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Developing a Personalized Shorthand

Developing a personalized shorthand helps you write at higher bandwidths. That is to say, it will help you express ideas more rapidly in written form when brainstorming an idea collection sheet or recording an idea in your journal. Writing faster allows you to think faster, and when ideas come in rapid bursts, you are able to capture more of them. I have found it helpful to accumulate abbreviations and symbols for commonly used words on an idea collection sheet. This allows you to easily add new words near related terms. Periodically reviewing this sheet will help transfer these ideas to long term memory to ensure consistency. A further advantage is that when doing Mind Maps, the symbols and abbreviations help reduce clutter. This helps you fit more ideas on a single page. Here are the symbols I used to represent the chapters of my book:

The first one is a "not equals" symbol, because the first chapter was originally called, "Not All Thoughts Are Created Equal." The second symbolizes a river, because the second chapter addresses the issue of interacting with the "river of information flowing through society with increasing swiftness." The third is a miniature version of the figure illustrating the relative capacities of the conscious and subconscious minds, as Chapter 3 is about directing the subconscious. The fourth symbol is a pair of antennae being raised because having a mastermind discussion with others somehow increases our access to a broader pool of ideas. The fifth symbolizes the synergistic loop between the two brain hemispheres when we are engaged in activities such as Mind Mapping, which mobilizes both hemispheres. The sixth symbolizes the structure of information, with the small triangle at the top representing high level structural information. The seventh is a small computer monitor, since that chapter is about learning software faster. The eighth is a bolt of lightning, representing the chapter on energy. The last symbol is a miniature version of one of the Mind Maps in that chapter.

The table below summarizes many of the abbreviations I use frequently. Your collection may end up being quite different.

General
amt-amount
bus-business
co-company
ee-employee
e-entrepreneur
er-employer
mktg-marketing
mo-month
mp-metaphor
yr-year
pship-partnership
exec-executive
mm-mindmap
uc-unconscious
bd-brain dancing
ey-energy
ptnr-partner
- pause in speech
bplan-business plan
info-information
tech-technology, or techniques
ef-effectiveness
ey-efficiency
admin-administrative
dev-develop
char-character
w/-with
w/o-without
w/i-within
s/b-should be
res-resource
gen-generate
bal-balance
c/f-cashflow
b/s-balance sheet
i/s-income statement
stmt-statement
acct-account
acctg-accounting
app-application
diff-difference or differentiate
auto-automatic(ally)
inet-internet
mstr-master
/-and or
loc-line of credit
cust-customer
ics-idea collection sheet
lm-life mgmt
sys-system
amort-amortization
fin-finance
sched-schedule
perf-performance
otl-outline
#-number
hr-hour
dy-day
min-minute
lit-literature
req-required
comm-communicate












Meeting Notes
A-action item
?-question
N-note and file
->postpone issue











Notes in books that I read
B-belief
AI-active info
P-principle