The Daily Scott Scheper

600 West Broadway, Suite 700
San Diego, CA 92101

Issue No. 199
(Also available in podcast format)

TITLE:

What You're Building When You Choose to Build a Second Mind (Zettelkasten)

FROM: 
Scott P. Scheper 
Downtown San Diego, CA

TO:
You——but only if this page I wrote about You is true.

START TIME: 
Friday, 4:48 pm

Dear Friend,

OK, so I'm finally going to pick up where I left off in Issue No. 194. In Issue No. 194, I revealed how Luhmann warned against the most common practice most people make when trying to organize information——that of categorizing things into Topics and Subtopics.

The way one does this centers on architecting a tree-like structure. Each card is essentially a leafon a tree, with a fixed place. It's essential, Luhmann warns, that one never changes this number.[1]

By eliminating the complexity and stress caused by adopting a pre-planned category (like the Dewey Decimal System), one frees up mental energy. You worry less about the proper classification of things. Instead, your time is spent thinking, and reading your old thoughts. Exploring your mind, and evolving it.

The most important aspect of the structure, in the beginning, is simply this: there is no structure in the beginning! This, according to Luhmann, makes possible the creation of highly complex thoughts.[2]It's what enables one to create something so unique that only you can build, and that only you can understand well enough to communicate with. What you are building is the physical version of your mind. Actually, it's even better. What you're building is the physical representation of your mind's evolution through time.

Yet, something else happens when you create your own physical tree-structured mind crafted entirely from pen and notecards. It's something unexpected yet results in the biggest transformation you'll experience in life. You'll even start to notice others begin wondering how the hell you know so much; you'll begin to be labeled a genius by others.

I'll share with you what this is... in tomorrow's issue——but only if:

You...

Always remember...

To stay crispy, my friend.

END TIME:
Friday, 5:18 pm

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Zettelkasten’s infinite internal tree structure

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The Daily Scott Scheper

600 West Broadway, Suite 700
San Diego, CA 92101

Issue No. 197
(Also available in podcast format)

FROM: 
Scott P. Scheper 
Downtown San Diego, CA

TO:
You——but only if this page I wrote about You is true.

START TIME: 
Wednesday, at hell-if-I-know pm

Dear Friend,

OK, back at it. Yet before I pick up where I left off in Issue No. 194, I need to tell you something.

Here's the deal. I'm jumping around a lot, and quite frankly, I have no idea what the hell the podcast version of The Daily Scott Scheper will turn into.

How I'm able to do it lately (without going crazy) is by writing out early versions of the work that I've written out by hand. What you have been hearing from me lately, well, up until the last few episodes, have centered around my work in my latest fascination——being my undertaking to encapsulate the system for reading and writing and creating genius-level work. The system I'm talking about is called Zettelkasten, as you may be aware. I prefer the term Second Mind (or "2mnd" as an abbreviation).

2mnd has never been written about in a straightforward manner; but perhaps more importantly, it's never been written about in a simple manner!

What you've been reading (or hearing) are snippets. Fragments. They're like the Greek fragments of Biblical text that turn up in random ass caves every now and then. Like the one recently which surfaced Matthew 21:34.[1]

If you picked that up, you'd find this:

34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

The hell? Fruits and husbandmen. Hell I'd think I was reading Lil Nas X lyrics; not The Holy Fricken Bible.

So keep this in mind.

If you want to hang around and catch gems and wisdom that I drop on a daily basis, then you're welcome to hang out friend.

Otherwise, you'll need to wait for the fully formed and fully published work.

What I'd recommend, however, is that you stick around. Unlik other podcasts, this one isn't daily info-tainment, which sells stuff shamelessly. It's not a boring ass one that interviews whoever's people trying to hype their latest ball-sack of a book (you know, the one's that regurgitate biographies).

Nay, you'll hear actual, real, live, valuable info.

So stick around.

Always remember...

To stay crispy, my friend.

END TIME:
Thursday, 4:28 am

Footnotes:

1. Windle, Bryan. “The Earliest New Testament Manuscripts.” Bible Archaeology Report(blog), February 15, 2019. https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2019/02/15/the-earliest-new-testament-manuscripts/. ↩︎

Sincerely,

Scott P. Scheper

« No. 196

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How to Know If You’re Doing a Good Job

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Dear Friend,

In front of me on my desk sit eighteen hand-written notecards of writing with the very best material you'll ever read if you are anyone looking to create genius-level work made to last 200 years.

