Stop Taking Regular Notes; Use a Zettelkasten Instead

All of them were too complex, and not lightweight, cross-compatible, private/secure, or futureproof enough.

I decided to settle on the default MacOS editor using a mix of .txt/.rtf files, with extensive folder organization and the built-in tagging system. I plan on consolidating journal entries into subject categories.

Example: let’s say I learn something about investing. I write something brief about it in my \journal folder, tag it under investing, then maybe save a .pdf of the source to my \investing\temp folder.

Next, I add the new info to a note under the relevant category, such as \investing\ETFs.txt

Or, I create a new .txt/.rtf (depending my needs)

I believe tags are saved as metadata, so it should be cross-compatible.

For books, I’ll structure it as \library\broad_category \book_name\chapter_n.txt, add the relevant folder tag, and maybe add an alias/shortcut in the relevant folder. I summarize key points under relevant files such as \investing\ETFs.txt

This seems like the best method to me, but I’m open to other strategies.

Maybe the problem is English. Maybe there's a way to structure English sentences in a more precise and meaningful way with hypertext linking and structuring like a legal document? ...but for human-to-human communications?

Why? I'm conservative but I've taken tips from Obama and Bill Clinton. A good idea is a good idea. That Obama and Clinton are successful is all the more reason to pay attention when they give productivity advice, even though I disagree with several of their policies.

I've barely scratched the surface of tiddlywiki's features, but linking ideas together is easy, in that you can link individual "ideas" (in the form of individual articles, referred to as tiddlers) from each other, and it also supports tagging, and there are built-in scripts for iterating tiddlers with chosen tags.

No affiliation, just a very happy user.

https://noteself.org/

1. Read/listen/absorb

2. Write down (or tweet) ideas it creates while you're absorbing

3. Wait

4. Create

Your mind (or at least mine) finds connections you aren't even aware of and when the time comes, when the right prompt sparks, there it is. The knowledge is ready to be used.

Use search and half remembered stuff to find direct citations and brush up on details when necessary. The internet-as-extended-noosphere metaphor works great here.