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Comment by mysterydip | Hacker News Reader

One thing I've wanted in an app is some kind of organized quick way to do "where did i put that?" and "did I try this food option before and did I like it or not?"

My main concern with any app is remembering to use it. I have a dozen or so alarms, and todo lists, and I still forget to check them. Beyond some push notification, what ways can your app help me remember to use it to make it a habit?

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you might want to try Notion or Evernote something like that; externalised memory is generally served by note-taking apps. Roam is also good, if you don't like organising your notes hierarchically. Remembering to use it is not an issue of memory, but of habituation; there are decent habit-tracking apps like habitica to help with that. Of course, the first habit you'll want to build is the habit of using a habit tracker! For me, the easiest way to do that was to plumb in the habits I already do (brush teeth, make breakfast etc) and focus on checking them off daily. Then I could build on that into making new habits.

I was diagnosed with ADHD last year after suspecting it for some time. I used Notion for this exact reason, but ended up switching to Obsidian with much more success. Notion is a great app and I even had a pro subscription for a while, but the number of widgets and options and different ways of doing things made it too distracting for me.

I'm glad you found something that works for you! I haven't tried Obsidian yet, but I'm tempted to when I get a little time to try it out, because open-source is just inherently better.

[edit] just looked it up, I thought Obsidian was open source but apparently not. Disappointing.

I agree, it’s disappointing. Personally, I justify my use case by considering that they have little incentive to “be evil” given their business model, and I have to make some sacrifices to get the outcome I want; not being able to inspect the source is a sacrifice I make for a very effective personal organization tool.

Obviously this is a decision I have made for myself and it’s just as likely to blow up in my face in the future as any other project, but I would encourage anyone struggling with memory or organization as a result of ADHD to investigate Obsidian.

My phone says I have 219 notes, many of which are pages long. I need a better way to organize them, especially when I need to add something. Large flat files of text get difficult to use. Maybe the apps you mentioned address that in some way, I'll have to look.

I actually do this and think its the best option. The app that is always there is best. Especially if its simple. I just use iOS notes, and they show up on my mac. Easy, always there, and fast to load.

I just dump everything into its own note, then write some keywords to search for. Lots of small notes. Searching text is easy and fast on modern tech, so forget organizations that are inflexible and will need to change, just use text search for everything and put every thought into its own note.

Have an upcoming flight? Throw the entire email into a note ( i attach the email file, not contents), then write "trip SFO NYC november 2021 delta thanksgiving" and i can just search "SFO november" or "delta thanksgiving" and find the flight details.

I even keep a note called "addresses" so any service i give my address to i know about. Very helpful when moving (i do a lot) and tracking what accounts need to be updated.

I found the important thing was not to bother cleaning up notes, or tracking old ones or doing anything complex. Just let them exist, and when i get bored (eg. on flight) i may go through and clean old ones.

Yeah they do - notion allows you to organise notes hierarchically, as trees or in databases (like a table where each row is its own page), and roam allows you to network your notes into a graph. Notion is probably better in your case, roam is more designed for building knowledge graphs when researching.

+1 for Notion. If you are interested, I would also look into a system like "Getting Things Done" or "Zen to Done" for a more bite-sized approach.

219 notes though, sounds like you already have a good habit of capturing your thoughts! Organizing tasks into current contexts has helped me a lot (At Computer, Housework, Wife,...). Best of luck!

give Obsidian a look

Re: "where did I put that" -- I got a set of Apple airtags recently and they've been a godsend. I also have an apple watch, so via the watch I can find my phone, and via the phone I can find my wallet/keys/etc... They're awesome.

Re: reminders, one thing I've noticed with any sort of reminder system based on alerts/notifications, is that while they work for a while, eventually my brain just starts ignoring the alerts. I honestly have no great solutions for that. This applies to any sort of organizational system I've tried, actually.

Yes exactly! The alarm goes off that says "empty the dishwasher" and my brain says "yup it's 7:15," then goes on to something else before I digest what the alarm is for.

I'll definitely check out airtags, thanks!

An ever-louder alarm that eventually electrocutes you will work. It'd need to be location-aware so it knows that you really did unload the dishwasher.

what i love is how apple takes advantage of my disability to steal all of my privacy with airtags and find my. i use it all the time but i f apple under my breath every time.

Trust me, it's not just your disability: Apple takes advantage of all their customers equally, regardless of race, gender identity, sex or financial status.

yeah but because you give up so much privacy with airtags and find my that it feels targeted at me as someone who forgets where stuff is, all the time.

try finding a positive association to attach to the alarm -- some form of dopamine hit or something so you can start to look forward to the alarm

(then you get the self control issue of not going for that dopamine hit every time it pops into your head!)

if they pay me to use it I'll make it a habit for sure :)

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