The most interesting thing I'd like to share with you today; however, centers around an ironic occurrence arising within your typical social injustice warrior crowd.

It centers on the existence of what they're labeling, *digital divide*. It refers to the *digital injustice* present in the world. It decries the fact that low-income areas only have access to internet connections of only 12mbps download speed.

I know the feeling. I was in such shoes at one point, years ago. I lived in an area wherein my download speed was only *5mbps*. I was even lower than what they refer to as an *underprivileged individual living in a rural area*.

A year prior, at age 27, I was living month-to-month practically dead broke. I was burnt out. I had been chasing business success by means of the startup life——starting work early, and finishing late——opposed to starting late, and working late like I apparently prefer.

My download speeds were of the lowest tier in my area. Nothing special. I had no idea what they were until I started doing internet download speed tests. It was *maybe* 20-25mbps on a good day.

After nearly a decade working hard, my hard work finally paid off.

A year later, I had moved to a *rural area* though. I was now living on St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands (U.S.). However, according to the *digital injustice warriors*, I was now part of the *digital divide*. My internet speed was less than half of 12mbps, which is proclaimed as an *inequitable injustice!* If I had read such propaganda, I'd think I was doomed. But at least I was living on the most beautiful part of the island, overlooking Magen's Bay. But still, a 5mbps download speed? Oh, and a generator that didn't even work half the time?——and yes, the island's electricity died a lot. Like at least once a week because it was a very hot summer.

If you've read about the *digital divide*, you'd think my business's performance would decline. I was doing *performance marketing* (affiliate) full-time during that period. I had programmed and automated nearly everything. For almost a year, I had been breaking my monthly revenue records. 

Yet, I was the one and only employee. *A one man wolfpack*, if you will. In other words, even more was at stake if my performance and internet speed was impacted!

How did I do immediately after moving to a *rural area* that subjected me to the strictures and constraints of those in the *digital divide*?

I did OK...

I blew away my previous monthly revenue record with $627,936.10 in revenue. But I'm not done yet.

The next month I did $918,521.42 in revenue. Next month, $1,011,483.20, and the one after that, I apparently wasn't pushing myself hard enough, because my revenue didn't grow by much. It was a mere $1,024,787.27.

The moral of the story is those who decry the *inequities* of low-income families having worse internet speeds, are going to end up taking away the biggest advantage they have——the advantage of working in a way wherein your focus is on developing your brain, not Google's. This comes from analog; this comes from unplugging, and it also comes from... being a badass who cares about making a legacy, not a living.

See you tomorrow.

Until then,

*Always remember...*

*To stay crispy, my friend.*

P.S. Oh, but P.S. Even though I was not given a penny in the business activities I outlined above, I must disclaim that I am... someone who grew

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The Daily Scott Scheper

600 West Broadway, Suite 700
San Diego, CA 92101

Issue No. 193
(Also available in podcast format)

TITLE:

FROM:
Scott P. Scheper
Downtown San Diego, CA

TO:
You——but only if this page I wrote about You is true.

START TIME:
Saturday, 7:44 pm

Dear Friend,

With the slip and note terminology cleared up, let's now return to what Luhmann deemed the most important aspect of the Notebox, or what Luhmann called its key "stellordung" (i.e. its primary functionality). Note that the key phrase in the paper's title[1] is communication and notebox. The most important ability it provides, according to Luhmann, is structuring it in such a way that it communicates.[2] Indeed, an inanimate object containing the precise representations of one's thinking, creates something powerful and "accidental" even. Its structure becomes completely unique for every single person who implements it.[3] How? Because it turns structure on its head. The only person pissed off by this notion is Mr. Melvil Dewie and his decimal system! Who cares, he was probably the type of guy who wore slacks way too tight.

Anyway, how does one build a system in which the structure becomes what Luhmann calls a communication partner?

It's surprisingly simple, however... It requires you resist doing one critical thing that every single person who's every tried organizing anything falls in the trap of. It's a thing that is so simple, in fact, that most people can't resist screwing it up——especially the digital diva's and PKM-junkies and other hotkey heroes.

