I had a name for it.

It was 2012 and I just finished binge-watching two seasons of Mad Men. I remember wandering outside in the fields behind my apartment afterwards. I was in a daze. I felt depressed. I was upset with what I had just done to my mind.

"Why did I just mind f*** myself?"

(Nick in his 30's would never use such language.)

But I said it, and I said it like a broken record as I mentally staggered around those empty fields.

Then I stumbled upon the most unlikely thing. Something I had never come across before. A meditation maze.

Have you ever walked through one of these?

It takes time to get to the center. Sure, you could just clomp right over to it, but you'd miss the point: to meditate—just by walking—without having to care about traffic or stop signs, or anything. You just move through the maze and let your mind take care of itself.

And it will.

I think I went back and forth through three or four times that day, because each time I felt more and more of the haze dissipate. My mind was my own again. That experience gave me an acute understanding of the way over-consuming wastes our minds.

I hated that feeling in 2012, and I still hate it today. And I know I'm not alone. In fact, millions more are even more controlled by their devices—mindlessly consuming and extinguishing the flame of their own minds.

Yet, despite the unfair playing field we find ourselves in, where the algorithms are designed to devour our attention, we can take the power back.

Today, I want to introduce to you a framework that helps you diagnose your own knowledge needs at any point during the day...

The Knowledge Equation

A proven formula to improve your knowledge power.

Here is the image. We'll talk it through below:

Increase the top two, decrease the bottom two, and feel your power.

Let talk it through using my example of binge-watching Mad Men.

But first...

The Backstory

It started with Abraham Maslow.

In 1943, he put together the thing we call “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”.

So for a few years now, I’ve been fiddling on a Hierarchy of Knowledge Needs. It went through many iterations until the current form in this image:

Just to be clear, Maslow himself never created a pyramid for his hierarchy. But he did state that a lower level must be completely satisfied and fulfilled before moving onto a higher pursuit.

Which I don’t agree with. That’s why I always had a problem with my own attempts at a hierarchy of knowledge needs. Why? Because it's not a pyramid: our “needs” overlap!

What we need then…is a better model.

What if…we turned it into an equation? Let’s split the top and bottom.

Thus, the Knowledge Equation was born.

But what did it equal?

You may already know the answer, but I swear to you I didn’t. Instead, I had to interrupt that thought to go to the kitchen and heat up some water for tea.

It was funny. While I was impatiently pacing in the kitchen, waiting for water to boil, I had an epiphany. It went something like this:

“What does Knowledge equal? Knowledge…knowledge…knowledge…Knowledge is power. Wait. Knowledge is Power? Whoa. Knowledge equals Power!”

The famous phrase was right there the whole time. And just like that, the Knowledge Equation was complete.

And here’s a cleaner view:

Now let's view the equation through my example of binge-watching Mad Men.

• After watching several hours straight, I was dazed and confused (LACK OF CLARITY).

So the bottom half of my equation increased (not good).

• That led to me getting depressed. I wanted to make something, but I felt like I couldn't do anything at all because my mind was mush (LACK OF CONFIDENCE).

Again, the bottom half of my equation increased (double-plus not good!)

The result?

My binge-watching directly lowered my Knowledge Power.

Do you ever get angry at having your attention hijacked?

I got mad as hell at losing my most valuable resource: my mind!

That's why I fell in love with the primal shout from Rage Against the Machine:

“Take the power back”.

Here's what having more Knowledge Power means to you:

• Richer interactions with others
• More insights & innovations
• Career advancement
• Financial betterment
• More curiosity and wonder
• More joy and life satisfaction

Read that list again.

Knowledge, done right, is about feeling empowered.

• The empowerment to confidently show up in the world.
• The empowerment to capably create meaningful things.

Improve your Knowledge Equation, and…

…you’ll feel healthier of mind
…you’ll become wealthier of mind

Instant solutions to improve your Knowledge Equation

I put together an official Knowledge Equation Calculator for you. It will bring awareness to the weakest parts of your Knowledge Equation.

Then you can use the lists below to instantly improve your equation.

If you have a lack of clarity (high levels of Overwhelm & Disorientation):

• Do something different. Move somewhere else.
• Go for a walk, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth.
• Ping a friend or family member.
• Listen to ambient sounds or language-free music.
• Disconnect from digital devices.
• Do a brain dump.
• Do some freewriting and notemaking.

If you have a lack of confidence (high levels of Fear & Doubt):

• Find others further along the path you can learn from.
• Get feedback.
• Celebrate small wins instead of just plowing forward.
• Trust in your unique perspective: “You are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You”.
• Reflect on past successes, not just achievements, but especially the moments you adapted from failure and grew from disappointment (Growth Mindset stuff).
• Join a supportive group of like-minded individuals.

If you have a lack of capability:

• Do an Attention Audit to see where you are spending your valuable resource.
• Cut off some information sources. Add others that are better.
• Define what skills or abilities would help unlock the next step for you.
• Engage in continuous learning. Learn from experts.
• Practice notemaking.
• Make a list of knowledge skills you want to improve. For example, want to get better at Obsidian? Then consider getting Obsidian Flight School.
• Participate in nourishing social scenes and communities.

If you feel a lack of creativity:

• Do something different. Move somewhere else.
• Brush your teeth with your opposite hand.
• Read fiction. Read the classics.
• Do notemaking to cross-pollinate ideas from different fields or areas of interest.
• Keep an idea log or journal.
• Zag when they Zig.
• Give something a name.
• Practice notemaking techniques like “Spark to Remark”, “BLANK because”, and “This & That”.
• Join the Knowledge Accelerator (when it opens) to get into the next Writing Original Essays and Notemaking Mastery workshop intensives—along with two LYT Workshops.

​

Your Next Step

1. ​Use the free Knowledge Equation Calculator to learn which part of the equation you need to improve the most.

Improve your comprehensive...

...by answering the following questions.

• How has increased knowledge influenced your interactions with others?
• Can you share an example where enhanced knowledge led to career advancement or financial betterment in your life?
• In what ways do you feel empowered when your knowledge increases?

The Knowledge Equation is always in flux. But it's something we can improve, both gradually and in the moment.

I hope you can use the equation today and immediately have a framework to fix and improve yours.