Author: Craig Constantine

Physical or digital?

August 19, 2022

In the past couple weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about whether or not to keep my slipbox physical or if I should switch to a digital system. There are specific reasons for having it be physical:

  • Physical “viewing” is vastly better. I can do countless things with markings, colored sticky notes, standing cards up/on-angles, pulling cards out and spreading them on my desk, it’s faster to make a few marks on paper than it is on digital. Some of that can be done with vastly complicated systems (always a bad idea to build those), but physical is simply better.
  • The small size of each paper slip (I’m using 3″x5″ cards) is a feature. Any digital system is going to let me put way too much on each digital slip. There’s value gained by forcing myself to think about just what to put on a slip.
  • It’s not digital. Any time I have to use a digital device, I’m that much closer to the things which cause me problems. Any time I can avoid digital systems, that’s a Good Thing™.

I knew all that when I started. That’s why I created a physical slipbox. But lately, the following things have become a problem, and led me to reconsider going fully digital:

  1. I have a fairly small collection of things I refer to that I want to be able to find quickly when I have computers handy. Where’s that awesome grammar and punctuation site that I love? What’s that odd–ball command to do that thing I have to do only rarely? It’s all stuff that I could figure out again by searching the Internet, but if I just had a little digital note, I’d be moving forward again in an instant. For this type of lookup, the computer is faster than the physical slipbox.
  2. Sometimes I really do want to put a lot of content “on” one slip. For example, I have these fairly large digital files of research on people that I’d like to be able to connect to people who are in the slipbox. If I’m working with the slipbox, and I find Jane Doe, then I want to know that I have a digital file for that person.
  3. For those larger digital files, I want to be able to write a URL which instantly takes me to viewing them.

It’s that last item which is really a big deal for me. To solve those three issues I was considering changing the entire slipbox to be digital (and giving up all the other positives of a physical slipbox.)

Fortunately, I kept thinking, reading and experimenting and I figured out I can have both worlds.

I eventually realized that I already have really large “slips” in the slipbox. I already have a collection of digital books, essays, and articles that are in PDF format. For those digital files, their corresponding physical slip has a doodle (it looks like a piece of paper with one corner turned down) that reminds me there’s also a digital file. All of those files are currently “on” slips below the “2” address in the slipbox. (e.g.: The “2tu3” slip has a digital file doodle, and there’s a “2tu3 – Whatever the Title Is.pdf” file.)

For my item 2 above (big digital files of research on people) I just do the same thing for those people. “Jane Doe” would already be on slip “4c1do” (which is a listing of “Doe”, “Donatta”, “Droge”, etc.) I can simply toss in a slip “4c2do1” with a digital-file mark (and name the digital file “4c2do1 – Jane Doe”.) The next person on “4c2do” who needs a digital file gets to be “4c1do2”, and so on.

For item 1 in my list, there’s no reason I can’t have a bunch of files where I keep little “remember this” notes. So I added physical slip “4c3”, and then every slip that might ever go under that address is a digital file. For example, my grammar web site is on “4c3wi1a”. But I never have to know or remember that. I just search for “grammar” and I land on that digital file.

It was item 3 from my list that had me stumped until I remembered Obsidian!

I simply have a folder full of folders and text files in the same organizational structure as my physical slipbox. Where I once had a bunch of digital books, essays, and articles tossed in one folder; those are now all stored under “2”. And there’s a now a “4” folder, with a “4c1” for people’s digital files, and a “4c3” for those “remember this” items. Back over in the physical slipbox, any slip that has a digital-file mark, I’ll find the digital file in the parallel universe of this tree of folders.

Finally, I pointed Obsidian at the outermost folder. Voila! For anything in this tree of folders, in the Obsidian app I can click “copy Obsidian URL…” and I get a URL like this one which I paste anywhere I want:

obsidian://open?vault=Craig's%20Slipbox&file=2%2F2i%2F2io1%20-%20Inconsistent%20yet%20persistent

I have the Obsidian app installed on all my devices. Any time I try to navigate to an obsidian:// method URL, it open the app, and Obsidian opens that file.

Physical? Digital? I can’t choose… How about: Mostly physical, but digital when it needs to be? Nice.

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The causes of evil

August 18, 2022

Look for the causes of the evil from which you suffer in yourself. Sometimes this evil is the direct consequence of your activity; Sometimes it happens after a lengthy period of transformation of an evil which you committed long ago. But the source is always in you, and salvation from it lies in changes in your actions, your way of life.

~ Leo Tolstoy

slip:4a981.

Or not

August 18, 2022

There’s no getting ahead with your podcast. There’s only adjusting your calendar and developing the discipline to keep separation between your production schedule and your publishing calendar.

