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been much more helpful than writing the summaries into the diary itself, as I had done during 1982 to 1985. I have also kept loose-leaf binders on numerous financial and software work topics.

It should be pointed out that none of this information in a diary helps at all unless it is flowing through one's brain and being developed. Quite often writing just helps to focus one's attention. Other times it serves as a way of detailing and freezing a hunch that one's brain has already had. Other times it serves just as a memory device to stretch over years.

But if all information in a diary was already in our mind at some point, and there is lots of processing power to spare, why do we need to write it down? The fact is we don't, but the problems and issues involved must be expressed somehow so that the brain knows the problem must be worked on subconsciously. Writing also gives a feeling of having accomplished something, because one can point to the written paper as external evidence. So all that is needed is to thin, write to foucs, meanwhile discarding the extraneous writing, keeping only the recommendations and valid rationale. This is essentially what I converted to in January 1986. And note that in the log, I keep track of time spent writing so that I can enjoy a sense of progress.

Parallel to Accounting

In a strong sense, this technique is analogous to my accounting, where facts are like transactions and you can generate reports from them. Its evolution has even paralleled that of my personal accounting somewhat. Before October 1980, I had only summaries of the events of my life and pretty rudimentary accounting. The budgets were presented in the diaries of that period! But in October 1980, I pulled together all my accounting back to January '78 in a ring binder and began to update it monthly and I started writing transactional diaries that also contained analyses and goals. This went on until early 1985 when I had finally automated my accounting, and I refined it through late 1985. In late 1985, I wrote my first summary of events with Mac Word and in January 1986 I began writing my current style of diary, and my personal accounting routine had stabilized. Since then, in ring binders I keep essays and notes on diverse topics as my ideas evolve.

Probably having the accounting well organized and structured freed me to concentrate more on categorizing my less quantitative thoughts. When I had my finances squared away, and freedom to move in late 1985, I wrote my first paper external to a diary that considered LA versus SF versus Seattle.