3 ms·

I've been working on lots of little tools for years, sure. They are all extensions of theories or long term projects though, so they are like theory-practice gl

I've been working on lots of little tools for years, sure. They are all extensions of theories or long term projects though, so they are like theory-practice glue scripts in many cases. A basic first step here with projects (tool or no) IMO is to keep a log. Over time you add different logs for different projects. It's important to have lots to choose from. One of the best ways I've seen people crash and burn their long term projects is to make sure there are only like three of them. Especially if they are passion projects. Then I have a system that kind of shuffles the various log topics and I pick some that I feel like working on, usually at least 2-3 a day. So there are things like stories, TTRPGs, lists (this is a great place to start IMO, maintaining a list over time can teach a lot and is very forgiving), bigger hobby projects, and so on. IMO #2 one of the most helpful things you can write in a log is "this project isn't going anywhere and I don't know what to do about it." Just some thoughts, good luck.

ge96 4y ago
I do keep devlogs. Nice to refer back to. > a system that kind of shuffles the various log topics that's an interesting thought I think more so, the project kinda just dies, like it's over... built it. So I'm hoping one day I find some that will be "life long" where I can pour time into them and hopefully it's worth it.
- themodelplumber 4y ago
  In that case it seems like a very good idea to track your interests. As an example, I started a list of my interests and it just passed 1K this year. It is extremely helpful in showing me what my more stable, longer-term interests are. That is, generally the level of energy I can devote to the interest is high. Projects are more likely to move forward. In these cases I know I'm going to be more likely to come back to or continue a project. But with more transient interests, that can be a really dumb idea. By definition the same energy with which you started the project is now gone. This is almost certain to be difficult, if not depressing work. Over time one can begin to track interests and access to project energy like it's a kind of horoscope, in some ways. It's pretty fascinating.
  - ge96 4y ago
    I do have various forms of personal thought collection eg. chrome extension, apps, web apps... I am lacking the "in your face/reminder/summary" part. How are you handling that/what is your interface like? Also 1K you mean individual topics or entries edit: I also save all of my open chrome tabs before closing/starting new
    - themodelplumber 4y ago
      Thought collection...you got me thinking. Some years ago I finally decided to really own this question, after decades of using others' tools, from Dokuwiki to Keep to Notecase Pro. I thought it'd be hard to maintain my own but that hasn't been the case at all. So I guess my first suggestion here is to casually start your own, opinionated system if it seems useful. Because today I feel like I can solve just about any problem with mine. My system is based around some standards, like I use Markdown and folder taxonomy, with a few types of syncing for redundancy. I write my own tools to parse for various tags and things. Like I have one snippet that will compile a daily schedule for me based on tags it finds in my markdown files. For interfacing I use a combination of snippets (calling external tools usually) and system keyboard shortcuts. There are a number of different search shortcuts using different apps like FSearch, there are shortcuts for opening yesterday's/today's/tomorrow's journal page, a snippet for recommending books and movies, etc. 1K (items in the list; the file itself is 53KB) is hard to explain. At first it was very troubling to be excited about the list growing... Is this just a numbers game, or what? But pretty soon I found that for daily use, specifics are very important. So for example "The Cold War" is in there but it's worthless because I shouldn't have to think so vaguely when it's suggested to me as something to dive into. It's not helpful. Better would be "Ranking favorite Cold War movies in my TV and Movies Log" or "Reading about BRIXMIS". Which are both in there. Tabs are an interesting topic to me as well, though admittedly not in the interests file yet ;-) https://www.friendlyskies.net/maybe/why-closing-tabs-is-so-hard https://www.friendlyskies.net/maybe/why-closing-tabs-is-so-h...
      - ge96 4y ago
        Thanks for the ideas on the notes. Yeah... I like Apple's note app, also like MS one note/Medium editor where it has the bolding and ability to drag/drop image. Not hard to do on the fly but yeah. I like that though like functions eg. "Snippet recommend books" At the moment I'm just dumping things into a basic MySQL stored on a Pi ha. Need to centralize it, probably make it remote/cloud. I also use static encryption but not the local network one. I'm gonna look at my stuff, think about making new wrappers... Tried cross platform before electron did a pretty good job. Mobile not so since I'm not a mobile developer. Would like a widget on Android. I'm using color notes at the moment not "secure" since not my own app.

ge96 4y ago

I do keep devlogs. Nice to refer back to. > a system that kind of shuffles the various log topics that's an interesting thought I think more so, the project kinda just dies, like it's over... built it. So I'm hoping one day I find some that will be "life long" where I can pour time into them and hopefully it's worth it.

themodelplumber 4y ago
In that case it seems like a very good idea to track your interests. As an example, I started a list of my interests and it just passed 1K this year. It is extremely helpful in showing me what my more stable, longer-term interests are. That is, generally the level of energy I can devote to the interest is high. Projects are more likely to move forward. In these cases I know I'm going to be more likely to come back to or continue a project. But with more transient interests, that can be a really dumb idea. By definition the same energy with which you started the project is now gone. This is almost certain to be difficult, if not depressing work. Over time one can begin to track interests and access to project energy like it's a kind of horoscope, in some ways. It's pretty fascinating.
- ge96 4y ago
  I do have various forms of personal thought collection eg. chrome extension, apps, web apps... I am lacking the "in your face/reminder/summary" part. How are you handling that/what is your interface like? Also 1K you mean individual topics or entries edit: I also save all of my open chrome tabs before closing/starting new
  - themodelplumber 4y ago
    Thought collection...you got me thinking. Some years ago I finally decided to really own this question, after decades of using others' tools, from Dokuwiki to Keep to Notecase Pro. I thought it'd be hard to maintain my own but that hasn't been the case at all. So I guess my first suggestion here is to casually start your own, opinionated system if it seems useful. Because today I feel like I can solve just about any problem with mine. My system is based around some standards, like I use Markdown and folder taxonomy, with a few types of syncing for redundancy. I write my own tools to parse for various tags and things. Like I have one snippet that will compile a daily schedule for me based on tags it finds in my markdown files. For interfacing I use a combination of snippets (calling external tools usually) and system keyboard shortcuts. There are a number of different search shortcuts using different apps like FSearch, there are shortcuts for opening yesterday's/today's/tomorrow's journal page, a snippet for recommending books and movies, etc. 1K (items in the list; the file itself is 53KB) is hard to explain. At first it was very troubling to be excited about the list growing... Is this just a numbers game, or what? But pretty soon I found that for daily use, specifics are very important. So for example "The Cold War" is in there but it's worthless because I shouldn't have to think so vaguely when it's suggested to me as something to dive into. It's not helpful. Better would be "Ranking favorite Cold War movies in my TV and Movies Log" or "Reading about BRIXMIS". Which are both in there. Tabs are an interesting topic to me as well, though admittedly not in the interests file yet ;-) https://www.friendlyskies.net/maybe/why-closing-tabs-is-so-hard https://www.friendlyskies.net/maybe/why-closing-tabs-is-so-h...
    - ge96 4y ago
      Thanks for the ideas on the notes. Yeah... I like Apple's note app, also like MS one note/Medium editor where it has the bolding and ability to drag/drop image. Not hard to do on the fly but yeah. I like that though like functions eg. "Snippet recommend books" At the moment I'm just dumping things into a basic MySQL stored on a Pi ha. Need to centralize it, probably make it remote/cloud. I also use static encryption but not the local network one. I'm gonna look at my stuff, think about making new wrappers... Tried cross platform before electron did a pretty good job. Mobile not so since I'm not a mobile developer. Would like a widget on Android. I'm using color notes at the moment not "secure" since not my own app.