~ Evo Terra from, «https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/why-youll-never-get-ahead-with-your-podcast»

Terra is laying out the eternal struggle which everyone who takes up podcasting soon discovers: You are beholden to the publication schedule. I mean, sure, you get to set your own schedule, right? …but then you…

Wait, why is that again? You know you can just publish whenever you feel like it. That’s what I do and hundreds of published conversations later across multiple different shows… literally no one ever has asked me when the next episode will be out. Nor why I don’t publish on a schedule. Maybe they’re all just ignoring me, or think I’m a weird podcaster. But know what I definitely am not? …beholden to a schedule.

Instead I can do what I want to do (have great conversations) when I am able to arrange that. And then I publish them. *mic drop*

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A burden

August 17, 2022

I have a burden on my soul. During all my long life, I did not make anyone happy, neither my friends, nor my family, nor even myself. I have done many evil things. […] I was the cause of the beginning of three big wars. About 800,000 people were killed because of me on the battlefields, and their mothers, brothers, and widows cried for them. And now this stands between me and god.

~ Otto von Bismarck

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Tasty numbers

August 17, 2022

For five years as a data analyst, I forecasted and analyzed Google’s revenue. For six years as a data visualization specialist, I’ve helped clients and colleagues discover new features of the data they know best. Time and time again, I’ve found that by being more specific about what’s important to us and embracing the complexity in our data, we can discover new features in that data. These features can lead us to ask better data-driven questions that change how we analyze our data, the parameters we choose for our models, our scientific processes, or our business strategies.

~ Zan Armstrong from, Stop aggregating away the signal in your data – Stack Overflow

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This one just has neat graphs in it. And it has some interesting insights about what data analysts do. The phrase “big data” has been tossed around a lot in recent years—the way “quantum mechanics” gets tossed around by people who have no idea about that either. This article isn’t about truly big data sets, but it’s a neat dive into energy usage as an example of some spiffy data analysis.

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What would make it amazing?

August 16, 2022

This process starts with identifying the things you want in your day, as if you were curating a small but thoughtful collection. What handful of things would make your day amazing?

~ Leo Babauta from, 5 Ways to Simplify Your Life – Zen Habits Website

slip:4uzesi6.

Sometimes I’ve not the least interest, let alone hope, of getting to “amazing.” Sometimes my days are all spiders, paper-cuts, stubbed toes, and sepsis. And then I think: well, actually, what would it take to get to “amazing?” The answer is invariably two-fold: I would need to cut loose from something-or-other, and doing that would burn a bridge, (money, relationships, etc.) Then I waiver. Usually, I decide not to strike the match. But sometimes… I just want to strike the match and watch my world burn.

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Better choices

August 15, 2022

And Stoicism, it could be said, is a philosophy about how to make better choices. This is what we see in a book like Meditations. We see Marcus Aurelius journaling, working to get better at choosing. Choosing the right things to value, the right things to think, the right things to focus on, the right response to a difficult situation.

~ Ryan Holiday from, Life Is Up To You: 8 Choices That Will Make Your Life Better – RyanHoliday.net

slip:4uryco1.

One of the first things you learn about philosophy is that the word means “the love of truth.” It’s the sort of clever thing a much younger version of myself would have bludgeoned others with. “See me study philosophy!” I long ago learned to set aside such cleverness.

Fortunately I learned that philosophy—at least, the sort I’m interested in—is about self-improvement. The proof of my work shows in myself… in my actions and the way I think, and is noticeable to those who care to pay attention. (I’m not suggesting that everyone should pay attention to me.) Surprisingly, at the deeper level of self-improvement, reminding myself that “philosophy” means “the love of truth”, has returned to being a great thing to trot out regularly… as a reminder to myself.

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Ignorance

August 14, 2022

A precondition of becoming knowledgeable may be a resignation to, and accommodation with, the extent of one’s ignorance, an accommodation which requires a sense that this ignorance need not be permanent, or indeed need not be taken personally, as a reflection of one’s inherent capacities.

~ Alain De Botton

slip:4a977.

Rumblings from the slipbox

August 14, 2022

I hear a rumbling sound coming from my slipbox. It’s a rumbling sound like that of a distant summer thunderstorm, after dark. It’s the sound of a giant, grumbling in the next valley over. It works fine. I’ve simply had an idea for something that I can only do, if the slipbox were digital. I’m tinkering with some tools to see how exactly I want to set things up if I switch to digital. Interesting times!

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Now

August 13, 2022

What we miss about our own beloved Good Old Days isn’t so much the material things they remind us of—wholesome 1980s sitcoms, or musty thrift-store sweaters—it’s the particular feelings those days gave us, feelings which are now impossible to experience.

~ David Cain from, The Good Old Days Are Happening Now

slip:4urate16.

Cain rightly goes on to point out, that while we can’t feel those exact feelings again, there’s no reason we can’t—right this very instant—enjoy These Good Days. Ten years from now—presuming, of course—I can look back and think with a chuckle: Remember when I spent a couple years going really deep experimenting with knowledge systems. That was a fun exploration.

