My productivity app is a never-ending .txt file (2020)
jeffhuang.com
jeffhuang.com
I now have 46 .txt files for managing things, where each one pertains to some particular topic: food, music, travel, a website, etc. All are listed in my main TODO.TXT and since I use vim, I can just move the cursor on top of any of the files and type "gf" to jump to that other file. When I'm done, I hit Ctrl-O to jump back to the original file. It is hypertext without the html.
I used to use Zim and it was splendid. Then I went down a few rabbit holes and explored a more GUI-less approach, but in my case nothing ever approached the level of Zim. It is more on me, than on tools. Now, when I'm doing a job that finally doesn't cause me a burn out I am slowly going back to Zim and I like it.
Maybe I need to wait until the itch becomes too large to ignore and start my own little side project :/
Then I used vim using `CTRL-Wgf`, same as you.
Then I added to my .bash_profile:
alias todo='vim ~/.todo'
The problem I found with this, eventually, is that it's really not great at allowing me to perform my most common workflow:
push-context -> start-new-thing -> finish-new-thing -> pop-context
switch-context $OLD-THING -> switch-context $NEW-THING -> switch-previous-context
switch-previous-context -> switch-previous-context (repeat ad nauseum)
switch-to-most-recent-context-in-admin -> switch-to-most-recent-context-in-other-project
Really, my tasks are not lists, they aren't even items to do. They're contexts which I want to switch to, switch between, discard once done (to maintain high SNR), branch off from, etc.
It's context management. A todolist app isn't going to cut it, and in fact, none of them did.
For the last 6 months or so I've been happily using a small tool I developed for myself, to suit my workflows (like the ones above). Even made a GUI for it.
It's the only thing I've used since I started with TODO files in the 90s that gets better at managing my contexts over time. Everything else gets worse over time, because the mismatch between what I want (context management) and what they provide (TODO items management) can easily be negligible when first using it with few items entered, but as that list grows so does the magnitude of the mismatch in what I want and what they do.
It's missing remote sync but I'll eventually add that in (so I can use it from the phone eventually). Easily the best 1 week I've ever spent on a project.
Also, which approach you use to efficiently store and re-store relevant context information? I often find that intricate but important details are lost during context switch.
Sure, but because I'm only using it for myself, you're going to have to compile it yourself if you want (for now, anyway).
Originally designed to be CLI app, I find I only use the GUI these days (also in the repo).
Start here in case this is not for you: https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIn...
> Also, which approach you use to efficiently store and re-store relevant context information? I often find that intricate but important details are lost during context switch.
Everything is stored in a hierarchical DB, AKA the filesystem :-)
Each 'frame' is a directory with a specific set of files, and the directory name serves as the name of the frame. At any given time, a metainfo file in the root points to the currently active frame.
Finally settled with Google Keep (checklists) + Obsidian (~2,700 text files, interconnected and easy to navigate).
The system has evolved over the years. The greatest thing about it is how flexible it is. When faced with new requirements (new projects, job change, etc) I can just start taking notes in a different way and see if it sticks.
I also commit it to git every 30 minutes using a cron script. Its awesome.
I take the last sprint's file, save a copy for the new sprint, summarize what got done to report in sprint meeting, then add the tasks for the new sprint to present at the meeting as well.
Still have JIRA tickets to track tasks in a more formal way. But the text file is far more flexible and easier to quickly edit and view everything at a glance, as well as including things that don't fit cleanly in a ticket.
At the beginning of the month I duplicate the file and rename it for the new month, then I clean out just like you do.
I've tried apps, I've tried tracking systems, and this seems to work best for me for now. I can keep it open all the time in a tab of my text editor which I would have open anyway and it backs up with the rest of my files.
Not trying to knock the idea, I just can't imagine branching or reverting or being curious about the history of a to-do list. Maybe it could be cool for statistics over time.
But I'm really curious to hear how you're using it!
Pros: pushes only the differences, keeps history, can be rolled back, works offline (push fails but commit works), offers a time log of changes.
Commit messages are not needed really - the timestamp is enough and rolling back is only for exceptional events (e.g. accidentally deleting important stuff, etc.).
they can be ruthlessly minimal.
The intermediate note-to-self stuff, the reference material, the stuff that was cancelled, all can be deleted.
