The CREATE Primer

Get a feel for the complete CREATE cycle in one sitting while priming a note for future work.

The full CREATE cycle is non-linear and usually unfolds over days or weeks. At its heart is creative sensemaking, the process of turning information into personal understanding and original insight.

This primer runs the six moves once, in order, so you can feel the pattern quickly. I included the time for each step, not to rush you, but to remind you not to overthink it. It's fine for the primer to be intuitive.

Step 1: Curate

1 minute

Follow your curiosity, and when something resonates (that spark you get when something is meaningful), capture it as soon as you can.

For this exercise, we're going to keep it simple and choose a quote or simple concept that speaks to you in some way.

Save the seed:

Create a new note and add your chosen quote or concept, including who said it or where it came from (cite your sources).

I used the concept of the mycorrhizal network for this example. I pasted the section of the article that resonated, and I want to think about further. I also added a link to the article it came from under it.

Example: Curate

A linchpin in the tree-fungi networks are hub trees. Also referred to as "mother trees," these are the older, more seasoned trees in a forest. Typically, they have the most fungal connections. Their roots are established in deeper soil, and can reach deeper sources of water to pass on to younger saplings. Through the mycorrhizal network, these hub trees detect the ill health of their neighbors from distress signals, and send them needed nutrients.

Source: Underground Networking: The Amazing Connections Beneath Your Feet – National Forest Foundation

Step 2: Reflect

2 minutes

Ask yourself, "Why?"

Write 1-2 sentences answering the question, "Why is this resonating with me right now?"

The purpose of this step is to create a personal connection and increase the chance the note resurfaces later. This small reflective statement makes the information stick in your memory and tunes your attention toward related cues.

Over the next few days, you may start noticing connections to the concept everywhere. It's like when you learn a new word and suddenly start hearing it all the time. It's not being said more; your attention is just now tuned to it.

Each new resonance strengthens the original concept, the entire network of ideas, and your overall understanding.

Directly under the information and source, I added two sentences on why the passage resonated with me in the moment. Just enough to add context and begin a personal dialogue with the information.

Example: Reflect

I use cross-pollination as my garden metaphor for linking notes together. I've often thought of changing it to a root system, but I was never sure how realistic it was for so many trees to be linked via a shared root system.

Step 3: Elaborate

3 minutes

Add your own original thoughts.

In the full cycle, this is where creative sensemaking happens. You'll apply critical and creative thinking to transform information into personal understanding. You may spend hours on this step across multiple writing sessions.

For this practice, you just need to choose one of the following options:

Quickly answer "What do I think about this?"
Add one open-ended question.
Write one sentence on what you might do with the information.

The most important thing is to add your own thoughts, perspectives, and questions.

In the full cycle, this is the primary step for creative sensemaking. You'll apply critical and creative thinking tools to analyze the concept from all angles.

For the primer, you just need to generate one original thought about the concept to kick your brain out of passive reception mode and into active creation.

Example: Elaborate

How can I adapt the mycorrhizal network and hub/mother trees?

Step 4: Associate

2 minutes

Link to the first related idea that comes to mind

Think of another note, idea, or concept this connects to and create a link.

The associate step always starts with one link. You'll add more over time, but for now, just make one connection. The first that comes to mind is fine.

This single link prevents the note from being lost in your system while making way for future serendipitous connections.

When you connect ideas, you're mimicking how your brain naturally stores memories. Each connection creates new retrieval pathways, meaning if you can't recall the information one way, you can still access it through other routes.

The same concept works for your mind garden. Over time, these single connections grow into elaborate networks where ideas naturally surface.

Example: Associate

Looking at a graph of a section of the mycorrhizal network reminds me of a [[neural network]].

Step 5: Transform

5–7 minutes

Invite new insights to emerge through freewriting

Set a timer for 5-7 minutes and freewrite about your note.

