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I’m much the same. I only keep note of: - Stuff that has a lot of details that rarely change (all my insurance policies, what they cover, the policy numbers et

I’m much the same. I only keep note of: - Stuff that has a lot of details that rarely change (all my insurance policies, what they cover, the policy numbers etc. - Details that are “hot” in my mind right now that I might need in the same detail later (the steps to refill my boiler, the exact type of door handle I bought for my bathroom door when it broke, so I can purchase the same one once my kitchen door handle breaks) With anything else (like, notes on books I read, notes on work I did) I either: - Make too detailed notes which take too long - Make too short notes that don’t hold any value - Never feel a need to recall them - Never remember to recall them if a situation arises Still interesting to read how other do it.

lobocinza 5y ago
For me note taking is to: - cognitively offload things for later and preserving work in progress; - archive things without processing (like a data lake); - build a corpus of knowledge to both improve my understanding of a subject and have a reference material that I can later look up. I have spent a significant share of my life organizing my notes in a mnemonic tree and also writing code to improve it's usability but the dividends are starting to pay off. It's good to have a functional 'external brain' to perform in a digital world that is filled by 'trash'. A decade ago you could find a good answer for 'everything' on Google. Today, besides a few islands of knowledge, you mostly find SEO optimized machine-generated stuff.
tommodev 5y ago
Same plan as this + parent comment. I struggle with the collection + curation eventually overtaking the utility of the thing, especially with "valuable information" captured in RSS feeders, bookmarks, etc. Feels more like FOMO at times. I have a paper notebook that lets me be more present in different scenarios and only capture stuff like actions or critical facts. Likewise key data around policy numbers, cost codes, etc. go into a markdown file. I used to be a voracious note-and-knowledge capture type between Standard Notes and Obsidian. I'd keep both a daily rolling log of everything I did + cross-ref and expand key items into broader knowledge capture. It probably has some intangible benefit I didn't pick up on but overall it just felt like a waste of energy compared to letting stuff go, sometimes having to google stuff again, and putting effort into building things and talking to people. I also started to wonder, what is the value? Documentation, code comments, communication all help to take an idea or understanding from Me -> People. Hoarding notes and digital content for myself really didn't accomplish much other than demanding attention.

lobocinza 5y ago

For me note taking is to: - cognitively offload things for later and preserving work in progress; - archive things without processing (like a data lake); - build a corpus of knowledge to both improve my understanding of a subject and have a reference material that I can later look up. I have spent a significant share of my life organizing my notes in a mnemonic tree and also writing code to improve it's usability but the dividends are starting to pay off. It's good to have a functional 'external brain' to perform in a digital world that is filled by 'trash'. A decade ago you could find a good answer for 'everything' on Google. Today, besides a few islands of knowledge, you mostly find SEO optimized machine-generated stuff.

tommodev 5y ago

Same plan as this + parent comment. I struggle with the collection + curation eventually overtaking the utility of the thing, especially with "valuable information" captured in RSS feeders, bookmarks, etc. Feels more like FOMO at times. I have a paper notebook that lets me be more present in different scenarios and only capture stuff like actions or critical facts. Likewise key data around policy numbers, cost codes, etc. go into a markdown file. I used to be a voracious note-and-knowledge capture type between Standard Notes and Obsidian. I'd keep both a daily rolling log of everything I did + cross-ref and expand key items into broader knowledge capture. It probably has some intangible benefit I didn't pick up on but overall it just felt like a waste of energy compared to letting stuff go, sometimes having to google stuff again, and putting effort into building things and talking to people. I also started to wonder, what is the value? Documentation, code comments, communication all help to take an idea or understanding from Me -> People. Hoarding notes and digital content for myself really didn't accomplish much other than demanding attention.