Resonance calendar journey
After having saved valuable, insightful, counterintuitive, moving, inspirational, funny content from more than 60 authors over more than 5 platforms and in the course of more than 4 years, I can search through the large database of knowledge I developed over time to scout for ideas to produce content myself; ideas to step back from the canvas of daily existence and gain broader perspectives; ideas to take action on relevant areas of my life at any point in time. That’s one core value of a Resonance Calendar, a digital storage of information—a second brain of sorts, as Tiago Forte may put it—where I can reflect on the moving trajectories of my interests during multiple years, and how my attention and focus fluctuated over the years.
A resonance calendar is a knowledge base at the core of the CODE framework as popularized by Tiago Forte. Capture, Organize, Distill, Express. The first three steps take place in a resonance calendar. Everything is centered around producing something of worth and beauty from the content you saved over time in your knowledge repository; like pulling files together from a well-organized cabinet storing knowledge from multiple years of a personal inquiry journey, remixing them uniquely to make those concepts more internalized. This can unlock powerful insights into yourself, your tendencies over time, and your shifts in interests in the knowledge you exposed yourself to.
Expression—the last step in CODE—requires cognitively demanding action (e.g., produce a video, written post, audio, art, etc.), and is where the most friction may occur, as a consequence. Action is the obstacle in the way of much personal expression, despite this seems much needed for every human being, regardless of the form and modalities of personal expression, because it is often suppressed by the overwhelming need to conform in everyday life, pressed against the canvas of existence. A systematized approach to knowledge capturing and expression can make a difference in removing barriers to action, because the system itself can take care of it, and you execute, like a business’ executive assistant.
I reflected on the personal insights gained throughout the multi-year journey of capturing, refining, and expressing knowledge, a habit I carry out every end of the week as part of a weekly reflection & planning ritual. It is interesting, to access a substantial database of valuable content through multiple years because it offers insights into my position in life at different stages, and teleports me back to those months, days, weeks — reflecting on the past and looking at the future with lightness, as interests and events arise and pass away, once again.