For starters, you may be wondering what PKM is. (I wasn’t being coy; it’s just too long for a title!) PKM stands for personal knowledge management, and I want to talk about what that is, why it should matter to Christians, and what it has to do with commonplace books. Let’s start with the “why” and then we’ll get to the “what.”

Why Does Any of This Matter?

Thinking is important. Seems obvious, but this is an increasingly unappreciated idea. Our culture encourages us to mindlessly consume content — but that’s how brainwashing happens. We’re instructed in Scripture to have the mind of Christ and to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). How can we do that if we’re not even paying attention to the ideas we take in? It’s important that we carefully consider the ideas we’re exposed to, evaluating them to see if they are true, noble, just, lovely, virtuous, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8).

Beyond this, we become not mere consumers, but producers and thought leaders when we make the effort to understand and remember the new information we take in, and make connections between it and existing information to come up with new ideas and/or new applications for old ideas.

This is where Personal Knowledge Management comes in.

What is PKM?

PKM, or Personal Knowledge Management is most often applied in the context of PKM software — like Evernote or Obsidian — and this, plus the corporate-sounding name, give it an air of complexity. But PKM isn’t necessarily complex or complicated. In a nutshell, PKM is merely whatever methods and/or tools you use to keep track of what you’re reading (or listening to/watching), what you’re learning, and what you want to remember.

This is a longstanding practice.

Commonplace Books

For centuries, many of the world’s greatest thinkers and leaders kept something called “commonplace books.” A commonplace book is nothing more than a notebook where an individual records quotes and ideas that he finds meaningful and wants to remember. It’s a place to collect the things he comes across in his reading (and/or other sources of input) that he wants to save for later. Such well-known figures as Mark Twain, C.S. Lewis, and Thomas Jefferson are reported to have kept commonplace books.

This type of book is similar to a journal in some ways, but it’s less about recording one’s own ideas and reflections, feelings, memories, etc., and more a centralized location for taking notes on everything that matters. It’s almost as if it’s the notebook you keep for the “class” that is life.

Paper or Digital

There are those who still swear by keeping such a book on paper. The rationale for this is sound; our brains process information differently when we’re writing it out by hand than they do when we’re typing. But in a digital age, many people find that the convenience of digital options more than makes up for the benefits of paper, because they’ll actually use a program or app. And digital options offer some features that paper never did — like the easy ability to conduct a search on the whole collection of notes.

What is Your Preference?

Given all the options available today, individuals may have PKM systems that vary widely. Your method may be as simple as taking notes in the margins of a book (or on sticky notes or in a notebook) or making notes in your daily planner. You might send yourself links by email or in a social media message to collect them in one place. Or you might use dedicated PKM software like Evernote, Joplin, or Obsidian.

I believe this should be more of a conversation among Christians, though, because thinking well should be a common topic of a conversation in the Christian community.

Do you have a system of personal knowledge management (whether simple and low-tech or complex)? Are you noticing what you read, watch, and listen to? If not, how can you become more attentive to the content you consume?