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The Knowledge Lifecycle
Table of Contents
Ideas move through capture, use, polish, fade, and archive - match effort to the stage.
Key Concept
- Raw capture gets tagged and dated - polish waits until reuse is real.
- Fade is a signal to archive, not proof the idea was worthless.
- Spend effort on polish only when an idea is in reuse - not when it is still a raw capture.
- Note Maturity names the stages this lifecycle tracks.
Level 1 - Recognize
The knowledge lifecycle tracks ideas from capture through use, polish, fade, and archive - match effort to the stage.
Level 2 - Explain
Raw capture gets tagged and dated; polish waits until reuse is real - fade is a signal to archive, not proof the idea was worthless.
Level 3 - Use
When an idea re-enters a project, polish it then - archive the spark that never came back after a quiet quarter.
Level 4 - Connect
Lifecycle thinking saves effort because polishing every spark burns time notes never repay - Note Maturity names the stages this lifecycle tracks.
Level 5 - Create
Spend effort on polish only when an idea is in reuse - not when it is still raw capture; Evergreen Notes is what survives a second read.
Examples
- The new set play lives in “learning” for three weeks, graduates to “game plan,” then gets archived when we change offense.
- The school FAQ note started as a fleeting capture, got updated all semester, then moved to archive when the kid changed schools.
Note Relationships
| Relationship | Wikilink | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| contradicts | Evergreen Notes | when stage-matched effort beats evergreen polish on every note |
| extends | Evergreen vs Fleeting Notes | Ideas move through stages - match your effort to where the note actually sits |
| extends | Note Maturity | Seedling → evergreen stages this note names |