But you have the peace of mind that you can get it back.
This might be especially important if it is a text file you run your life with.
My neighbor needs the name of the plumber we used. What was the amount of the bill? When did I order xyz last? What was the size of the wiper blades of my car?
But how do you look that information up in git?
Hosting private repo on gitlab solves hosting.
I do everything in vim and it's more keystrokes to search across separate files.
I've been using one file for 2-3 years now and it's only 1mb.
"my/work/xxx/201810.notes" 34502L, 1946600B written
The datestamp is the most recent time I thought it might be useful to rotate into a new file. It was not! I find it much more convenient to have everything in a single topic-based file, although I do separate personal from work, and employers from each other.
I mark completed items with a "+" and items I won't do with a "-".
Simple and works great!
Similar to how the author talks about scheduling their next day the evening before, I've started planning the big tasks for next on Friday afternoon, as this gives me momentum on Monday morning.
Related: I've found the 3/3/3 technique from Oliver Burkeman[^2] and the concept of open and closed lists to be a great complement for this type of organization. It hits the sweet-spot of flexibility and consistency for me.
Obsidian itself has got to be the nicest markdown editor I have ever used, hands down. It gets so many of the little details absolutely right, down to tiny things like a quick shortcut to turn a list item into a checkbox (Ctrl+L) and then into a checked box (Ctrl+L again), without needing to even think about the underlying syntax. But you totally can, if you need that control. It's great.
It’s also dare-I-say-it too customizable for me. I just want it to look nice and do standard notes stuff without having to spend hours tinkering.
The only thing keeping me is that it is just markdown. I don’t like the idea of being locked in with the proprietary formats of other apps
Maybe it's because I don't have many notes yet and it becomes a behemoth if the vault gets too big?
Try to have 50+ plugins and you will feel the slowness even in a small vault.
I currently have 147 community plugins installed. Is your shitload bigger than my shitload? :-)
I don't have all of them enabled though. Only about 2/3. :-)
It's not only the number of enabled plugins that matters. Some graphical plugins eat almost no resources. But then there are other plugins that are constantly rescanning files and O is not necessarily "n", but worse than that.
You can start with setting up the following plugins to their full potential and see how it goes. :-) Breadcrumbs Dataview Dynamic Table of Contents Filename Heading Sync Juggl Link Favicons Linter Omnisearch Spaced Repetition Supercharged links
Initially I tried to plan on Obsidian as well but it didn't work for me. Writing on paper is slow and not only it calms me down but also directly incentivizes me to state my tasks and goals concisely. Similarly, the limited space on a planning page helps me to be realistic in terms of things I set to accomplish.
Edit: I guess even for non-code text files, though I haven't used it for that purpose myself, yet. Bet many authors do.
This is a key win. Most of the rest he describes is support (also cruicial). But setting up your day the night before is amazingly powerful. Many of the things I plan for the day I actually schedule into my calendar (12:30-13:00 read and respond to those three unanswered messages from Jane).
I’m whinging because I see other managers that have nailed this so much better than me and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.
I look at my mail when I get up and normally at three other fixed times.
Sometimes there's something complicated going on via mail and I have to be more responsive. Today I'm trying to debug something with a prospective partner who is in Japan (normally in NYC) so I check for messages from them between tasks. But otherwise it's systolic.
I also run a lot of automation over my mail most of which causes me not to see as much.
For slack, we have a culture that it's either transient (doesn't matter what someone wrote yesterday) or, depending on channel, archival ("here's the documents from partner P") which means you search for it but don't otherwise follow in real time. We're relatively hardcore about channels so that you can ignore ones that aren't germane to you. So I skim them in the same times I check mail.
Zoom meetings...I have the luxury of mostly only attending meetings with agenda and objectives published ahead of time. We try to do as much as possible asynchronously though we have one outside partner who doesn't do any homework and tries to use meetings to get work done rather than just use them for things that can't be handled asynchronously.
And also: certain topics are only handled on certain days, e.g. patent (bletch) related stuff I only work on tuesdays and fridays. Otherwise it will just sit in my inbox or wherever.
In my previous role, I worked with a primarily West Coast team (being East Cost, myself), and it was wonderful having that first 3 hours of uninterrupted time to do deep work before the 'other' stuff crept in. The downside, of course, was then needing to be on-point in meetings where everyone else was caffeinated/ready-to-go and my brain was losing steam.
