I built minimal.app as the antithesis of over-planning, over-documenting, over-organizing, and over-thinking. The feature that keeps the mind open is the Note Lifetime, whereby notes die when you don’t engage with them [1].

This is in contrast to notion, evernote, et al where writers collect stuff and live in these information silos, trapped by the confines of their tools. Of course many (most?) thoughtful people can pull themselves out of these traps with discipline, but I prefer my tools devoid of these slippery slopes that make discipline a necessity [2].

I use Minimal to “plan my life” just like the characters in this story, except every time I open the app it feels like an empty slate, a blank canvas, so new projects can take new directions and new mindsets are less constrained by prior mindsets. As the designer and builder, my goal is to capture the best of a paper notebook and the best of software. I know I’m not executing perfectly, but this is a fun and exciting guiding principle.

[1] – Also the interface is just clean with features hidden away until they are needed.

[2] – Just like a well-architected structure makes the resident by default open-minded, comfortable, and joyous, our tools similarly have a “gravity” or default effect on the user. It’s very important to observe these patterns.

[Final aside] – Anyone who wants to can get a free membership and unlimited access tk premium features by joining the beta program - do it at minimal.app/#beta if you want to check Minimal out.