Progressive summarization
Compress a note in layers, adding one only when you open it again
Compression happens in passes, never all at once. Save the passages worth keeping, then on some later visit bold the best lines inside them, then highlight the two or three that carry the point. The result reads at whatever depth the moment allows. Doing all the layers on the first pass is the mistake that turns a five-second habit into an afternoon.
People on record
Sorted by strength of stance
Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.
- Tiago ForteDoes it
Productivity writer · Building a Second Brain
Adds a bolding layer to a note only when he happens to be reviewing it for something else, so the summarizing uses attention he was already spending. He says he works to no explicit criteria, just whatever reads like the core of the idea.
Source: fortelabs.com: Progressive Summarization
Aimed at the same thing
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Protocol entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.