My Method

Starting in 2012, I’ve developed a relatively reliable method of parsing lots of information. Everyone has their style, but this may show someone else how to speak and write with ontological certitude.

The system is a bit like a hybrid of SQ3R and the Feynman technique. However, it doesn’t involve revisiting the same content twice, so it’s a perfect solution for the over-information age.

This method guarantees understanding of the subject at the cost of time. Thus, you must do it either out of neurotic obsession or overflowing passion for what you’re working on. It also requires a computer that allows copy-pasting content back and forth.

The Stucky Study Method isn’t a good idea for most people or most use cases. I doubt it’ll catch on as a trend. It requires a ton of patience, with the primary output being the notes themselves.

1. Gather

First, amass a bunch of content. This content comes from various places, and requires the habit of hoarding saving everything you think could be useful.

While gathering, make pseudo-categories for everything. To save trouble, group the categories as exclusively as possible (e.g., productivity, happiness, vacations).

Keep on gathering and categorizing until you’re ambitious to attack the project. Wait until you’re furious at the pile. You should be nearly losing sleep thinking about it.

The anger is important. Without it, you won’t be able to achieve the necessary focus to learn.

2. Classify

Now, everything has to fit into a likely output article. If it doesn’t fit into that output, shove it into a different grouping for a different realm.

By the end, everything should fit into a general exclusive location. Any sporks must fit into a clearly demarcated, final grouping. If too many things are in a particular category, they need an entirely different class or subclass altogether.

Fiddly, weird sporks that refuse to fit into a classification should create an existential dilemma. If you’re not sure where to place a spork, then define rigid and detailed rules that force an exclusive category.

If more categorization creates more sporks, you’re looking at it wrong and must back up and redefine truly exclusive categories. It can help to spend some time meditating on it.

3. Write

I don’t personally like outlines, and can’t really wrap my head around them. “The best-laid plans”, after all, waste time.

Instead, start writing a flow of how you feel it would fit together. Use as close a medium as possible as your finished product (I use markdown files).

You have the advantage of passive understanding: the previous step meant you were skimming the titles of everything back-and-forth.

While transcribing and summarizing the first article (A), interpose it with direct personal experience (a). It’s a good idea to start with a general course or basic outline of the subject:

  1. A
  2. A
  3. Aa
  4. Aa
  5. A
  6. A

Then, splice in things from another article (B):

  1. A
  2. A
  3. Aa
  4. B
  5. Aa
  6. A
  7. B
  8. B
  9. A

A third article (C) may have 1-2 good sentences or ideas, but not much else:

  1. A
  2. A
  3. Aa
  4. B
  5. Aa
  6. A
  7. C
  8. B
  9. B
  10. A

Another article (D) will have a gigantic section that does a better job than the second article (B):

  1. A
  2. A
  3. Aa
  4. B
  5. Aa
  6. A
  7. C
  8. D
  9. A

You may read or skim a book (E) that provides a vastly superior flow of reasoning. After some inner debate, change the entire order of the article with the content practically the same:

  1. D
  2. E
  3. A
  4. C
  5. A
  6. Aa
  7. B
  8. Aa
  9. A
  10. A

Then, a block of paragraphs will distill into a few sentences:

  1. D
  2. E
  3. AC
  4. A
  5. AaB
  6. AaA
  7. A

Lather, rinse, and repeat for all the articles in that section:

  1. DI
  2. EHO
  3. ACKS
  4. AFJN
  5. AaBGgT
  6. AaAXx
  7. AH
  8. LPRW
  9. M
  10. QU
  11. V

4. (optional) Sub-divide

If there’s too much content, break the entire thing out into multiple pages and link them. Each subsequent page will be a sub-page of its own:

  1. DI
  2. EHO
  3. ACKS
  4. AFJN
  5. AaBGgT
  6. AaAXx
  1. AH
  2. LPRW
  3. M
  4. QU
  5. V

And there you have it! Make some grammar edits at the end, and you’ve just worked and reworked through 150 articles/books/summaries/ideas.

While you were busy incessantly parsing this content, you became a subject-matter expert and a very proficient writer!

Conclusion

Success isn’t easy, and this approach is inherently difficult. However, it repetitively revisits information dozens of times (and, more importantly, does something with that information).

This is not the easiest way to write a high-quality article. However, I believe it’s the most rewarding.

If you go through this rigor, you’ll remember and understand everything from many angles. This makes everything easier when you actually want to do something with the information.