Access / Retrieval System
Fragments from imaginary dialogues
“How can I access my mental resources more effectively?”
“This is an important ongoing project of mine, which I call the Access / Retrieval System. This is part of a much larger project, which I call Operationalizing Knowledge [<link; short length].
The Access / Retrieval System is essentially a mental-checklist. More specifically, it is a combination between a checklist and a mindmap – a mindmap-checklist. It looks something like this:

All the nodes are mental resources.
C is the central access-point.
1, 2, 3 are micro-checklists.
Together they form the macro-checklist.
If the access order of the micro-checklists matters, it is a linear-checklist. Otherwise, it is a nonlinear-checklist.”
“What’s the reasoning behind it?”
“Think how many nodes this little network has.”
“13.”
“That’s a lot of information to access at once, especially when in the heat of the moment. By sequencing it, you make it more manageable, hence usable.
In case of linear-checklists, the access-order is as follows:
C
– 1
— a1
— b1
— c1
– 2
…
In case of nonlinear-checklists, the access-order is as follows:
C
– x
– x
– x
I like to describe this one as ‘1-3‘ – you access 1 node, followed by 3 more.
At this stage you evaluate which micro-checklist is most useful for the situation at hand, and start with accessing that.”
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