Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c1219IR // #c1219Synthesis

"We tend to call extremely slow writers, who always try to write as if for print, perfectionists." "A real professional would wait until it was time for proofreading, so he or she can focus on one thing at a time."

— In our words · Source: How to Take Smart Notes (Sönke Ahrens)

[Use when]

You or someone on your team edits every sentence while drafting and the draft barely moves.

[Why it matters]

Finding words needs loose, floating attention. Correcting them needs narrow, focused attention. Trying to do both in the same pass stalls the work, which is what gets mislabeled as perfectionism.

Filed under situations:When you’re building the thing, not just planning itWhen you’re stuck and running on empty

More from How to Take Smart Notes

#c1208"The trick is that he did not organise his notes by topic, but in the rather abstract way of giving them fixed numbers. The numbers bore no…Your files or notes are sorted into categories that no longer match how you actually think about the work. #c1209"By restricting ourselves to one format, we also restrict ourselves to just one idea per note and force ourselves to be as precise and…You're building a library of ideas, research or reusable material and want the pieces to combine later. #c1210"Write exactly one note for each idea and write as if you were writing for someone else: Use full sentences, disclose your sources, make…You're capturing anything you expect to use in writing, a pitch or a decision months from now.

Same situation, different book

#c1387Burnt roux, start overYou're still trying to salvage something that went wrong too early to fix.From Matriarch #c1312Be willing to destroy the pathA project is failing and the team feels committed to the approach it started with.From Digital Impact #c1299Growth is slow and linearYou're discouraged that skills or results aren't compounding the way the self-help math promised.From Trade Outside the Box #c1561The Canon: Sensory Infallibility, Preconceptions, and "Waiting"Use when diagnosing why a high-stakes analysis, intelligence assessment, or debugging effort went wrong…From Lives of Eminent Philosophers