Maybe some combo of Zapier, extracting into local text, and strict observance of non-slack time and I could make it work.
Similarly, for over 10 years I used to compile my CV with LaTeX using a fancy template I designed, until I realized the time it took to edit it was just not worth it. So I pasted it into a Google Docs file with Arial font and just text bullet points and no rich text features. My life became way easier and my CV looks way less annoying.
(This may be irrelevant to the original post but) I found that a lot of the optimizations I thought were good for me were stemming from an unnecessary attachment to a minimalist technical aesthetic.
But then it's not Vim.
That was a little tongue in cheek, but seriously, I need Vim when I write/edit text. Currently have a todo.txt that's on iCloud.
I went the opposite way - trying to typeset[1] in word processors just became too hard as changed CV to emphasise some things over others.
My CV[2] in LaTeX was extremely quick to adjust for someone else who wanted an identically formatted CV.
[1] I like the ability to do proper boxes all over the page for things that require box-models, like advertisments, which is what your CV actually is!
[2] In case you are interested in what the output looks like: https://www.lelanthran.com/downloads/resume-1page.pdf
Not to say a picture like that should be happy smiling or linkedin look, but yours look like you are having a bad time.
Although I'm from US where pictures aren't on resumes.
Now that I look at at it properly, I look constipated :)
Overall this system works for me for several reasons. First, I hate pretty much every note taking app out there. Second, I like having control over my files. Most importantly, though, I don't actually need to write notes all that often, and this way of doing things is convenient. When my brain is so crowded I need to overflow some thoughts or tasks for the day/week somewhere, this system is there. When I'm managing it all in my head just fine, I don't have to worry about keeping notes up to date, and I can count on my own system not to send me a push notification bugging me about it.
At some point, either your jobs novelty will wear off or your memory will just degrade.
what happened to me is the lack of novelty in day to day and long term plans created a lot of unreliable data. having done a task multiple times, recalling the latest event details became a mixed bag of questionable facts.
I still have the same capacity but now because I had such a great capacity it's redundancy causes issues.
just take note.
I am currently enduring a home builder who seems to think he doesn’t need to take notes. He has made so many errors and has had to do so much rework that he’s run out of time to fix legitimate problems.
His belief in his ability to retain information way exceeds his ability.
Understanding and accepting my own constraints and limitations helped me to become far better at what I do. People who don’t take notes make me very anxious. (This includes waiters).
With the builder - yep, told him we don’t need the stud wall. Met him every morning to discuss issues and progress. I start taking notes and sending them post meeting. Did not talk about stud wall because it’s no longer being done. 2 weeks later, stud wall appears. Sigh. Ask him to remove stud wall.
He tries makes me feel like it’s my fault, but fails.
I just moved into a remodel that I checked daily for a year. The major stuff is done (mostly) right, but things inevitably went wrong. In particular when new staff or other crews were involved.
Stay the course. Even if it's your fault (which you can never admit as it will cost you), you need to correct him.
"His ignorance was as remarkable as his knowledge. Of contemporary literature, philosophy and politics he appeared to know next to nothing. Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to be to me such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it.
“You appear to be astonished,” he said, smiling at my expression of surprise. “Now that I do know it I shall do my best to forget it.”
“To forget it!”
“You see,” he explained, “I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”
“But the Solar System!” I protested.
“What the deuce is it to me?” he interrupted impatiently; “you say that we go round the sun. If we went round the moon it would not make a pennyworth of difference to me or to my work.”
It is not a fixed size, but it grows and shrinks, and you might find it still houses long lost or useless memories, while somehow being too full to store the name of the person you just introduced yourself to.
This lets me have "durable" files (I can grep for pretty much anything and get a date-specific hit for it, similar to doing a `git log -S`), and also lets me declare "task-bankruptcy" without any worry (I can always "rewind" to any particular point in time).
The addition of `report` (aka: `diff $YESTERDAY $TODAY`) is helpful to see what I've added/removed. Yeah, there's better ways to do things, but the degenerate simplicity of `open ~/Desktop/todo.txt` is fantastic. Having the equivalent of `open ~/Desktop/$TODAY.txt` (with no ceremony) has been very valuable to me!
