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Just use fucking paper, man

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Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#121

Post by walterbell »

winternett wrote: post #101
kepano wrote: post #20

There's only one method of doing to-dos that has worked for me. This method can be used with paper, Obsidian, Apple Notes, or any other app. Every week I create a weekly note, and write my to-dos for the week. I may add more items to it during the week. If any items didn’t get done I roll them over to the next weekly note or drop them. That’s it. I usually write my to-dos from scratch without looking at the previous…

Writing notes only on paper in a properly secured notebook is about to make a big comeback as more and more people realize that it's fast becoming the only way to prevent AI/ML from indexing and leaking their original IP to the corporate world. Sending an email or making a social media or discord post is fast becoming the best way to snitch out your ideas to random unknown parties and IP thieves.

> snitch out your ideas

s/ideas/canaries/

https://canarytokens.org/

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#122

Post by stranded22 »

nunez wrote: post #113

I don't understand why Notion is so damn popular. It's a textbook example of "jack of all trades; master of none." It has databases that allow you to create many different views of things, but actually using this capability is one of the most frustrating things ever. No keyboard shortcuts; actions that you'd typically do in Excel don't work here; every table is its own page, even when it doesn't need to be; and so on…

I tried many times to like Notion but it is far too complicated for my needs. It felt like procrastination, a tech version of a bullet journal. Spending too much time designing the system, and not enough actually using it. It felt like there was too much potential and flexibility, if that's possible - whilst being really crap at what I was looking for (todo list with notifications / offline personal document storage).

So its ticktick + one note (used to have Evernote until they mucked it up).

I've tried journaling but never feel like I have enough interesting things to document. Have you tried Apple Journal? Do you have templates you recommend?

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#123

Post by nrr »

iwontberude wrote: post #105
winternett wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Writing notes only on paper in a properly secured notebook is about to make a big comeback as more and more people realize that it's fast becoming the only way to prevent AI/ML from indexing and leaking their original IP to the corporate world. Sending an email or making a social media or discord post is fast becoming the best way to snitch out your ideas to random unknown parties and IP thieves.

I have heard it is also how NSA secure their personal passwords, they keep them in a little black book because there is no scalable attack to get access to them at rest.

I'm not and never have been NSA, but I nonetheless have a sordid past with what is arguably a related line of work. This is how I manage my passwords.

In environments where regular rotations are required, I print off a new "biscuit" via `(date ; pwgen $PWGEN_FLAGS) | lpr`. I then append to the candidate password something of a personal identifier that only I know.

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#124

Post by nightowl_games »

I literally just have a single text document called todo.md that I write the date and what I want to do in it and then cross it out when im done.

its good for remember what I was working on yesterday to keep a smooth continuitity. Helps me get 'back on task' quick.

Its seriously just a single document with like 5 bullet points in it each day. I barely ever scroll down. Latest day is always at the top.

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#125

Post by jcul »

I agree on using paper, it's the only thing that works for me.

But I use a rocket book so I'm not going through endless notepads and can optionally backup to PDF.

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#126

Post by bengale »

I try and keep it simple. Little reporter notebook so I’m not using devices in meetings and things like that.

Then I transcribe whatever needs to be a little more long term at the end of the day/week into either Apple notes or reminders. Then rip the pages out and bin them.

Im tempted to get something like todoist to organise reminders a little better but I’m cautious that it’s the road to procrastinating.

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#127

Post by nrr »

stranded22 wrote: post #122
nunez wrote: post #113

I don't understand why Notion is so damn popular. It's a textbook example of "jack of all trades; master of none." It has databases that allow you to create many different views of things, but actually using this capability is one of the most frustrating things ever. No keyboard shortcuts; actions that you'd typically do in Excel don't work here; every table is its own page, even when it doesn't need to be; and so on…

I tried many times to like Notion but it is far too complicated for my needs. It felt like procrastination, a tech version of a bullet journal. Spending too much time designing the system, and not enough actually using it. It felt like there was too much potential and flexibility, if that's possible - whilst being really crap at what I was looking for (todo list with notifications / offline personal document storage)…

"It felt like procrastination, a tech version of a bullet journal." There's a lot out there that certainly falls under what I call "procrasturbation," but the Bullet Journal is ironically the thing I've stuck with the longest. Ryder Carroll came up with a formalization of the concept more recently, but I've been using it since 1999, prompted by the removal of our backpacks due to Columbine.

