3x5 index cards
a method of farming autistic rumination
theory
neuropsychology
default mode network
our brains, when doing nothing, settle into a pattern of free-exploration across unresolved emotional territories. experts call this default mode network
it’s why, for example, we dream when we sleep
see, when we’re asleep, our brains are also flooded with extra fluids that impinge on signal transmission, and so our hyper-rational egos don’t get to shape the story the same way as when we’re awake. as such, dreams are pure untethered metaphor
when we’re awake and sitting in default mode network is where autistics often get ourselves into trouble
we call it rumination
the problem is, we tend to loop. we tend to get stuck on some unresolved issue or feeling, and just spiral on a thousand reinterpretations of it, making grounds on none of them
neuroplasticity
this really becomes a problem because whatever we put mana into reinforces itself in our life
that is, if we put all our time and attention into dwelling on unresolved problems, the lugubrious aspects of ourself reinforce themselves too
said another way, if we dwell in sads, we become a sad person
autistic rumination
autistic people basically have over-wired brains
rumination is our superpower because of the shear cognitive power we can throw at a problem, attacking it over and over from a thousand different angles
rumination is our curse because of how easy we get stuck in it
why 3x5s
list-making in general
a powerful technique i’ve found to farm autistic rumination is list-making
lists are sometimes projects i need to work on. lists are sometimes sub-steps to other projects. lists are sometimes errands, or chores, or writing ideas, or whole new website redesigns, or artists i want to look up, or movies to watch with my mate
the point is: by taking ideas out of my head and writing them on a list, i simplify the space of everything i’m holding in my mind
this is not only cathartic, it can also be productive
3x5 notecards in specific
the best format i’ve found is 3x5 notecards
reasons:
- fully offline
- built-in limits on pedantry
- uses our visual-spatial memory
- no limits on formatting, layouts, or sorting
basically, offline good, digital bad
offline lets us sort, stack, resort, distribute, pin to our fridge, and even lose things when we need to
also, it’s hard to write a whole essay on a notecard. this keeps us from spiraling too deep down any rabbit hole
the remainder of this essay is about the details of my technique
technique
mechanics
card choice
any 3x5 notecards will do. i’ve found, so long as i’m not feeling broke, i like the brightly colored ones from Amazon. i random sort the colors. there’s no mapping of meaning to color, i just like bright colors for being bright
pen choice
sadly, the best pens in the world don’t exist anymore: “Uni•ball Vision Elite BLX.” these came in four-packs of dark ink, in the colors of Navy, Blood, Burnt Toast, and Pine Green. Green was the best, of course. they also had metal clippies which is good when hanging a pen on a magnet on the fridge. but anyway, these aren’t available anymore and i haven’t found a replacement that’s solid enough to suggest
any pen will probably do
space
it’s good to have dedicated space for rumination
this is pretty easy for stoners: just stick notecards and a pen next to the big vape
are we in a windy area with the windows open? keep some pretty rocks around to anchor cards
—-
discard is critical
the entire point of this exercise is reducing our brain noise by getting things out of our head
in a way, this is a vow: everything writ down on a card should be considered again later
but we do not have to keep cards forever. we can, and should, constantly aim to simplify
the whole point of doing this is catharsis
tidy lists
our main tool is copies and resorts
- copy — duplicate the non-scratched out parts of one card onto a clean new card
- resort — copy items from a card onto other cards they better fit, scratching out as we go
it’s often better to write an idea on the wrong card than lose a thought while searching for a better place
ultimately we may even fully discard some ideas
discard is easily done on the short term by scratching the words out on the card. on the long term though, we are totally free to recopy a card and clean up what’s left
we are even free to throw out cards that are not fully taken care of
the point is catharsis
we got the idea out of our brain, it’s possibly okay to let it go
wads
we can, and should, wad up old cards we’re ready to throw out
i personally often vaguely throw them in the direction of a trash, but wadding up is the important part. it is obvious a wadded-up card has been intended for discard. further, a crumpled card is visually distinct from a non-crumpled card in a way that can not be fully undone
layout
side
3x5 cards usually have a side with lines and a side without
i prefer looking at the blank (un-lined) side of the card
orientation
usually i’ll do long edge going up-down (portrait orient) but sometimes when sketching a diagram i’ll rotate the card to long edge going left-right (landscape orient)