$ cat ~/bin/today
#!/bin/bash
TODO_HOME="$HOME/Desktop"
TODAY="$( date "+%Y-%m-%d" )"
TODAY_FILE="$TODO_HOME/todo-$TODAY-todo.txt"
PREVIOUS_FILE="$( ~/bin/previous )"
if [[ ! -f "$TODAY_FILE" ]]; then
cp "$PREVIOUS_FILE" "$TODAY_FILE"
fi
report "$TODAY_FILE"
printf "Press Enter to Continue, Ctrl-C to exit." && read -r PROMPT
open "$TODAY_FILE"
echo "$TODAY"
$ cat ~/bin/previous
#!/bin/bash
TODO_HOME="$HOME/Desktop/"
TODAYS_DATE="$( date "+%Y-%m-%d" )"
MOST_RECENT="$( ls "$TODO_HOME"/todo-*-todo.txt | sed 's/^.*todo-//g' | sed 's/-todo.txt//g' ; echo "$TODAYS_DATE" | sort )"
PREVIOUS="$( echo "$MOST_RECENT" | awk -- "BEGIN { YET=0 } /^$TODAYS_DATE/ { YET=1 } { if ( !YET ) PREV=\$0 } END { print( PREV ) }" )"
PREVIOUS_FILE="$( echo "$TODO_HOME/todo-$PREVIOUS-todo.txt" )"
echo "$( realpath "$PREVIOUS_FILE" )"
$ cat ~/bin/report
#!/bin/bash
TODO_HOME="$HOME/Desktop"
TODAY_FILE="$TODO_HOME/todo-$( date "+%Y-%m-%d" )-todo.txt"
PREVIOUS_FILE="$( ~/bin/previous )"
echo "${PREVIOUS_FILE}...${TODAY_FILE}"
diff -U0 "$PREVIOUS_FILE" "$TODAY_FILE" | grep -v ^@@ - Running `notes` will open this month's notes for YYYY_MM.txt in your default $EDITOR
- Running `notes hello world` will append `hello world` to YYYY_MM.txt
- Running `$stdout | notes` will append another program's output to YYYY_MM.txt (useful for piping your clipboard)
I tried YYYY_MM_DD.txt for a while but I found it to be too fragmented. Oftentimes I want to look at a few day's worth of notes at a glance.
Gives you quite a granular time reference but not too fine like days.
I've found that for productivity tools, there is an inverse correlation between time it takes to setup and how effective it is.
I run into the issue where I’m told to start new things all the time, then things don’t get finished, because of other new things that “need” to start. And no one ever seems to care than nothing actually gets done… but someday they might. So the list of what I need to look through keeps growing with nothing to keep it in check.
I still keep daily notes at times and track what I'm doing in other spots, but getting used to using Todoist to help me do periodic tasks at the proper rate has been one of the only productivity tools that felt like they "really worked." I pay for the app because not doing so would feel ungrateful, but I don't really use any of their premium features. The base app is more than good enough in my view.
I contemplated trying to do all of this in Obsidian but the conventional advice seems that while you can, it isn't worth it. Todoist offering a simple mobile interface where I can quickly add a task is great. I wish reminders worked a little better (I'd been using alarms on my phone for reminders I want at a specific time, and Todoist reminders aren't nearly as attention grabbing).
I abandoned ever since I got my degree and started exploring other apps when I got a job.
```dataview
TASK FROM "VaultName/Journal" WHERE !completed
```
[^1]: https://github.com/blacksmithgu/obsidian-dataview
[^2]: https://github.com/alister/alister-tools/blob/main/.todo.cro...
It works. A big issue with computer notetaking software, I've realized, is that I was spending too much time trying to figure out where to put things: what note should this be connected to, which folder should this be in, etc. Dumping everything into a single document, under today's date, gets rid of that. The other issue this solved was that I never looked back at what I'd written previously: opening a bunch of files was too tedious to ever do unless I was explicitly looking for something. With this, I can just scroll down and see what I was doing last week, immediately.
You put .LOG at the top of the new file with a return. Save and close the file.
Every time you reopen the file, the timestamp is append to the file. Add your notes, save, exit notepad. Open it again when you need to update, rinse and repeat.
Nothing I’ve ever tried has been more effective than just keeping this endless file.
