Chapter 4: The Weapon Library

Notion Template, Zotero Tags, AI Prompts

Mindset and dissection mechanics are useless without tools. This chapter equips you with three weapons that turn 16 mental models into automated research output. Copy-paste ready.

⚔️ Weapon #1: Notion Production Database

Each row = 1 paper processed in 20 minutes.

Database Properties (19 fields)

Property Type Maps To Fill Time
Date Date Timestamp 5s
Title Title Paper title 10s
Field Select (STEM/SocSci/Humanities/Education) Context layer 5s
Status Select (Pending/Done/Migrated/Archived) Processing state 5s
I-Core Text “Problem→Finding→Sequence” 3min
A1-Link Rich Text [[Note]]↔[[Physics]] 5min
A2-Action Multi-select (Topic/Review/Method) MAX 3 Action extraction 8min
A3-Tags Multi-select (★★★/❓/📈) Prioritization 2min
Background Text Field context 30s
PainPoint Text Specific gap 30s
Architecture Text Study framework 1min
Data Text Sample/variables 1min
Steps Text 3-step process 1min
Assumption Text Hidden premises 1min
Summary Text 3–5 bullets 1min
Insight Text Mindset shift 1min
Rebuild Text “I’d redesign as...” 1min
GroundTerms Multi-select (Theory/Method/Data) Consensus extraction 30s
NextWeek Text Follow-up reading 30s

Formula Fields (auto-calculate ROI)

OutputScore   = length(A2-Action)          // 0-3 points
MigrationScore = if(empty(A1-Link), 0, 1)
TotalROI      = OutputScore + MigrationScore

Four Essential Views

  1. KANBAN (Group: Status) → Visual pipeline
  2. TABLE (Sort: Date DESC) → Weekly processing log
  3. TOPICS (Filter: A2=“Topic”) → Research pipeline
  4. BRIDGES (Filter: A1 not empty) → Cross-domain gold

📚 Weapon #2: Zotero Tag Architecture

Three-tier system processes 20 scans → 3 deep reads weekly:

Level 1: CORE JOURNALS (your 3 field-defining pubs)
├── EDUCATION-Computers&Education
├── EDUCATION-BritishJournalEdTech
└── AI-JournalEdTechSociety

Level 2: PROCESSING STATE
├── SCAN-20min    → PENDING
├── DEEP-1hr      → PROCESSING
└── EXTRACTION-20min → DONE

Level 3: MENTAL MODEL ACTIVATION
├── #Atomic1      → Needs decomposition
├── #CrossDomain2 → Bridge potential
├── #Rebuild3     → Research idea spark
└── #Ground10     → Consensus gold

Weekly Workflow