![]() ![]() I think the one I just started using, Obsidian, is as close to perfect as I've found and I'll explain why in a little walk-through video at the end. I've worked my way through a number of different systems and applications over time with varying levels of commitment and success. I think everyone would benefit from getting their thoughts into words on a regular basis but I do acknowledge that maintaining this kind of system is one part productivity and one part hobby. The idea of building and managing a "personal knowledge base" or PKB is something that I'm seeing more and more people writing about and, as such, I've been thinking about it a lot recently as well. I've been working on refining how I take and store notes, partly because I never felt settled into a system and partly because the number ways to do this seems to have expanded quite a bit recently. It's a bit like Marie Kondo's philosophy of everything having a place: if you bring home something that does not have a place, then you either give it a place, you get rid of the thing, or you just start to build clutter. If everything you might save has a place and everything you do save can be found, this system works. Part of reducing that thinking is knowing you can find it later, if not easily then just not too painfully. If you have a thought or a link or a picture you want to keep and find later, you want to think very little about where to put it. I wrote a long time ago about information reservoirs and it's still quite relevant for this notes problem. That's not a good place to be in when you want/need to write and the cognitive load of "where do I put this so I can find it later" can stop you from even starting another note. You can feel yourself causing more pain in the future by writing more. Once you've felt the pain of trying to find something you're sure that you wrote about, you might find it painful again to start a note on something in the future. I just recently spent a couple of days going through and cleaning up what I have and I was surprised by the number of similar notes and overlap that I found between all of the different places I've stored my writing. The more notes you take, though, the more "stuff" you have to look through when you need a reference in the future. My notes often turn into posts and documentation on my site or internally (see Patrick McKenzie's thoughts on producing artifacts). After the activity itself, notes can provide an important record for myself and others if they get published somewhere. I also find that it solidifies the experience in my head and helps to identify the important parts. Taking notes keeps me focused on the task or meeting or thought that I'm exploring and help me to save my place if it goes on for more than one session. Whether it's journaling or taking notes while I learn something or just keeping references, I find both the act of taking notes and the output to be extremely valuable for me. I've been writing for myself regularly for probably 15 years or so. ![]() Read more about the project or buy it now! I wrote a online learning project for Manning Publications called Federation and Single Sign-On with OpenID Connect! This is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn about digital identity, OpenID Connect, and JavaScript development. ![]()
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