John Carmack's .plan¹:
https://garbagecollected.org/2017/10/24/the-carmack-plan/
Archive:
I have a note directory with a root level markdown file which I use for general stuff which i dont use much. I also have folders for each task # with a similar sort of markdown file. And sometimes (rarely) other useful assets.
Thanks for opening another great discussion of plain text note taking as a productivity tool!
The ability to organize one's life like this is so foreign to me, it's almost like he's describing what it's like to be an octopus.
I think it may be my emotional state that I can't manage. There is absolutely no way, I could decide what I'd be doing the next day every night. The thing is my state of mind would prevent me from doing half the tasks in the list. So shit would just pile up in that text file, making me every day more nervous about things.
For what it's worth, I think I am more "normal" than the person who wrote that piece. So that's a consolation...
One of the popular getting things done methods was to keep your stuff in one place, at least this article keeps inline with that idea.
If it works, keep doing it.
Do you extend that idea to mixing work and personal?
I clicked because what I have is a gigantic TODO .txt file that grows and grows and grows. I typically only look at the bottom (newest) part, typically at what fits on screen. The rest is full of things I should have done at some point and never actually did.
In many cases, what was once thought to be important is no longer important or even needed/wanted; delete these things. In other cases it’s more of a nice-to-have, not something that is really needed. For these, if it’s for you or someone you like, a someday/maybe list (as another comment suggested) is good, otherwise drop it.
Once the list is shorter and current, I find it easier to get things done. When the list gets too long that I can’t bring myself to read it anymore, this is generally what I do.
I’ve also found it helpful to have a kind of “backlog” list, and then something just for what I’m going to do today. That today list needs to be short. 3 things is the max for me; some days it’s just one. If I happen to finish it all, I can look at the backlog to add something. Being realistic about what can be done in a day is really important. Getting all that other stuff out of my view helps me to stop thinking about all the stuff I’m not doing, as it’s not helpful to dwell on it.
For me, NOT having stuff planned out is what's stressful and the difference in productivity is noticeable when I have some sort of to-do list/schedule vs. when I just wing it.
A lot of my todos are something like "I found this article interesting but I don't have the current skills to really understand everything in it" or "I want to add this feature to X but I think I will wait until the new version comes out because it will be easier then" or "I want to remember this when I finally decide to do Y".
My partner relies on a Leuchtturm weekly planner; my father bought into the whole Stephen Covey system; a coworker has a stack of Post-its, and I use a hodgepodge of Google Calendar (far off single events), Apple Notes (weekly tasks for work) + Reminders (medium-term todos).
The whole point is not to rely on one's (aging) memory to keep track of stuff. As long as tasks aren't falling between the cracks, keep doing what you're doing.
This article feels so foreign to me because I’m not trying to be productive. I don’t have a productively system, because I’m not.
I complete my works tasks. Those usually have lists.
After work and on the weekends, I spend time with friends and family, and do hobbies as I enjoy them.
Beyond that, I don’t try to remember things. I let stuff slip through the cracks (ok, I have a planner for birthdays). I don’t try to get things done.
For what it’s worth, if you looked at my life on the outside, you’d probably think I was “productive”. I can speak multiple languages, I make music, I play sports, and I have various programming projects going.
But I don’t do any of those things because they are productive. Every day after work, I spend an hour or two doing whatever I enjoy in a completely non-systemic manner. And I find that over a multi-year time span you actually can accomplish a great deal with this “non-system”
Sure, if you wander around, you can see nice places. But planning a trip, because you want to see specific sights, is something different. Both are nice ways, depending on what you want from life.
Life hack - you'll have fewer fights if you have Wife XOR Girlfriend, and not Wife OR Girlfriend :-)
On topic, I'm pretty much the same - my own brain sabotages me via nerd-sniping more often than any enemy ever could.
I don't really think there's anything to be done about it, TBH.
The goal of the list isn't to beat you up, but just a tool to make sure that at the end of the day you did the things that were important to you and YOU get to decide what that means.
It did bring up the concept you mention. It basically had a person set their goal, then write down everything they could do to get there. From there you pick the ones that will get you the most bang for the buck. And when you hit your goal, you’re done. If that means it only took 5 tasks out of 47 possible, great. Goal achieved, trash the rest of the tasks and move on.
