Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#261

Post by spaceKing » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 9:18 AM UTC

vfinn wrote: post #75

I have simply a folder that contains 10+ text files, mostly containing numbered lists: 01_calendar; 02_TODO (just a stack of things I want to do); 03_questions (e.g.: "What substances emit sound when heated?"); 04_ideas (entrepreneurship, organization -- this is helpful because for one thing you start to see the pattern in your ideas -- what you value etc.); 05_opinions&thoughts; 06_self&improvement (my habits are li…

Thanks man, I created these labels in my google keep (apart from calendar, I have a calendar for that :) )

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#262

Post by mark_l_watson » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 11:52 AM UTC

interlocutor wrote: post #123

srikz wrote: post #67

I (and am sure many here) have been in the same situation. I have tried physical books (which I'm still biased towards), OneNote (my next favourite, especially on tablets with stylus), txt files, wiki etc. Ultimately what I realised is that it is all useless if I don't have a periodic review session for these ideas. So, what I am doing these days (not with much success due to lack of discipline) is to have 2 or 3 dif…

The problem with OneNote is that its file format is proprietary (though documented). I have random notes that are 20 years old. Notes I take today need to be readable 20 years from now. Will OneNote be around 20 years from now? I prefer to store my notes in plain text because it is guaranteed to be readable decades from now.

You can export an entire notebook, or individual notes to PDF. PDF is easily converted to text so there is one way to archive.

I had stopped using Apple Notes because the format was a proprietary binary format with no export feature. When I found an app to export as text I went back to using Notes.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#263

Post by srikz » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 12:01 PM UTC

jianzong wrote: post #117

srikz wrote: post #67

I (and am sure many here) have been in the same situation. I have tried physical books (which I'm still biased towards), OneNote (my next favourite, especially on tablets with stylus), txt files, wiki etc. Ultimately what I realised is that it is all useless if I don't have a periodic review session for these ideas. So, what I am doing these days (not with much success due to lack of discipline) is to have 2 or 3 dif…

Thank you srikz! It is a little surprising to see a handful of recommendation for OneNote. I have never used OneNote before, but will definitely give it a try. I think one's idea tracking system should cover two parts: fast and slow. The slow part is as you mentioned we should periodically review ideas. For this part, I am almost 100% happy with Github issues/wiki/projects. For the fast part, like you, I used noteboo…

Your idea sounds good. I'm tempted to say that handwriting (via stylus or finger) is important and so is intelligent reminder system. But that may be worth adding later.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#264

Post by joe4322353 » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 1:37 PM UTC

org-mode hands down

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#265

Post by vfinn » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 2:19 PM UTC

spaceKing wrote: post #261

vfinn wrote: post #75

I have simply a folder that contains 10+ text files, mostly containing numbered lists: 01_calendar; 02_TODO (just a stack of things I want to do); 03_questions (e.g.: "What substances emit sound when heated?"); 04_ideas (entrepreneurship, organization -- this is helpful because for one thing you start to see the pattern in your ideas -- what you value etc.); 05_opinions&thoughts; 06_self&improvement (my habits are li…

Thanks man, I created these labels in my google keep (apart from calendar, I have a calendar for that :) )

Glad to be of help :). The list is by no means perfect, but has worked for me so far pretty well. I forgot to mention, that I have also folders with identical names for ideas that need extensive wording.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#266

Post by ifoundthetao » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 5:59 PM UTC

kd5bjo wrote: post #115

srikz wrote: post #67

I (and am sure many here) have been in the same situation. I have tried physical books (which I'm still biased towards), OneNote (my next favourite, especially on tablets with stylus), txt files, wiki etc. Ultimately what I realised is that it is all useless if I don't have a periodic review session for these ideas. So, what I am doing these days (not with much success due to lack of discipline) is to have 2 or 3 dif…

I’ve been using a new system for the past few weeks, so I don’t know how well it will stick: I carry a small spiral-bound memo book with me all the time for short-term notes. In the case of random thoughts, it’s generally just a title. Every morning, I move everything from the memo book into other systems and tear out the used pages. For ideas, this means putting the title at the top of a blank sheet of paper and fre…

I love this. I did something similar .. but then I kept on putting them through the wash. I briefly looked up notebooks that are washing machine safe, but I think the ones I found cost more than I wanted to spend.

I'll give this a go, again, but be more diligent about taking stuff out of my pockets for laundry. Well, I'll try to be, at least.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#267

Post by bequiet » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 6:44 PM UTC

I don’t keep track of random ideas anymore. I trust fully that I won’t run out of ideas. Writing down every idea you have is a symptom of anxiety in my book, or to be more precise, a lack of trust in yourself.

I eliminate whatever is unnecessary to make progress with my work and keep just one README.md on the progress I’m making. If an idea is critical to whatever it is I happen to be working on I write it down on a piece of paper, to be consumed quickly by the README.

It’s freeing and it’s made me considerably happier at work.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#268

Post by jepras » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 9:33 PM UTC

I have a notebook in Evernote to capture ideas. Whenever I submit them they automatically get populated into a Google Sheet (using Zapier).

In that way, I can review them on a weekly basis and add more parameters such as rating, difficulty, next steps, etc later on.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#269

Post by zeruch » Mon, Jan 07, 2019, 9:56 PM UTC

I still bounce between physical notebooks, and Laverna. I spend regular time consolidating stuff into stack order I can follow up on.

Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

#270

Post by bhargav » Tue, Jan 08, 2019, 3:20 AM UTC

Perhaps this is not applicable to creative thoughts: I usually have "project ideas" that come up randomly. I have recently decided to stop investing any time on them. I simply observe the ideas and let them pass. What I notice is that some of said ideas, keep popping up. I continue the observe and pass process. Usually this process leads me to naturally filter ideas with the little cycles I spend in making a note/observation and letting the idea pass. I am trying to not actively invest too much time into ideas as I have a observed a personal tendency to "make things fit" and introduce biases.