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My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file

jeffhuang.com

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Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file

#101

Post by alpaca128 »

_emacsomancer_ wrote: post #35

Greenspun's 11th Law: "Any sufficiently complicated note-taking/productivity/GTD system contains an ad-hoc, informally-specified, bug-ridden, slow implementation of half of Org-Mode."

In my Emacs setup org-mode has at least two reproducible bugs(that I know of) and one feature that's obviously implemented in a more complicated way than necessary.

That said it is a fantastic package with some great ideas.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file

#102

Post by jventura »

I use Evernote just like a folder with sub-folders and files in those sub-folders. For instance, I have my main folder, a folder to keep things of my workplace, a folder for generic notes, a folder for personal things, a folder for my monthly-semester-anual planning, etc., etc.

What I do that really has been working very well for me is maintaining a list of things to do for the next weeks (usually for the next 2/3 months). I have a list with items for my work, and generic life items.

For instance, my work list has something like:

  Week 10/Feb
  - SO: Prepare exam (print)
  - SO: Hold project discussions (Thursday, 10h)
  - CD: Prepare next semester (generic overview)

  Week 17/Feb
  - ...
My personal list has things such as:

  Week 10/Feb
  - SIM: do accounting
  - Ophthalmology (17h30)
  - ...
Every week I grab the information from those weekly lists and add to my TODO file. My TODO file is where I split the weekly items through the days:

  Monday
  - SO: Prepare exam (print)
  - SIM: do accounting

  Tuesday
  - ....
My TODO file comes from a template with recurrent items already set in their respective days, so I never miss recurrent things..

All in all, my system is like a calendar and todo list in the same place. I don't like to use two or three apps to do my planning.

Eventually I would like to get rid of Evernote mainly because I have to delete older items to keep my scroll to a minimum (and so, I lose all information about my previous weeks and todo lists)..

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file

#105

Post by TriNetra »

I have separate text files for todo and notes. I use Notepad on Windows and it has a nice (though not very well known) F5 feature to insert current dateTime. Certainly not surprising given the name of the program is notepad. I also extensively use Autohotkey to quickly open up the desired file by pressing a system-wide keystroke. I also keep these text files in a remote git repository so there's a history to restore from in case I accidentally delete something

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file

#107

Post by Operyl »

aloknnikhil wrote: post #76
endisukaj wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd agree with you, but the killer feature digital notes have, for me, is the quick and effortless searching.

Yup. I miss this too. I tried OCR for all my written notes, it just doesn't work.

I found that using an iPad with the Pencil has been a great middle ground. The OCR in the various Notes apps (including stock) is able to recognize my horrendous writing (it’s really bad).

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file

#108

Post by cm2187 »

TriNetra wrote: post #105

I have separate text files for todo and notes. I use Notepad on Windows and it has a nice (though not very well known) F5 feature to insert current dateTime. Certainly not surprising given the name of the program is note pad. I also extensively use Autohotkey to quickly open up the desired file by pressing a system-wide keystroke. I also keep these text files in a remote git repository so there's a history to restore…

As long as you never use Undo...

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file

#109

Post by kabdib »

I use a single text file, have done this for decades. I dump everything into it and don't worry too much about structure, it's an incredible resource for "remembering" minutia, things like "what was that server that i thought might have had some issues last August?" Just a quick control-S and I'm there. My current 7+ year old notes file has about 100K lines in it right now. I can tell you what I was doing last year, or the year before, on this day, in seconds.

I just type

    note (maybe some text here)
and it cracks open Emacs on the notes file, adds a timestamp, appends the optional text, and then I can just type or paste something in. Nearly frictionless, that's key. Great for writing those miserable annual reviews, too (easy answers to "what have I worked on in the past year?")

I use plain old notebooks (simple blank sketchpads, or something bound like a Moleskin/Lecchturm) for meetings, interviews, walking around datacenters and so forth where a keyboard is awkward and anyway, drawings.

I've tried the EverNote/OneNote/etc. apps and none of them were as convenient or as easy to use, or as portable.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file

#110

Post by shakezula »

beejiu wrote: post #58

My favourite "productivity app" is not an app at all. It's a plain old notebook. I write down any notes and actions I need to take, and strike through them once finished. It has a nice benefit that I can scribble notes, draw lines between ideas, sketch out diagrams, etc.

Same. I've used a loose type of bullet journaling for most of my software development career and it's the only workflow I've been able to stick to that I feel increases my overall output.
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