Surely when you go to bed at night or wake up in the morning you have in your mind what it is you want or need to do that day.
- those that like to obsess over productivity tools instead of doing work
- those that share the same brain structure as the author's
If you are neither of those, have ADHD, OCD or any other brain variety, most advice on the matter is worthless at best. The only way out is find how your brain operates, and what works for you. There is no silver bullet.
- calendars have mobile apps which enable quick and precise entry
- calendars understand time spans
- calendars have many options to display events
- calendars have cloud syncing
- calendars are backed by a queryable data store
Not saying using a text file is good or bad, but I think a more accurate title would be “my productivity app is a never ending txt file and a calendar app”
I can kind of understand the author not really registering just how much the calendar app does for their organization, since calendar apps are so ubiquitous.
However it's limiting for detailed lists of things to do (e.g. great for travel, lousy for packing list), and it's terrible for time-independent data: notes from talking to my heating contractor, screenshots of setting for my media player, etc.
I tried to avoid bringing in some strange formatting rules etc, quite free form. With a single file, it's effortless to go back and find out maybe why something was done in that way or why it wasn't done at all.
Looks kind of like a work diary to me, I have seen people trying to do a similar thing by bringing too much structure/org modes etc and making it so complicated that they forgot at first why they are doing it.
KISS
On the other hand, PTF (Pity The Fool) who tries to export these notes. I know some people have written exporters but of course, whenever Apple decides to change format, PTF.
I would like to change to a more portable format, e.g. markdown, but I am looking for a solution that syncs nicely across devices. Maybe iaWriter. Maybe just sublime text or even emacs and just put everything in a dropbox folder.
I like that Apple Notes gives me the option to write, easily add images, make tables, etc. While 98% of my notes are just text, and some of these things can be done in markdown, it is higher friction in markdown. So I’m choosing the lower daily friction and extra features, knowing that I’ll probably experience one high friction migration day in the future, but that day could be 10 years from now.
The biggest issue moving notes out of Apple Notes was the extra new lines and spaces all over the place. I have to assume if the app is going to shutdown that some nice developer will make a little tool to take care of this. If not, meh… I’ll use it as an opportunity to clean up some clutter.
There are already a bunch:
- (discusses the internals) https://devlog.notespub.com/2022/08/site-generator-for-apple...
- https://github.com/dunhamsteve/notesutils
- https://github.com/ydkhatri/mac_apt
- https://github.com/threeplanetssoftware/apple_cloud_notes_pa...
I think of it as my labbook.
That being said, I do use my calendar-equivalent app on my phone for very time-sensitive stuff, just in case.
I don't find it useful to force everything into a single file. Instead, I'll organize these text files somewhere inside a directory structure that I can recursively grep. Unlike the OP I do use mutable TODO lists to track high level lists of things that I want to continue to spend mental energy on, but I do like the chronological list of done things and I might think about adding something like that or maybe augmenting the chronological notes file I already have.
I do depart from the world of plain text for keeping track of larger amounts of information such as good papers I encounter, complete blog posts that I might want to refer back to, etc. For this I use the fantastic DEVONthink tool. It's got a large array of powerful features including automatic OCR and indexing of images and an excellent search feature, but the one that I use the most is its ability to make a "web archive" from a link. This downloads all of a web page's resources and stores them in the database locally, making it really easy to refer back to things that I've seen before regardless of whether I have internet access or not, whether the website is still around, etc.
I go back to them often, and some things can outgrow them completely when you want to:
- Reduce the work between my list and collaborating with others (a shared list) - First class convenient experience on all my devices is useful - Notes synced automatically can go a long way. - When projects grow, and there's more details to manage, along with updates, than not.
Has anyone used the text file appoach that can be compatible with LogSeq/Obsidian?
I'm not sure why, but this time using mainly LogSeq has clicked. I do run it inside of an Obsidian Vault just in case... but haven't used Obsidian much. I really like the feel of per line item like a text file that logseq provides. There are tradeoffs too though.
I think I might be enjoying it because it's plaintext, with a little bit more metadata, when/if I want it.
The hashtags I invent that only I know are almost an unfair advantage for pulling up all the meetings with a person, or a topic, etc.
Edit: Reading the comments. Wow Uncanny so many people doing something similar
Creating a 20 point check list is just pointless. Unless maybe it's a list of things you need to verify before pushing something forward and you absolutely can not forget any of them.
