivity5 min readProductivity5 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 7, 2022Member-onlyHow to Be More Unproductive And WhyYou need more playspaces and fewer workspaces — If a productivity framework doesn’t tell you enough about unproductivity, take for granted that the framework is not going to work at the end of the day. Let’s be clear about this. You can’t be productive all the time. No way. In fact, you need to manage your unproductive time…Productivity5 min readProductivity5 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Mar 3, 2022Member-onlyHow I lied to myself about having a productive journeyNot all holes are rabbit holes — It was a clear and warm day… I was expecting to have a productive day. I had with me my to-do list, my coffee, my computer, the Wi-Fi was working well, my last-generation-app-to-manage-anything was open on my screen… But it didn’t happen. The day ended and my to-do list was identical to yesterday. Wait. I had an…Productivity4 min readProductivity4 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Jan 28, 2022Member-onlyTired of an overstructured system for note-taking? Try heuristics insteadAn alternative to complex methods for taking notes — Let me ask you something. Which application do you use for note-taking and note-writing? The Notes app on your phone? Google Keep? Bear, Evernote, Notion, Ulysses, Roam Research… Is this the same application you were using one year ago? What about two years ago? Are you finally using one app…Notetaking5 min readNotetaking5 min read
Adolfo Ramírez CoronainBootcamp·Jan 8, 2022Member-onlyTools for thought: faster thinking or for better thinking?Take your time thinking — Thinking on time and space Thinking is an activity that depends on time. We give that for true not just because we think about time as a real object or a resource, but because we think about thinking as a sequential, time-dependent thing. So if thinking lives on time, we think about its optimization: thinking…Self3 min readSelf3 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Dec 17, 2021Member-onlyBlack Swans Threat Your Note-Writing TooHow to shield your writing process to prevent the unpredictable — Your note-taking and writing are constantly at risk of Back Swans. A Black Swan is a very unlikely event but highly catastrophic. Some catastrophic events are not extremely unlikely. …Writing6 min readWriting6 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Nov 25, 2021Member-onlyFrictionless writing doesn’t existI don’t write to be in the flow—I do it for the whole experience — You want to make your writing easy, right? You want to write in calm, almost in a state of illumination, like if you were meditating, don’t you? When you think about being in the flow, heaven, nirvana or paradise comes to mind, isn’t it? What about when you imagine having…Writing2 min readWriting2 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Coronain[[Roaming Writing]]·Oct 22, 2021Member-onlyA digital writer’s journey (or a chronicle of note-taking problems and solutions)Word processors, text editors, outliners… and still exploring — This is part of the collection of articles Antifragile Writing and Tools for Thought (PKMs) by Adolfo Ramírez Corona. If this article was of your interest, you may like to check The Antifragile Writing Workshop on Maven where we explore ways to level up your note-taking systems; develop a personal…Notetaking9 min readNotetaking9 min read
Adolfo Ramírez CoronainConcepts Against Reality·Jul 21, 2021Member-only5 Ways To Avoid Cognitive Load Today by Stopping Goal-Oriented Views in Your ProjectsGoals aren’t everything — Let me guess, the first thing that comes to your mind when reading this article headline maybe, “How the heck can you have projects without goals?”. Fair enough. Let me give you the short answer so you can skip all this article. If all the things you do in a…Productivity4 min readProductivity4 min read
Adolfo Ramírez Corona·Sep 25, 2020Member-onlyOne Billion USD for Note-Taking AppsFrom taking notes to building a second brain — I can’t stop thinking in this quote about the market for note-taking apps. A market of more than 1 billion for note-taking apps is huge. Why? I mean, they are just note-taking apps, right? “ According to Verified Market Research, the Global Note-Taking Management Software Market was valued at USD…Writing4 min readWriting4 min read
Adolfo Ramírez CoronainUX Collective·Aug 7, 2020Member-onlyWhy mom was right about note-taking appsAnd one billion dollars reason to care about. — My mom is a highly-organized person. She has been the one who handles payments, banks, agenda, charges… and she has done that very well from what I can remember. …Product Design6 min readProduct Design6 min read
Adolfo Ramírez CoronainUX Collective·May 4, 2020Member-onlyThe 3 most important skills at workFor designers, developers, project and product managers, working at the office or working from home. — Do designers have to know how to program? Do programmers have to know how to design? Do you need a general vision but without leaving attention to details? The intuition of what the user wants or needs? Discipline? Willingness to learn? Experience? Social skills? These are the 3 most important…UX7 min readUX7 min read
Adolfo Ramírez CoronainUX Collective·Apr 23, 2020Member-onlyWhat desk setup would you bring to a desert island?Or to your home during a pandemic lockdown. — Throughout life, you experience a lot of desks and a lot of desk setups. …Productivity10 min readProductivity10 min read
Adolfo Ramírez CoronainUX Collective·Mar 13, 2020Member-only7 things you should know about starting remote workSharing experience in times of crisis. — These are the most relevant topics to take into consideration when starting to do remote work. I have learned them as a remote worker and as a remote manager, for both, operation and project managed business. Let me share my experience in a very relevant topic for the current times…Work8 min readWork8 min read