Eventually Consistent: a PKM Allegory on Taking Imperfect Action Now

PTPL 133 · How plain text accounting is informing my personal knowledge management practices

Personal knowledge management, or PKM, is a broad term I use for how the externalised thoughts I choose to record in a digital format are organised. It’s about processes rather than apps, yet one often strongly influences the other.

PKM is a deeply personal thing.

The only right or wrong is how one’s practices help or impede the flow, the connections you are seeking to make between what you know, and what you are seeking to know.

I like to identify and explore principles that can guide an effective PKM system no matter who it belongs to or what it looks like. One such principle is that of eventual consistency, a term I first heard via Tyler Cipriani, in reference to the work of Dmitry Astapov. You don’t need to be interested in plain text accounting to feel the truth of the idea that it’s okay to start rough and refine as you go!

Plain Text Accounting Update and a PKM allegory

Here’s my report card since learning how to track my finances with plain text accounting (PTA) in hledger—

I’m happy with slow, because learning this has been a major challenge and progress is progress.

Dmitry Astapov’s full-fledged-hledger resource is one I need to grow into, but one immediately applicable principle is this: Good systems allow one to work towards eventual consistency.

It should be easy to work towards eventual consistency. Large and daunting tasks … should not require one big push and perfect planning to finish them. Instead I should be able to do them bit by little bit, leaving things half-done, and picking them up later with little (mental) effort. Eventually my records would be perfect and consistent.

It is freeing to use such a simple input method because I don’t have to have everything worked out before beginning. It’s okay to start with a smattering of knowledge and make adjustments along the way.

Now that my financial records have some momentum as they inch their way toward being consistent, here are two things I wish I’d known sooner about PTA:

1. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
2. Don’t enter transactions as you spend; wait until they appear in your bank statement

Not following point two from the start resulted in significant confusion, requiring hours of trawling through accounts. Now I match every entry in my plain text file with a single transaction in my bank accounts, in the order in which they appear. Pending transactions do not get recorded until they resolve.

Errors are much easier to catch this way. Entering data and checking it has become exponentially faster and more fun to do.

Yes, I said fun!

These days, the girl who could never do maths at school is finding the repetitive act of entering transactions just as soothing and satisfying as a good crafting session.

Point one above refers to things I could do, like entering transactions in any order, entering multiple transactions under one date heading, and importing CSV files. If those things make your life easier, don’t mind me. Go right ahead.

Manually entering each transaction in order of both date and its position in my bank statement is proving the best approach for the way I like to work with PTA. Manual data entry is also something Nicole van der Hoeven, as a hardcore YNAB user does, even though that app can import bank transactions directly. She says it helps her to keep a sense of intentionality around distributing her funds.

Perhaps one day I’ll be like Tyler Cipriani and master the art of csv imports. But seeing that Nicole who can, but chooses not to use automatic transaction recording, tells me that it’s okay and even beneficial to stick with manual data entry.

Just because there’s an “easier way” doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for me.

Yes, it takes time! But if you had time to spend it, you’ve got time to record it. It’s a good way to start building accountability into your spending habits.

Whether or not you use YNAB or plain text accounting, I invite you to consider what level of intentionality will work in your finance tracking journey. And, of course, in the way you make and structure your notes.

Take imperfect action now, knowing that you are working toward being eventually consistent.

Back to PKM

With so many ways to organise notes, the fear of doing something our future selves might regret can rob us of joy and lead to overwhelm. There are apps to choose, tags, folders, and YAML conventions to consider.

I say forget all that! Sufficient unto the day is the recording of notes thereof¹, or, just get it out. And by “it” I mean your thoughts, and other things you want to remember. Get it out, get it down, and sort it later. Solve problems as they occur, not beforehand.

To apply the aforementioned plain text accounting “Things I wish I’d known sooner” to note making —

1. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. This applies to apps, processes, systems, AI connections, and anything else that might distract you from where you want to be.
2. Don’t enshrine other people’s thoughts in your notes without also recording why they are significant to you.

I’ll end with one more piece of advice: if you are a collector of cool things that you didn’t create, establish a way up front to tell them apart from your own thought babies. How you do it doesn’t matter; make it distinctive and let find and replace take care of changing conventions if / when they need changing.

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