Anyway all of that led us to try and build a dedicated "IDE", but for tasks/notes and multiplayer support [1]. Hopefully it's going to be useful for others working from their todo.txt/thoughts.txt!
> [...]
> 5. copy the next day's calendar items to the bottom of the text file
Interesting. For a file with 51,690 lines at the time this post was created, I'm curious why the file is not ordered with the most recent day at the top of the file.
Also, the feeling of accomplishment as the job's entire history whizzes by when you press ctrl+end each morning.
In general I think this approach of "super easy capture into an append-only log" is great, especially if it can be paired with features to enable editing/re-discovery/search/synthesizing old ideas together, which exist in a separate view/mode from the "just get something down as fast as possible" mode. Working on something like this, but just in nights/weekends free time with other obligations, so it's been slow going.
One thing I haven’t figured out yet: I’d love to be able to keep this file open at all time, have it pop up with a hotkey. Currently it’s just a TextMate window that I often close by accident.
This is for the day-to-day organization. For the rest, I dump all my knowledge in a wiki (MediaWiki), and I use iOS/macOS’ Reminders app to remember things to do far in the future (like "cancel XYZ subscription" in 6 months) or at very specific times.
Still works a treat. There's something about writing information down on paper that makes it store in my memory differently. I read volumes of digital text on my monitor every day, but I write very little into the steno book, so almost everything I write gets stored very deeply in my memory and is very easy to recall even when I don't have the original.
For my "TODO/notes," though, I still use a plain text file in gedit. No timestamps, no nothing. When I want to remember how to build Envoy with bazelisk, I search for "bazelisk" and see the most recent, oldest, and all intermediate attempts with my notes (e.g. "runs out of memory, but if you're not building the tests, you can get away with 6 cores"). I've gotten into the habit of "tagging" potentially useful information with words that I might search for later.
Need to save an error message for possible later reference? notes.txt. Meeting notes? notes.txt. TODO? notes.txt. Rough draft of slack message? notes.txt. You get the idea.
I do use logseq/obsidian in my better moments, but having another faster system is so helpful for a number of reasons.
I have been building my own text bookmarklet[0] that I use for this.
My takeaway is that the effectiveness of organizational tools scales with discipline and the simplicity of the tool removes organizational friction.
a simple tool is more likely to help you get organized and stay disciplined, due to the low activation energy to get started and keep using it.
Otherwise, there is a great temptation to futz around with your organization tools instead of making plans and getting things done.
The concept (along with sentiments such as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39434558, where the mundane inefficiency of having to access the todo.txt window every time is the annoyance) makes me think that a wall-mounted screen dedicated to displaying the list may be an improvement for some people. Alternatively a multi-monitor setup where one (perhaps smaller) screen is permanently dedicated to the list.
After all, back in the old days when people did literally do all this with physical black/whiteboards and similar, you didn't have to "pull up the whiteboard" every time you wanted to look at it - you just turned your head a little, or shifted your gaze. In that particular sense, having to open or pull up a file every time is a regression, an added inefficiency.
It's a real dog's breakfast of a system and while I forget few things, I procrastinate many of them because the act of even trying to track what's done vs outstanding is very taxing.
ahh well, c'est la vie
I used to go through a lot of notepads as "scratch" work and would also lose things that I would like to look back on. So for the past few months I've been using a rocketbook. I have a special format for weekly todo / done tasks, a kind of daily log format, pages for meeting notes, and then scratch pages for rough notes etc.
I usually upload the weekly / daily / meeting stuff or research stuff I may want to keep. Rocketbook ocrs the page and uses anything with ##s as a title so I can find stuff quickly. I have set up different Dropbox folders for different categories of notes.
It's been working quite well for me.
Some things like documention, or draft documentation etc. I do store in markdown text files, and sync between my devices with syncthing. On my phone I used termux and vim for editing them, which works surprisingly well.
3:45pm meet with Oprah
4pm Rihanna talk
15:45 meet with Oprah
16:00 Rihanna talk
I even learned how to create a plugin for the IntelliJ IDEA and created one for highlighting this format (love idea hotkeys and workflow).
I started with a notes.txt file for the system I maintain. I found myself gradually adopting Markdown syntax because I need bulleted lists and headings to separate different sections. I also needed hyperlinks to documentation or StackOverflow answers.