What is this simple factor, I speak of?

You'll find out tomorrow!

Until then,

Always remember...

To stay crispy, my friend.

END TIME:
Saturday, 8:41 pm

Footnotes:

1. https://daily.scottscheper.com/zettelkasten/ ↩︎
2. "Communicating with Slip Boxes" by Niklas Luhmann. "This decision about structure is that reduction of the complexity of possible arrangements, which makes possible the creation of high complexity in the card file and thus makes possible its ability to communicate in the first place." ↩︎
3. "Communicating with Slip Boxes by Niklas Luhmann." Accessed May 4, 2021. https://luhmann.surge.sh/communicating-with-slip-boxes. ↩︎

Sincerely,

Scott P. Scheper

« No. 192

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TITLE: 

The One Thing You Must Avoid Doing When Organizing Your Notes

FROM:
Scott P. Scheper
Downtown San Diego, CA

TO:
You——but only if this page I wrote about You is true.

START TIME:
Sunday, 11:31 pm

Dear Friend,

Alright, where were we?

Ah, yes, a second mind emerges by creating what Luhmann calls an inner life of the notebox——a mental history of your mind's thoughts evolving through time.[1]

Now, you may be familiar with the emerging popularity of a certain type of notetaking app. These apps have the ability to link notes.[2] They do so by way of things called wikilinks (a sexed up term for linking notes). You'll find such software present itself as a personal knowledge management system,[3] or by its sexed up marketing term, second brain.[4] Hold this thought.

Recall, we left off yesterday at yet another glorious instance of Scott teasing you with a cliffhanger. This one revolves around a common practice that will destroy your notebox from ever becoming a second mind. Seriously.

So, what is this common practice I speak of? The thing that will destroy your notes ever becoming a second mind? It is simply this: you must decide, according to Luhmann, against organizing your notes by topics and subtopics.

Now, here's another interesting thing: you'll rarely, if ever, find digital notetaking apps that abide by this requirement. This is but one of many reasons why digital notetaking apps are such ineffective alternatives for the real thing.

If you ever come across the term second brain, you should know that you're looking at an app that perhaps builds a second brain, but at the expense of decaying your primary one.

A brain is physical; it's not magical in itself. You'll find out soon why you don't want a second brain; you want a second mind.

To learn how to do this, stay tuned.

Until then,

Always remember...

To stay crispy, my friend.

END TIME:
Monday, 12:34 am

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Issue No. 192
(Also available in podcast format)

TITLE:

Communication with a Second Mind (aka, a Notebox)

FROM:
Scott P. Scheper
Downtown San Diego, CA

TO:
You——but only if this page I wrote about You is true.

START TIME:
Friday, 11:59 pm

Dear Friend,

I realize you've been distracted by the hilarious bio I shared with you in yesterday's issue (Issue No. 191). That said, I must remind you of what I promised you in Issue No. 190. Oh, you don't remember? I'll refresh your memory.

In Issue No. 190 I took you down the most enjoyable etymological rabbit hole of all time. It centered on the word zettel. I told you I'd share with you Niklas Luhmann's famous paper on Zettelkasten.

Well, I'm here to deliver on that promise.

Below I provide you with a link to the Revised version of the said paper——the version of which includes revisions, much of which is outlined in Issue No. 190.

As mentioned in Issue No. 189, the writing style is, indeed, academic. It is, indeed, challenging. But for those who wish to grow and create genius-level work built to last, it is a reading requirement. Period.

Here's the link where you can read Niklas Luhmann's paper about Zettelkasten online:

Click here to read the Zettelkasten paper by Niklas Luhmann in its truest form

See you back here tomorrow,

Until then,

Always remember...

To stay crispy, my friend.

END TIME:
Saturday, 2:18 am

Sincerely,

Scott P. Scheper

« No. 191

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Dear Friend,

Not going to lie. I'm tired. It's 4:16 am at the time I'm writing this. I have at least twenty or so handwritten beautiful notecards I need to install into my second mind, my anti-net, my Zettelkasten right after I finish this episode.

Here's what I'm going to do, however.

I'm going to share with you a bio I spent the past two hours writing. It's for a massive performance marketing conference I've been invited to speak at. It takes place in the beginning of 2022, and is being held in Dubai.