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Self-respect

August 12, 2022

To live without self-respect is to lie awake some night, beyond the reach of warm milk, phenobarbital, and the sleeping hand on the coverlet, counting up the sins of commission and omission, the trusts betrayed, the promises subtly broken, the gifts irrevocably wasted through sloth or cowardice or carelessness. However long we postpone it, we eventually lie down alone in that notoriously uncomfortable bed, the one we make ourselves. Whether or not we sleep in it depends, of course, on whether or not we respect ourselves.

~ Joan Didion

slip:4a975.

This is the trick

August 12, 2022

Sanderson argues you should instead experiment to figure out what combination of motivation, and circumstances, and accountability work best for your particular personality. He responds well to tracking a daily word count in a spreadsheet. Others, he notes, thrive under the social pressures of a writing group, while others lean on deadlines to induce work. The key is recognizing that the urge to avoid hard things is human, and should be expected. It’s part of the process.

~ Cal Newport from, Brandon Sanderson’s Advice for Doing Hard Things – Cal Newport

slip:4ucabo38.

I’m filing this under “things I wish I had learned 30 years ago”. Some things I really track, and some things I just do whenever I feel like. One way or another though, it’s important that I be honest with myself. “Do I really want to do this?” …or do I just like the idea of being able to say “I did that”?

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Alan Tran: Journaling, Reflection, and Looking Ahead

August 11, 2022

Alan Tran: Journaling, reflection and looking ahead

How does the process of reflection and self-improvement shape personal growth and teaching methodologies?

Alan Tran is a parkour coach and collaborator from Raleigh, North Carolina. He’s the founder of Enso Movement and is a director for both the Art of Retreat and the United States Parkour Association. Alan continues to serve the parkour and movement community through active service and outreach.

I carved out the space to de-evolve and reinvent myself. In many ways, it wasn’t intentional by any means, at the start of my personal practices. But in many ways, it was a way for me to redefine who I was, who I wanted to be, and where my work would lead to.

~ Alan Tran (29:36)

The discussion weaves through themes of reflection, journaling, and the impact of vulnerability on personal growth and teaching. Through daily journaling practices, the importance of documenting emotions, achievements, and challenges emerges as a way to identify growth and patterns over time. Cultural connections, like the preservation of family history through photography, also highlight how past experiences inform one’s values and identity.

The conversation also explores innovative teaching techniques inspired by training a dog using communication buttons. This segues into reflections on coaching methodologies, the value of structured progressions, and how spontaneity plays a role in both teaching and personal development. By examining challenges like preparing for workshops under time constraints and balancing intuition with structure, the dialogue emphasizes growth through experimentation and self-awareness.

Takeaways

Reflection as a practice — Journaling and revisiting past thoughts help in recognizing personal growth and emotional patterns.

Cultural connections — Family stories and historical documentation preserve identity and values across generations.

Coaching methodologies — Structured progressions and spontaneity are key elements in effective teaching.

Experimentation and intuition — Creativity and growth often stem from embracing failure and learning under pressure.

The role of vulnerability — Being authentic and open fosters meaningful interactions and personal development.

Resources

Alan Tran @alanstran

Alan Tran on LinkedIn

Enso Movement â€” A Parkour and movement facility focused on coaching and community engagement.

A New Earth — Book by Eckhart Tolle that explores spiritual awakening and the importance of presence.

The Artist’s Way â€” Book by Julia Cameron emphasizing creativity through practices like morning pages.

What About Bunny â€” A famous dog trained to use communication buttons to “speak.”

United States Parkour Association (USPK) â€” An organization supporting Parkour practitioners and events across the U.S.

(Written with help from Chat-GPT.)

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Your best

August 11, 2022

To me, quality means doing the best you can with what you have to work with. Your environment. Your equipment. Your voice. Your experience. Your level of comfort. All of those things are part of your overall “working with” toolset.

~ Evo Terra from, «https://podcastpontifications.com/episode/making-your-commitment-to-quality-podcasting»

This is something I often struggle with. Terra is writing about podcasting specifically—something I spend a lot of time doing—but I have this problem more generally. It would serve me well to be thinking: Is this the best I can do now, with the tools, knowledge, situation, and skills I have now? If so, terrific! That’s great enough.

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Never how it actually goes

August 10, 2022

This is one of the main obstacles to forming habits. Our hopeful idea of how it will go, and then our disappointment and frustration with ourselves when it doesn’t go that way.

~ Leo Babauta from, Why Perfectionism Stops Us from Creating New Habits – Zen Habits Website

slip:4uzepe1.

Nerd alert: I’ve always appreciated that Babauta takes the time to craft the URL paths (often called the “slug”) by hand. They’re not simply auto-generated from the titles of the posts. I love that this particular one, about perfectionism, has a single-word slug that contains the word “perfect”.

While writing this post I spun off to discover Grammar Monster. Yikes! Driven by my perfectionism, that’s the sort of thing that I could spend hours in. I backed away from it very slowly.

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