So one day I just added the Markdeep tags to the bottom of the file and renamed it to notes.md.html
I still keep it open in a text editor for day to day use, but it looks really nice when you open it in a browser.
waiting in line compresses your perception of time. when your items are being rung up, and it's time to pay, your perception of time dilates.
i pay cash mostly. if i don't organize my change at the register, i have to do it later, which i'm less likely to do since others behind me are waiting, causing my next transaction to take longer.
i don't want to hold up the line, but i'm largely unaware of the time it took those ahead of me to accomplish the same task i'm sweating through and doing poorly.
what i'm attempting to propose via analogy, is that systems are only as effective as the amount of time you put in. if social pressure causes me to toss everything back into my pocket haphazardly, it takes me more time in the future to use those things.
i used a straight text file with my own format while i had my own business. it worked. i'm not a dev anymore, i'm a musician and booker. if i don't amend my calendar or text file or handwritten notebook in the moment? i'm toast.
the fallacy is thinking one system is better when any system that's not updated fails
For shared shopping lists, my wife and I use the OurGroceries Android app and website. It's simple and just works.
- Thing to do
- Subtask before that can be done
- Another level deeper
- Another task
Notes.app is nice as well because if I have it on a hot corner I can access it easily.
> It does mean sometimes I miss some questions or don't pursue an interesting research question, but helps me maintain a manageable workload.
It's easy to get hyped up by modern productivity software, sort, categorize, and prioritize everything, only to end up creating way more work than you will ever be able to do.
Keeping things simple (eg using a TODO.txt file) is one easy way to help prevent putting too much on your plate.
Supports markdown.
Has easy sync and also mobile and desktop apps.
Free and open source.
If you have all of your notes in a folder
~/my_notes
~/my_notes/work
~/my_notes/music
Joplin takes them and stores the notes internally as a SQLite table with UUID named markdown files. It makes it very difficult to use bash tools, finding them, other IDEs, etc to work with your files after Joplin has ingested them. Compare this to apps like Obsidian and Logseq (also open source) which don't mess with your markdown file organization.
FEB 18
- todo
x done
! important
? optional
FEB 11
- todo
x done
! important
? optionalSo information is still textual, but there are a great lot of additional niceties one can now have.
Plain text is OK, or Markdown as poor man WYSIWYG for that matter, but at least images should be there too.
Makes me think that the real play is to use ChatGPT for, say, an ongoing todo list/dialog/personal notes system for that purpose. Or wire up a custom GPT to reference notes stored elsewhere.
Either way, the idea that you can interrogate, intelligently, a list of your own ramblings, is pretty damn cool.
This also generalizes to other domains.
Yesterday, Jeff Geerling explained his .txt file TODO list: https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/my-todo-list-txt-file...
Author's approach is basically Org-Mode with fewer helpers.
Org-mode's power is that, at core, it's just a text file, with gradual augmentation.
Then again, Org-Mode is a tool you must install, accessible through a limited list of clients (Emacs originally, but also VSCode), and the power of OP's approach is that it requires no external tools.
Not as frequently as that, but a bit:
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
Although I have multiple files for different things: work reminders, abstract ideas, bookmarks, etc.
For time sensitive events I use stock calendar app on my phone because it's the only thing I need notifications for (except email).
Would recommend.
https://github.com/ErikAugust/todo/blob/main/applications/cl...
This being the key for such a system to work.
Preparing a todo list the day before would be mostly pointless for people who have to deal with interrupts and such.
Neat.
If this appeals to you, I'd recommend using a big html file with Javascript to query the things you want to see, using class names as tags. A good text editor will have snippet support, and you can just dump any new items at the top of the file as they come in. If you want to get fancy, you can write in markdown and convert to html on the fly.
This system helps me focus on my most immediate work and still have peace of mind that my system won’t lose the reminders in my later file.
I store my todo files in Dropbox so I can access them from multiple devices (including my phone) and get automated backup for free.
I find the act of writing things down with a pen helps me remember them better as well.
It feels to me like it can be a powerful yet simple productivity helper.
Other than that, same, bro.
Sounds like a nice day.
Previously standalone (libre) now google sheet
sometimes I use notes, for the syncing, but then I regret it