titles
usually i don’t put titles on my cards. now and then i do, and i’m inconsistent on which of two formats i use. sometimes i’ll label the top of the card and draw a line under it. about as often though i’ll write the title down the right side of the card. probably the difference is whether i’m titling a card before or after i start filling in other details
overflow
when i am writing a line of details, if it has to overflow to the next line, i indent a little bit
if some idea has to deeply overflow to the back side of the card, i draw a little arrow over toward the right edge
lists
a card can be used for diagrams, music notation, or notes of any kind. the usual case is a card contains a list
for making lists, here are some considerations:
hyphen lists or naked lists
i always write each item on a separate line
however, it seems up to mood whether i put a hyphen at the start of each item or not
double-ended lists
sometimes we want to track two closely related lists together. Walmart vs. Home Depot shopping lists, for instance — the stores are across the street from each other, neither list is very long, it’d be lovely to have one card for both
this is easily done by rotating the card 180° and starting a second list from the opposite end as the first
stars on important things
sometimes some list items have priority over others. i like to put a single star * at the end of an item if it needs urgency
dots for units of work
sometimes some list items take multiple rounds of work. laundry, for instance, needs addressed periodically through a whole day
i like to put a little dot after a task list item every time i put work into the task. this gives some small sense of progress
scribble out
list items should be scribbled out when we’re done with them
this can happen for many reasons:
- finished a task
- copied the item to a new list
- copied the item just below itself to fix typos
- got tired of staring at it
- other
different styles of crossing out are prolly not useful
i sometimes scribble things out in different ways depending on the reason for the scribbling. but honestly, i’ve yet to find any value in such pedantry
splits & resorts
taking one list and splitting it into multiple is a standard action
recopying a list because it has too many scribbled things is also fine
in general, both of these fall under tidy lists, a concept discussed earlier
list density
lists don’t happen in one atomic thought. they begin with a single mark of the pen and grow over time
sometimes we leave gaps so we can loosely sort as we add items. this is fine. it’s never perfect, but it’s a useful effort
conversely, making divider lines is probably more noise than signal. again, it’s imperfect, and we often end up wishing we hadn’t drawn the lines at all
stacks and layouts
one or more cards together is a stack. stacks usually group cards of highly related topics
one or more stacks spread in some pattern across a table or floor is a layout. layouts are used to show us everything that’s vying for our attention all at once
stacks go deep, layouts go wide
the idea here is using our visual memory to sort what’s more important from what’s less important
i’ll sometimes leave a layout spread on the back edge of my desk for days or weeks. each stack i weigh down against wind by some small stone. it’s basically a big menu of every project that’s open for me to work on during any given day
state collapse
now and then it’s worth taking every card in our layout, and sorting them into one giant mega-stack
for me this is driven by having two homes. each time i transition one to the other, i have to gather all my cards and stuff them into my travel bag
but the action is useful even as an exercise. a total review of all cards, and collapse of our layout, forces us to evaluate what really needs kept, versus what can be retired
what is doable, versus what we will never get to
grounding stubborn cards
this all began by using cards to get ideas out of our head
what then do we do with them?
some ideas we work on. some projects we finish. not all. not even most, probably
how then do we avoid drowning in old stacks of unfinished cards?
this is where computers come in. when i have a project that is seriously back-burnered for an indefinite future, i like to write a planning document about it and transfer all the ideas from related cards into that. i just write plain text files, nothing fancy. these notes have no audience but me
point is, computers have relatively unlimited storage, and it’s mostly invisible to us once we put something into it. this is a great way to retire ideas
however, sometimes we have really wild and crazy ideas that don’t fit any project plan, but we still don’t want to lose them. for me this is things like story ideas, or drawings for some artsy photoshoot i someday might want to do
for these, i have a simple plastic box labeled “ideas” that sits in my attic. really stubborn cards i don’t have any other way of getting rid of go into that
takeaway
the point is finding ways to progress toward catharsis
