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I have been trying to take notes using Evernote, Bear and Apple Notes. None of them compare to writing my notes down on paper. However, writing my notes down on paper has none of the benefits these apps have (sorting, searching, etc).
Do you take notes during work? If so, have you found a "perfect app" or way of doing it?
If they’re “how-to” things, I give the files really obvious names that describe the problem being solved by the content.
If they’re to-do lists, I generally have only one per unique project and keep it to about a page (any longer and I’ll never read them all; things that are truly important will make their way into the list naturally, I don’t need “4 weeks from now” items in there).
It’s actually pretty easy to search and organize text this way, and you can use Unix tools to filter and sort them if your lines have the right info in them.
I wrote and now use https://www.lifepim.com as my primary note source, it uses a simple markdown format and is working well for me.
Black = facts. numbers, locations, new edicts, etc Blue = thoughts. musings. edge cases I think of during meetings but don't want to derail over, etc green = events (after work social, conferences, etc) red = todo
It's not perfect (ex: I usually write the details of meetings such as time/location and add a red star with "TODO: enter meeting X into calendar" but the line between a meeting an event can blur. Is an intern presentation an event or a meeting?
My main distinction is meetings are mandatory, events can be moved.
(Ex: I won't schedule a doctor's appointment during a client meeting. I would list the day there's an evening drinks session as a time I could meet the doctor)
It's not perfect, but the general idea is that the notebook is to store things until the end of the meeting - then they go into my calendar, into my todo list, or onto my whiteboard as problems to be brainstormed.