Here's the bio I wrote for myself. Please enjoy reading it, but not more than the joy I had writing it!

Scott's Bio Below

Sir Scheper de la Mancha is, The World's Biggest Affiliate You've Never Heard Of With The Smallest Dong.

Here are some stats from his most recent eight years as a performance marketing knight: Scott spent $28,647,277.36 on display advertising. Personally. This generated $73,174,656.96 in revenue, and $44,527,379.60 gross profit. Nearly 80% of ad spend derives from GDN (Google Display Network). He looks forward to sharing every single detail with those who attend his talk.

Other accomplishments procured by this knight errant include most revenue generated by an affiliate for GlobalWide Media (Neverblue)——both daily and monthly records set in 2014. Sir Scheper achieved said records with little armor, and zero employees. His one and only compadre? A brilliant affiliate manager—more brilliant than Sancho, they say! I speak of Lord Chad Wilton, who you may recognize today as the ingenious COO of The Affiliate World Conference.

After Scott's spectacular adventures in performance marketing, he founded the cryptocurrency, $XYO, in 2017. The project is still run by an active team, and reached an all-time peak market cap of ~$180 Million.

Today, Scott splits time between three hobbies: the first being his true love—the craft of writing copy and non-fiction. His second hobby is building his own "personal knowledge internet" (comprised entirely of handwritten notecards). Last, but not least, is his hobby inventing personalities and storylines for his two cats (he's not gay).

Hope you enjoyed.

See you tomorrow.

Until then,

Always remember...

To stay crispy, my friend.

END TIME:
Friday, 4:20 am

Sincerely,

Scott P. Scheper

« No. 190

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The Term "Zettelkasten" Does Not Mean What You Think It Does

FROM:
Scott P. Scheper
Downtown San Diego, CA

TO:
You (If this page I wrote About You is true).

START TIME:
Wednesday, 10:13 pm

Dear Friend,

OK, where did we leave off?

Oh, yes, I needed to tell you about a glaring issue in Niklas Luhmann's paper on the Zettelkasten. It's not an issue with Luhmann's writing, but his paper's most popular English translation.

OK, so why are we even discussing a translation error?

Trust me. I wouldn't be writing about this unless it was necessary. However, the translation error concerns the most important word. The word is... Zettel!

Yes, there's an issue with how Zettel is translated into the American English version of the paper.

See, the term zettel was translated to the English word "slip." This translation is a type of error known as a * "faux ami."* Assuming you're not a linguistic nerd (like I secretly yearn to be), you probably aren't familiar with that term. Or perhaps you are, and regardless you could probably guess. A faux ami is when a word of similar form but the dissimilar meaning is paired.[1]

In the most popular translation of Luhmann's paper, "slip" falls into such a category. This translation is certainly not a member of the faux ami hall of fame. However, it's less fitting than the translation I will introduce soon. But before I do, I want you to understand even why it was translated to "slip" in the first place.

The reason "slip" is sometimes translated from "zettel" is because some translation dictionaries include multiple entries. And older entries for zettel define it as a "slip of paper." One such English-German dictionary consists of this entry.[2] However, "slip of paper" doesn't appear to be the preferred entry (or main entry).

The most widely used translation source, and arguably the best among all,[3] does not hold "slip" as the correct translation for zettel.[4] This source prefers the term "note" as the translation for zettel.

Great, but we're only getting started. We ain't done yet. No, Sah!

Although * "note"* is more fitting than "slip," it is not perfect. The reason centers on the original definition of "zettel." Recall, the definition was a "slip of paper,"; not its slang usage of "slip."[2:1] Hence, the appropriate translation wouldn't necessarily be "note" because it's too broad. A "note" could be anything——even a metaphorical thing, like "I'm making a mental note of how much of a linguistic nerd Scott is." A "slip of paper" isn't used in such a way. You can't say, "I'm making a slip of paper of how much of a linguistic genius Scott is." Therefore, it's not a perfect translation.

Yet, a "note of paper" doesn't work perfectly either. It's a mouthful. "Zettel" is a single concise word. In the context Luhmann was using it, the purest definition is "slip of paper." We need to find an English translation for such a concept——without it being a mouthful!

If we look into the etymology of "zettel," we find something odd. The term traces back to the same root of the English word, schedule.[5]. Yes, I know, schedule?!

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