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Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

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Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#91

Post by item007 »

aappleby wrote: post #43

So here's what's worked for me over the years - I collect interesting links/pages/stuff by emailing myself notes about them. I never actually _do_ anything with these notes, but from time to time I open the "Notes To Self" folder and skim through them. Anything that seems worthless I delete, anything that seems obvious I delete, the rest just sit there. And that's more useful than you'd think - by reviewing them semi…

Thank you for sharing the email‑to‑self workflow and regular review habit. How often you prune the folder and whether you’d appreciate intelligent reminders.

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#92

Post by item007 »

allenu wrote: post #44

I don't really use "second brain" style notes and links for taking action. I use them to record something I think I might find interesting later, like a bookmark. I tag it and move on and later when enough time has passed, I search the notes by particular tag to see what things I recorded. Usually in that scenario, I actually will be in some mode where I'm trying take action. I'll often be looking for inspiration (sa…

Validate that notes can be scratchpads for inspiration while action lists are separate. Whether you’d find value in connecting ideas and tasks automatically?

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#93

Post by item007 »

ge96 wrote: post #63

For work I have a daily note (Apple Notes) and I just write my thoughts by time stamps eg. 10:30 AM ... Unfortunately I am a "write to remember" type person My phone color notes (Android) and 70% of my screen is a note widget. This is always in my face so stuff I want to get done is at the top. Then I write on top of it kind of pushing stuff/the stack downwards. I have a Twilio number I text to remind myself of stuff…

Thank you for sharing your excellent habit. May I ask, do you record all the information you receive—emails, articles, posts, etc.—that you find useful as notes? My current idea extends beyond just notes to encompass all the information you collect that you think might be useful. Wouldn't it be valuable if you didn't have to manually organize and summarize it?

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#94

Post by item007 »

fathermarz wrote: post #25

I hoard links, research papers, blog posts as a reference. My human brain can make connections of the smallest detail of things I have read or seen before but I don’t always remember what. So if I am working on something I think, oh I have seen something like this before, I search in my tagged links. It rarely comes in handy, but when it does, it is a great feeling.

Thanks for sharing—it seems you have an extraordinary brain!

I'm also very curious, what makes a retrieval moment “great” and how often it happens.If someone could help you increase the likelihood of it happening, would you find that valuable?

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#95

Post by item007 »

laurieg wrote: post #54

I started using obsidian about a year ago and I have found it to be an invaluable tool. The key is using it to solve problems you actually have, rather than problems you want to have. I was losing track of people's contact details --> I made an addressbook in obsidian. I wanted to track my exercise to find out how much I was running each week --> make graphs And so on. Your obsidian should get a bit messy before you…

I think this is an underrated point. A lot of “knowledge management” is really anxiety management — saving feels like progress, and deleting feels like losing options.

One thing I’m trying to learn is whether the “fix” is actually less intake / better filters (so you don’t hoard), versus better retrieval/action tooling after the fact.

For you personally: what has helped more — changing the capture habit (rules/quotas/digests), or having a ruthless review/delete loop? And what triggers you to save in the first place (fear of forgetting, future usefulness, perfectionism, etc.)?

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#96

Post by item007 »

stuartaxelowen wrote: post #35

Notes are options. Sometimes options for taking action later, sometimes as reference for related action. The bet when writing a note is that its risk adjusted return for those avenues is higher than the opportunity cost. I also have similar thoughts on turning writing into action and re-entrance, would be interested to hear your thoughts: https://blog.sao.dev/2025-threads/ This has proven to work well for me, but I’m…

I read your post — the `thread` file structure (Bet / Context / Next steps / DoD / Log) is a really clean “re-entrance artifact” for both humans and agents.

One thought: it also gives you a natural closed-loop signal — Log + DoD changes are the feedback, not vague “AI memory”. A tool could surface notes as *options* only when a thread is active, then write back only via diffs to `Next steps` / `Log` (human-approved), keeping it deterministic.

For the git/agentic abstraction itch: what do you want as the single source of truth — the thread file, issues, or git events?

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#97

Post by item007 »

specproc wrote: post #48

The only thing that's ever worked is a piece of paper and a pen. Never really look back more than a week. Not sophisticated, but it moves me forward.

Totally get it — paper forces focus and has near-zero overhead. Out of curiosity, is the “one-week horizon” a deliberate constraint to avoid backlog guilt, or just what naturally works for you?

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#98

Post by item007 »

ozim wrote: post #51
specproc wrote: post #48

The only thing that's ever worked is a piece of paper and a pen. Never really look back more than a week. Not sophisticated, but it moves me forward.

Realizing graveyard of good intentions is not that valuable is one of the most important things that we have to learn. Best to just cut it and work on what is ahead.

Totally agree — learning to prune the “good intentions” pile is a real productivity upgrade. Out of curiosity: do you have a simple rule for what you cut (age-based, relevance to current projects, or “if it didn’t turn into action, delete”)?

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#99

Post by alexsmirnov »

I do use Obsidian on pair with Claude code and git.

I organize notes by tags, folders, and links from tree of "map of content" notes. Those documented as rules for AI. All notes came to "Inbox" folder, and from time to time I run special script that checks inbox, formats notes, tags them, and put in the most appropriate place. "git diff" to check results and fix mistakes, reset if it went wrong.

As notes organized by the limited number of well defined rules, they became easy to search and navigate by AI. Claude Code easily finds requested notes, working as advanced search engine, and they became a starting point for "deep research" : find relevant notes, follow links, detect gaps, search internet. Repeat until reach required confidence level.

The most advanced workflow so far is combination of TRIZ (Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) + First Principles Framework. Former generates ideas and hypotheses, later validates them and converge on final answer.

Re: Ask HN: Do you also "hoard" notes/links but struggle to turn them into actions?

#100

Post by item007 »

tunesmith wrote: post #16

I think a super common problem with any todo system is the "capture anything" mindset. They've even redefined what "focus" means, like now it just means to focus on whatever thing you're focused on at that moment. Focus is supposed to mean you have a clear idea of who you are and what you need to work on, and also what you don't. So I've taken to follow a (bespoke) process where I identify what my own personal princi…

This resonates — the real superpower is having a clear “no”, not capturing everything.

One idea I’m exploring with *Concerns* is making that constraint explicit: when you set “active goals/projects”, you can only keep a *small fixed number* (e.g. 3–5). Anything else becomes “not active”, so the system won’t surface it or turn it into tasks.

Curious: what’s your number—3, 5, or 10—and what rule do you use to decide what gets to be “active”?

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