I think the thing that a lot of folks miss is that it's a framework that's meant to grow incrementally with how you go through life and work.

Without a bag to keep everything together, I got tired of misplacing my notebooks, one for each class, so I started living out of only one at a time, which then led me to set up a sort of table of contents and numbered pages so I could find things. It also let me cope with my as-yet-undiagnosed OCD and ADHD by giving me the permission just to start at whatever page and treat the bound pages as a linked list instead of an array. (Bonus: the table of contents became a sort of allocation bitmap.)

Homework due dates and holidays and birthdays begat calendars of various sorts, inconsistent study habits begat habit trackers, notes from class meetings begat dailies wherein I braindump about whatever, etc., but none of that happened overnight. It built up over months to years.

Journaling is about the stuff you want to remember later so that you can reflect on it. Most of my entries involve doting on my cats (so many days where I'm just like, "Valérian was an aggressively cuddly purrbucket again" or "Laureline brought me another sock from the hamper") and, like, "on a lark, I dug out my old ThinkPad to find it actually isn't inoperative."

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#128

Post by al_borland »

kepano wrote: post #20

There's only one method of doing to-dos that has worked for me. This method can be used with paper, Obsidian, Apple Notes, or any other app. Every week I create a weekly note, and write my to-dos for the week. I may add more items to it during the week. If any items didn’t get done I roll them over to the next weekly note or drop them. That’s it. I usually write my to-dos from scratch without looking at the previous…

This is the only thing that works for me as well.

At work I do it daily, and also have a notes section. That way I can go to any day (in Obsidian’s calendar) and see what I did that day if/when needed. I also have a fresh scratch pad each day instead of a giant tab in my editor that holds onto things for months or years without context. Reminders kind of work as well. If I’m doing something today that needs follow up in 2 weeks, I pre-make a placeholder note for 2 weeks from now with the to do, and when I get to that day I see it.

It took me about 15 years trying every tool and system under the sun, and then I stumbled across doing this organically based on what I felt I needed. It’s been going good for several years now, which is something I’ve never been able to say before. That said, I’d be lost without the calendar view, it’s very helpful for me.

At home, I tried this, but it’s too granular. I tried weekly, that even seemed too granular. I’m at the point where when I feel like getting some stuff done, I make a list, and keep that list until it’s done (or things age to the point they don’t matter). Then some time goes by until I need another one.

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#129

Post by al_borland »

lbittner wrote: post #81
kepano wrote: post #20

There's only one method of doing to-dos that has worked for me. This method can be used with paper, Obsidian, Apple Notes, or any other app. Every week I create a weekly note, and write my to-dos for the week. I may add more items to it during the week. If any items didn’t get done I roll them over to the next weekly note or drop them. That’s it. I usually write my to-dos from scratch without looking at the previous…

Check out the app called "Tweek". Its exactly what you described here with very little extra fluff.

Also NotePlan (on the various Apple platforms). Can go by day, week, month, and year, with files stored in a directory of markdown files.

Edit…

I just looked at Tweek, it seems more similar to TeuxDeux, than NotePlan. But NotePlan seems more like what the grandparent was talking about (at least in my interpretation).

Re: Just use fucking paper, man

#130

Post by njb311 »

iwontberude wrote: post #105
winternett wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Writing notes only on paper in a properly secured notebook is about to make a big comeback as more and more people realize that it's fast becoming the only way to prevent AI/ML from indexing and leaking their original IP to the corporate world. Sending an email or making a social media or discord post is fast becoming the best way to snitch out your ideas to random unknown parties and IP thieves.

I have heard it is also how NSA secure their personal passwords, they keep them in a little black book because there is no scalable attack to get access to them at rest.

And because a little black book might be carried in a pocket and potentially misplaced or stolen, some teams use a system of small self-adhesive pieces of paper, each with just a single password on it, that are attached to the front of the PC. This in turn is secured by a cable lock to the desk.
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