There's really only one rule of freewriting. Start writing and don't stop until the timer goes off. Don't edit or censor yourself. Don't correct mistakes.

If you get stuck, keep writing. Write "I'm stuck," or "Why am I doing this?" or "I don't know what to write," until a new thought comes.

Freewriting quickly synthesizes the sensemaking you've just done and can surface insights you didn't expect.

When you write continuously without stopping, you give your subconscious a chance to:

Bypass your brain's internal editor that judges your ideas before they get a chance to fully form.
Produce unexpected connections your analytical brain might never make.
Tap into your subconscious knowledge (all the things you know but don't know you know).

Important Note: In the full CREATE Cycle, Transform happens gradually. New ideas appear naturally as you revisit, connect, and build on notes over time. You can't force it, but you can create the right conditions for it to emerge.

Freewriting is just one way to do that.

In the example below, I cleaned my freewrite up of many, many typos when my timer went off, but I wanted to leave in one little element to point out what I do in situations when I can't think of a word. You'll notice in the second line "repeat across x".

I couldn't think of the phrasing to use here, and instead of getting hung up on it, breaking the rule not to stop typing, I just put in an x, knowing I can come back and decide on the right words later. If you happen to be curious, I ended up using "Patterns consistently repeat across systems from micro to macro."

Example: Transform

The fractal-like nature of our universe will never cease to amaze me. Patterns consistently repeat across x. The Fibonacci sequence is the pattern most people are aware of but networks are another that you'll start noticing when you're looking for them. Neural networks, the mycorrhizal network, pollination networks, and the cosmic network of our universe.

Mother trees are also called hub trees and they're the oldest and are the most densely linked to other trees. Mother trees can even sense when nearby trees are lacking nutrients and send them what they need through the mycorrhizal network. This doesn't relate to note-making but it's absolutely fascinating!

The diagram of a section of the network on the site looks exactly like an obsidian graph view. It goes beyond an analogy for a networked system of linked notes, it maps directly onto it.

Step 6: Express

1–2 minutes

Give your note a descriptive title

Important note: In the full cycle, Express involves sharing your new ideas with others and adding your voice to the larger conversation. For the primer, you're practicing a focused form of expression by distilling your thinking into a clear title that captures the essence of your new note.

Based on something new you added during this process, give your note a title that clearly describes its contents at a glance.

Some good options are a question you added or an insight that emerged during your freewrite.

Giving the note a meaningful and descriptive title acts as a cognitive hook. When you see it later, it will immediately pull you back into the core idea of the note, making it easy to pick up where you left off.

Because I like to keep certain questions at the forefront of my mind, I named my new note based on the question I asked in the Elaborate step.

Example: Express

How can I adapt the mycorrhizal network to the Mind Garden

What you have after 15 minutes

A curated & cited source
A personal reflection that explains why it matters to you
At least one original thought or question
A connection to your existing knowledge
A brief freewrite to surface new insight
A clear title so you can come back to it later

Below you can see an example of a full note after the 15-minute CREATE Primer. I don't normally add the labels (Curate, Source, etc) but I thought they would be useful for the example.

At this point it's already a young evergreen note (a note with lasting, evolving knowledge). It still has some growing to do but it has hardy roots.

Important Note: This Primer ran you through the steps of the CREATE Cycle in order but the full process is non-linear and on-going. Your Mind Garden will grow through iterations of the CREATE Cycle over time.

Copy-paste template

Note: I've included the CREATE step headers to help guide you in the template. It's down to personal preference whether you keep them or remove them.

# [Descriptive title]

**Curate:**
paste enough for context
Source: [link or citation]

**Reflect** (why this, why now, 1–2 sentences):

**Elaborate** (a thought, a question, or a possible use):

**Associate** (one link): [[related-note]]

**Transform**  (5–7 min freewrite):

Next Steps

Keep this as your go-to quick practice for days when you want to CREATE but have limited time or energy.
Use it to prime notes that you want to work more deeply with.