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My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

jeffhuang.com

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Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#141

Post by fipar »

kamaal wrote: post #79
ant6n wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or until the doc becomes so large and slow that u can't work with it anymore (perhaps around 50 pages if there are images?)

How else would you store images if you did it on a text file? Links to your hard drive? Notice at some point you are just making a wiki. And of course now you have the added effort budget of maintaining the wiki on top of your regular work. I have seen random posts on the internet where people were migrating their notes systems to org mode or markdown. If you ask me that's too much meta work to do, in order to do you…

Org mode can display images inline. They’re obviously not stored on the file itself, but I keep everything under a single directory hierarchy and it works ok for my use cases.

I migrated to org from Things some 12 years ago and since I started bare-bones (just todo entries, no special config) and grew as my needs arose, I never felt I had to invest lots of time in my setup.

Agree that some people overdo things and the tools become projects on their own though.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#142

Post by rasengan0 »

Yay! Good to read validation after trying so many: wikis, org, TheBrain, Freemind, etc. It's like a return to the old .LOG in notepad trick.

After a score, I'm came to the same conclusion as the article; plain text just works. I log in vim using ISO 8601 date stamped records in the log format of (priority - datetime stamp - keywords/tag - content) inspired by Randy Pausch https://youtu.be/oTugjssqOT0 others noticed too: https://github.com/nrr-deprecated/todo

Sorting by date, priority or keyword keeps me on track and helps for quarterly summaries.

A simple bash loop runs annually to give me a fresh 365 dashboard of days but inserts are a datetime stamp command - keywords autocompleted - then actual typing the meat of the task/content

Because all text is in a single file, vim autocomplete saves typing as I use CamelCase for keywords; vim dict helps too.

Caveat: For enjoyment, I still use fountain pens and paper for a running top 3 priority and scribbling offline. Backup interop is via TiddlyWiki for reference archive and sync with a plain text Zettelkasten (heavy on vim gf, Rg, FZF and jq for TiddlyWiki json export)

Plain text is built to last.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#143

Post by justsomeuser »

egypturnash wrote: post #98
rappatic wrote: post #2

The author makes some points about the benefits of doing this, but I really think he's making things more difficult for himself. Even a basic note-taking app would provide a much larger number of features and be equally easy to use. It's quirky idea but it's really not that practical.

It's been working for him for twelve years . I think that's pretty practical. App require maintenance and are out of your control; right now a chunk of my personal process is a mess because some stuff depended on Evernote. Which was great for about a decade until it got a complete rewrite as an Electron app, and now it's super slow and keeps adding new "friendly" stuff that gets in between me and my notes. I haven't…

Same here, native Evernote has worked fine for me, but the Electron version adds too much latency, and the writing/reading of notes feels different in a worse way.

Apple Notes will let you import directly from an Evernote export, but it is missing some features (no note links, no quick search/jump, hard to navigate nested folders as notes are hidden by default, no export).

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#144

Post by blueboo »

chapium wrote: post #77
blueboo wrote: post #16

My kingdom for a fast, one-page, multiplatform notes app that could accomplish this

OneNote, DokuWiki, and org-mode. Each multiplatform and one page (as long as you don't go about creating multiple pages.)

Ah. Also needed: offline editing and instant-on. Even Apple’s Notes is too slow from launch to editing.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#145

Post by mwattsun »

jiggunjer wrote: post #116
mwattsun wrote: post #31

I've always kept a text file or spreadsheet of things to do, priorities, etc... My biggest problem isn't keeping a list and getting organized, it's remembering to look at my list. I tend to space out for days working on a problem and forget to look at my list. I've experienced a big productivity boost by using the desktop background of my 43" monitor as a whiteboard (blackboard actually). I have an jpg the size of my…

I recall Windows has/had yellow "sticky notes" that could be used for that purpose.

It still does. They work ok but I came up with something better for myself.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/microsoft-sticky-notes/9nb...

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#146

Post by jiggunjer »

levmiseri wrote: post #81

For the fellow .txt filists — I made a minimal online notepad https://kvak.io that makes it easier to access your notes anywhere. (With my wife we are also using it as an always-up-to-date shopping list).

Is there a self hosted version. No offense :)

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#147

Post by _dain_ »

rav wrote: post #17

My productivity app is a Git repository (that happens to be a GitLab wiki git repository at $WORK as well) with my "priority queue" text file and the following bash function. The contents of the text file are similar to what Jeff Huang describes in the blog post (but MUCH less organized). Since it's in version control, I can freely delete old content that's no longer relevant for my day-to-day, and then I frequently…

I have something similar, a folder full of text files that gets automatically committed to a git repo. Each file is a note or todo list item. When I want to review or search through things I do `cat *.txt | less` or similar. When I finish an item I just delete the file and commit. That keeps it tidy while also keeping an archive of old items if I need it (in practice I rarely do).

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#148

Post by _dain_ »

> Prerequisite: A calendar. The one outside tool I use is an online calendar, and I put everything on this calendar, even things that aren't actually for a fixed time like "make a coffee table at the workshop" or "figure out how to recruit new PhD students" — I'll schedule them on a date when I want to think about it. That way all my future plans and schedule are together, and not a bunch of lists I have to keep track of.

On this topic, what calendar software do people use? I'm a very disorganized person, never used calendars to keep track of my life. Maybe I'll try it out. I'd like something independent from Google/Microsoft/$BIGTECH.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#149

Post by snarf21 »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #7

The key to this solution isn’t really the .txt file or the formatting. It’s the ritual. Any productivity system can be made to work once it becomes a habit and therefore your default action. I think .txt files or Org mode are attractive to devs because they feel like something we’d be doing anyway during our day. the same system will work with a paper journal or even a fresh piece of paper every morning if, and only…

Exactly, a "bad" process followed completely will always outperform a "good" process followed intermittently.

Re: My productivity app for the past 12 years has been a single .txt file (2020)

#150

Post by Sohcahtoa82 »

7thaccount wrote: post #123

This made me laugh, as I've done the same thing for years. I just keep a "to do" text file open and put new things into it and move things into the completed section when done. I don't have time for the JIRA method as it is overly complicated and I work on a lot of solo projects these days, so the additional features aren't useful. My boss just wants a weekly status update (email with a few bullet points), so nobody…

For solo projects, I still prefer a tracker, but I use Taiga. It's very basic, but that's all I need. I don't want to create a list of fields that I have to fill out on every ticket. Most of my tickets don't even have a description, just a title.
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