4 ms·

How does one stick to any of these systems? I've tried BATF, org-mode, OneNote, and pen/paper. Each of which fail spectacularly due to overload and eventually

How does one stick to any of these systems? I've tried BATF, org-mode, OneNote, and pen/paper. Each of which fail spectacularly due to overload and eventually they just end up being forgotten about long enough to no longer be useful.

pc86 5y ago
What do you mean by "overload?" If that's why these tools always fail for you perhaps looking at that may give you insight on the root cause. I think the key for most of these, particularly BATF/BASS is the "always open" part. I've recently started playing around with Obsidian mentioned elsewhere and if you don't have it open at startup it's easy to forget about it. And you need to be pretty diligent at the beginning of adding interesting/educational things to your documents while you're still trying to form the habit. Having a decent organization system is pretty important too (one of the main failings of BATF/BASS in my experience). If I need to scroll through a bunch of development and business stuff to find that interesting physics article that is suddenly relevant again I'm much less likely to do it than if I have a "physics" document or folder I can see and get to easily.
- chapium 5y ago
  Overload is, it becomes disorganized after adding on too many things. BATF for example, eventually one big text file gets filled with no longer relavent things, and it becomes hard to navigate to find whats important.
D13Fd 5y ago
For me, my notes app is a program I use far more than any other, except for a web browser, so your question doesn't really make sense. It's like asking "how do you stick with Word or Excel"? I use the common folder-of-text-files method (currently with Ulysses, although I've used other apps in the past). Any time I need to write something down, that's where I go first, unless I'm drafting a document that needs to be sent to someone else. Here is when it gets used most: - Researching something online - Preparing for a call or meeting - Taking notes on a call or meeting - Random ideas I want to save - Important information I want to keep (but not so secret that it needs to go in a password manager) - Outlines of documents I want to write - Snippets of code I want to save
zuno 5y ago
I agree with chapium, and my thanks to him for penning down his observations into words. I would add that there comes a point when these systems and their maintenance overwhelm my limited abilities (I know because I have tried org-mode, and OneNote). I often keep defaulting to pen/paper, but carrying around sheafs (now boxes) of papers is no fun. And I agree with pc86's thoughts on 'decent organization system' and "always open". I am working on getting better at it with pen/paper.
- stnmtn 5y ago
  I can empathize with you and the OP. The only one I've got to stick is literally just a text file that I always have open in VIM. I have a keybinding to open up the terminal window so it's always right there. I have a couple of macros set up to put in the current date, and a different color for bullet points that are "done" or not completed yet This is the only one that works for me, and I've tried Org-mode, evernote, onenote, joplin, notion, etc. It's a combination of no-friction to open (I literally just press alt+~) and opinionless. If I want to paste something in there, I don't have to fiddle with a UI to get it how I want, because the formatting doesn't matter at all.

pc86 5y ago

What do you mean by "overload?" If that's why these tools always fail for you perhaps looking at that may give you insight on the root cause. I think the key for most of these, particularly BATF/BASS is the "always open" part. I've recently started playing around with Obsidian mentioned elsewhere and if you don't have it open at startup it's easy to forget about it. And you need to be pretty diligent at the beginning of adding interesting/educational things to your documents while you're still trying to form the habit. Having a decent organization system is pretty important too (one of the main failings of BATF/BASS in my experience). If I need to scroll through a bunch of development and business stuff to find that interesting physics article that is suddenly relevant again I'm much less likely to do it than if I have a "physics" document or folder I can see and get to easily.

chapium 5y ago
Overload is, it becomes disorganized after adding on too many things. BATF for example, eventually one big text file gets filled with no longer relavent things, and it becomes hard to navigate to find whats important.

D13Fd 5y ago

For me, my notes app is a program I use far more than any other, except for a web browser, so your question doesn't really make sense. It's like asking "how do you stick with Word or Excel"? I use the common folder-of-text-files method (currently with Ulysses, although I've used other apps in the past). Any time I need to write something down, that's where I go first, unless I'm drafting a document that needs to be sent to someone else. Here is when it gets used most: - Researching something online - Preparing for a call or meeting - Taking notes on a call or meeting - Random ideas I want to save - Important information I want to keep (but not so secret that it needs to go in a password manager) - Outlines of documents I want to write - Snippets of code I want to save

zuno 5y ago

I agree with chapium, and my thanks to him for penning down his observations into words. I would add that there comes a point when these systems and their maintenance overwhelm my limited abilities (I know because I have tried org-mode, and OneNote). I often keep defaulting to pen/paper, but carrying around sheafs (now boxes) of papers is no fun. And I agree with pc86's thoughts on 'decent organization system' and "always open". I am working on getting better at it with pen/paper.

stnmtn 5y ago
I can empathize with you and the OP. The only one I've got to stick is literally just a text file that I always have open in VIM. I have a keybinding to open up the terminal window so it's always right there. I have a couple of macros set up to put in the current date, and a different color for bullet points that are "done" or not completed yet This is the only one that works for me, and I've tried Org-mode, evernote, onenote, joplin, notion, etc. It's a combination of no-friction to open (I literally just press alt+~) and opinionless. If I want to paste something in there, I don't have to fiddle with a UI to get it how I want, because the formatting doesn't matter at all.