171–180 of 285 posts
I switched to Things 3 on Mac/iOS which I love.
Things 3 is both my GTD app of choice (it runs my life) and my inbox where I catch everything. When I have a random thought/idea I just add a new to-do in my Inbox. Then when I have the time, or at least once a week, I go through my Inbox and add more detail to the task, and try to make it actionable or store it for review at a later date.
The other tool I use is the Remember app on my phone, but only because it allows indexable voice messages. Hit the button, say my piece, and it's there for me later. A quick aide memoire when I'm on the go.
https://ideatosafe.com/ 1. mindmap that syncs all devices, type on your phone, see changes on TV immediately 2. super intuitive gamified keyboard shortcuts (no need for mouse); super intuitive mobile gestures 3. has node-level in-browser encryption via tweetnacl so if you provide a crypt key, only you can see what you typed under a crypted node - crypted data looks like gibberish in the db and there is NO way to reco…
1) Things app on my iPhone/iPad/Mac ( https://culturedcode.com/things/ ) - it's a quick place to jot down quick thoughts or notes when I'm in the middle of doing other things. (I use it for my "to-do" lists - and it syncs beautifully across my other Apple devices.)
2) MindNode ( https://mindnode.com/ ) - if I have a group of thoughts, or if I have a few minutes, I'll often create a quick mind map with MindNode and collect my thoughts there. (It also syncs beautifully across all Apple devices.) I also have a couple of specific mind maps for tracking projects or article ideas, etc. So if my creative thought falls into one of those, I'll open up the mind map and add it there.
3) Evernote - For longer lists or ideas, I'll typically create a note inside of Evernote. I've been using it for years... although with many of the UI changes and general uncertainty about the company's future direction, I'm considering migrating my collection of notes/notebooks to something else (so I've been reading this HN discussion).
I'll note that I'll use these three tools together. Often I'll jot a note into Things... and then later expand upon that into a MindNode mind map or an Evernote entry. So one is more "short term" capture of thoughts, while the other two are for longer term - and longer form - capture.
The challenge of using 3 tools is, of course, that there's no easy way to search across all of them.
P.S. And many times when I'm going to events, speeches, conferences, etc., I'll bring a pen and a notebook as that can be the fastest way to capture ideas.
The most important thing for me is to put dates, and sometimes times, on things. The second most important thing is, when I have a brainstorm, filter it into a coherent[0] set of ideas right then and there. My previous "idea generation" strategy held on too long to ideas that don't cohere. As a result I had many ideas that didn't go anywhere and weren't memorable. Making a coherence is much more powerful, since it creates a web of ideas that catch other ideas. My "hit rate" has improved a ton since I changed strategy.
You can easily take notes and then there's a built in reminder system which is most efficient for keeping things in your brain's long-term memory.
I notice the reminder system also ends up making me much more creative, since I can more easily combine things together to make new ideas. That is a huge bonus.
I've been iterating from using Gdocs towards simple dated text files. Last year it was by quarter, this year it's by month. I did have trouble with maintaining sync but finally bit the bullet this year and created a DigitalOcean instance dedicated to SyncThing hosting. SyncThing was working great previously just across phone and two local computers, but I had to remember to keep the remote machines active to have eve…
Using a markdown editor on my phone and computers means I've always got access to view, edit and create new ones, even offline, that all sync up when I'm back online.
It works great and I'm not giving my data to anyone else.
It's one step above text files, and purposely no more than that. Hyperlinking and availability on different devices is important to me.
It started as something like this (which amazingly is still online) http://infomesh.net/pwyky/
After 14 years, I have 3017 wiki pages of notes, and still use it every day!
Use a spaced memory repetition app, like Anki https://apps.ankiweb.net/ or SuperMemo. (I am most familiar with Anki, which is free and easily syncs across phone and PC and web). You can easily take notes and then there's a built in reminder system which is most efficient for keeping things in your brain's long-term memory. I notice the reminder system also ends up making me much more creative, since I can more easily…