Hi there,
I’ve been thinking a lot about how I actually learn from the things I collect and how to build a personal learning hub I’ll return to over time.
For a long time, I thought I had a solid system. Everything I read or highlighted was neatly stored, tagged, and archived.
But when I sat down to write or teach what I thought I knew, I came up blank.
There’s no argument or thread. Just fragments.
At some point, I realized the truth:
I didn’t have a learning system.
I had a storage system.
What changed?
I stopped thinking like a librarian.
And started thinking like a learner.
Instead of organizing by source, I started organizing by topic.
Instead of capturing for later, I captured to develop ideas over time.
That shift led me to combine two trusted tools:
A Commonplace Book, where I collect raw material
A Zettelkasten, where I develop my thinking
Together, they became the foundation of my personal learning hub.
A system built to help ideas grow, not just get saved.
Here’s how it works for me:
I use the Commonplace layer to gather sparks - quotes, questions, observations, book highlights.
No pressure to file them perfectly. I just drop them in and move on.
Then, when I return with time and focus, I process the raw notes.
I rewrite the ones that stick. I distill them into permanent notes.
Short, standalone thoughts in my own words and link them to related ideas I’ve already worked on.
Each of these notes sits inside a topic hub.
Over time, those hubs become dense with interconnected thinking and that’s where the real learning happens.
A quick example:
Last month, I rediscovered a quote I’d saved from Austin Kleon:
“You don’t need a map. You need a compass.”
It had been sitting in my Commonplace journal for months.
When I finally processed it, I rewrote it as a Zettel in my Creative Process hub.
It linked to older notes I’d written on intuition, overplanning, and creative constraints.
That small connection helped me break through a Threads post I’d been stuck on.
But there’s more than that.
It reminded me why I capture notes at all: to think in layers, not just hoard highlights.
Looking back, I think what changed most was how I relate to what I capture.
Before, I felt this pressure to turn everything I saved into something useful right away. Now, I let ideas sit.
I give them space to unfold.
Some never do, and that’s fine. Others keep tapping me on the shoulder until I’m ready to do something with them.
That shift has taken the urgency out of note-taking. I don’t rush to connect things anymore. I just keep building quietly and consistently.
Over time, patterns emerge on their own.
Some of my most useful writing has come from those slow-burning notes. Not the fresh captures, but the ones I’ve returned to again and again.
That’s what this learning hub gives me: a system that supports thinking at the pace of curiosity.
This system isn’t about productivity.
It’s about having a quiet, reliable place to think.
A place that helps me return.
Reflect.
And move ideas forward.
Creator Block — Andy Matuschak’s PKM Isn’t a System. It’s a Loop.
This week’s Threads deep dive focused on Andy Matuschak who is best known for Quantum Country, evergreen notes, and his “thinking in public” notes site.
But the real lesson isn’t about his tools.
It’s how he thinks.
Matuschak doesn’t take notes to remember.
He takes them to return - to reflect, revise, and build new thinking from old prompts.
One of my favorite lines from the thread:
“His PKM isn’t a library. It’s a loop.”
Here’s what we can learn from it:
✅ Write one thing (a concept, idea, or topic) per note, in your own words
✅ Leave prompts behind to push your future self
✅ Build return paths so old ideas resurface when you need them
The goal isn’t to save everything.
It’s to stay close to what still matters.
What I’m Building
This week, I’ve been finalizing the Layered Thinking Notes Notion template - a lightweight thinking system built around the idea of progressive note development.
It combines a Commonplace Journal for raw capture, a Thinking Notes layer for working ideas, and a clean system to move notes forward as they mature.
The goal is simple:
Make it easy to capture sparks, pull what matters, and shape deeper thinking without overbuilding.
I’m putting the finishing touches on the listing now.
If all goes well, it’ll be live soon.
Next week, I’ll share how I actually use these topic hubs.
How I resurface ideas, review notes, and turn learning into action.
But for now, I’ll leave you with this:
Don’t just collect what you read.
Build places where your thinking can take shape.
If this sparked something, I’d love to hear about it.
What does your learning hub look like right now? Are you using a system that helps you return?
Just hit reply, I read every one.
—Gav
