3 Things I Learned Last Week #90 – Smarter Note-Taking, Future Marketing, and AI with Context

Welcome to the 90th edition of “3 Things I Learned Last Week”! 🎉

We’re about to embark on a wild ride through the jungle of my brain. Each week, I wade through the murky waters of the internet, dodging clickbait crocodiles and spam piranhas, to bring you the juiciest fruits of knowledge.

If you find yourself nodding along or snorting coffee through your nose, why not share this newsletter with a friend? After all, misery loves company, and so does enlightenment!

This week’s mind-blowing menu:

1. 🧠 Note-Taking System to Remember Everything (Even Where You Left Your Keys)
2. 🤖 How Contextual Retrieval Elevates Your RAG to the Next Level (No, Not That Kind of Rag)
3. 📈 The REAL Future of Marketing with Seth Godin (Spoiler: It’s Not Just Cat Memes)

Let’s dive in faster than your uncle at an all-you-can-eat buffet!

—

🧠 Note-Taking System to Remember Everything

Ever feel like your brain is a sieve, but instead of pasta water, it’s leaking important information? Fear not, fellow forgetful friend!

This YouTube video presents a note-taking system so powerful, it might just help you remember where you parked your car… maybe.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Divide your notes into four quadrants, like a pizza of knowledge. Mmmm, pepperoni facts.
• Visualize relationships between concepts. It’s like playing matchmaker, but for ideas.
• Focus on key ideas, not word-for-word notes. Your brain isn’t a court stenographer, after all.

🎥 Watch this video and become the Sherlock Holmes of your own mind palace.

—

🤖 How Contextual Retrieval Elevates Your RAG to the Next Level

Ah, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). Sounds like something you’d use to clean up a spill, right? Wrong! (But wouldn’t that be nice?)

Contextual retrieval is here to save the day, turning your RAG from a wet blanket into a superhero cape. It’s like giving your AI a pair of glasses and a detailed map of the data universe.

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Language Model-based methods add context to document chunks. It’s like giving your AI a really good memory foam pillow.
• Prompt caching helps manage costs. Because even AI needs to watch its spending habits.
• Error rates drop by up to 70%. That’s better odds than my dating life!

🎥 Dive into the world of contextual retrieval. Warning: May cause extreme nerdiness.

—

📈 The REAL Future of Marketing with Seth Godin

Seth Godin, the marketing guru who looks like he could be your cool philosophy professor, is back with more wisdom bombs.

Forget everything you thought you knew about marketing. (No, really. Forget it. I’ll wait.)

🔑 Key Takeaways:

• Tell a story so good, it spreads faster than gossip at a family reunion.
• Develop a strategy that’s more future-proof than your grandma’s Tupperware.
• Embrace AI, but don’t forget to be human. Robots can’t appreciate a good dad joke… yet.

🎥 Listen to Seth and level up your marketing game. Side effects may include sudden urges to rebrand.

And that’s a wrap on this week’s “3 Things I Learned Last Week.” If your mind isn’t blown, you might want to check your pulse.

Not subscribed yet? What are you waiting for? An engraved invitation? Here’s the next best thing:

📩 Subscribe here: https://www.nathanonn.com/newsletter/

May your week be filled with more “Aha!” moments than “D’oh!” moments.

Stay curious, stay awesome, and for the love of all that is holy, stay away from email scams promising you millions from a Nigerian prince.

~ Nathan

P.S. If you enjoyed this newsletter, consider buying me a coffee. Or a book. Or a small island. I’m not picky.