SGM's Digital Commonplace - Marvel Of Modern Engineering

By Richard Peck

A "commonplace book" used to be a system through which people could record the progression of their lives. Whilst quite a mundane idea, the real value was the underlying focus that it gave you.

The whole point of a "commonplace book" was to push you to indulge in intellectual pursuits - reading, experimenting with different ideas, and ultimately providing you with the ability to consider exactly what you wanted to "do" with your life.

The books used to be a combination of daily journal and scrapbook; the idea being that you'd fill it with studies, ideas, samples and book extracts on your "journey" through life.

Whilst not really practiced much anymore (it's known primarily because of the luminaries whose notebooks have survived - Isaac Newton, Leonardo Da Vinci etc), the underlying "method" that could be attributed to it is very much alive and prevalent in the modern world; perhaps more so now than back then. This is where the Digital Commonplace took heed.

A "digital" commonplace is basically just a commonplace book that you put into a computer. With modern computers working predominantly through the Internet, this means you'd typically set it up with some sort of web based service (many use Evernote or OneNote).

Now, whilst most people seem to have set up a "commonplace" through the various "note" taking apps, the MAIN problem you face with those systems is they basically have no way to "extend" any of the SYSTEMS that you may have. This is the core idea behind SGM's "digital commonplace".

What most people don't realize is that a "commonplace book" wasn't about "notes" or even writing down stuff you learn / identify in your life. That's what losers do; notes do NOTHING to actually push you forward. The real reason "commonplace books" were such a big deal even just 50+ years ago was because of the mindset they represented.

The inquisitive mind is the absolute CORE of all success. People who are intrigued by ideas to the point they will take time (potentially years) to figure out solutions / results they can be happy with. This is the "secret" to most of the notable figures we see from history; they didn't follow the status quo - but followed their own path and made their own discoveries.

This is what the "digital commonplace" has been designed to do. Not only does it give people the ability to monitor ALL aspects of their life, but actually allows them to focus on building systems which can be replicated and optimized.

Systems is what SGM's Digital Commonplace is all about.