Once you’ve captured and organized your thoughts, you can then work on distilling them — to see what you have and to make sense of your mess. (A fun term Aaron Draplin uses to describe his work.)
You’ve already done a bit of this by deciding where something belongs when you organized it. Placing thoughts next to related ideas. Creating small clusters. Setting the table.
What's for dinner?
Distilling your thoughts is like opening your fridge and asking:
“What can I make with what I have?”
You spot leftover roasted chicken from yesterday. A pack of zucchinis you bought on sale two days ago. A soup mix from Costco you bought on a whim — tucked deep in the back, waiting for its chance.
You scan. You ponder. You connect.
And just like that — light bulb — tonight’s dinner will be ... chicken stew.
Everyday practice
This isn’t some rare or special skill. You do it every day:
- When you cook, you see what’s in the fridge and decide what works together.
- When you get dressed, you pick what fits the day — the weather, the mood, the occasion.
- When you pack, you gather only what makes sense to bring.
You’re constantly looking, assessing, connecting, and choosing.
This process of "distilling" is no different. Same skills, just different stuff: thoughts, quotes, ideas, and scribbles.
Same skills, different stuff
So when it comes time to make sense of your mess — don’t overthink it. You’ve done this before. You already know how.
Just open up your notes like you would your fridge. See what’s there. See what feels right. See what works together.
Then make something simple. Something wonderful. Something yours.