Comment by haswell | Hacker News Reader

Comment by haswell | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

This is absolutely a failure mode that can happen and I think people should be aware of it/be cautious about not falling into the trap, but I don't think this is categorically true, if for no other reason due to the extreme differences in how people think.

I've absolutely spent time procrastinating by hunting for the perfect tool, and it took me some time to realize that. But I've also found that a good tool can be a force multiplier that can make a huge difference in productivity and more importantly, the likelihood that I'll stick with something.

I've tried and failed numerous times to succeed with a simple text note. I love the idea of the simplicity. But I could never make it work.

A few years back I learned that I have aphantasia - my mind's eye is blind. When digging into this, I learned that people's ability to visualize is a spectrum, and while I'm on one extreme end of it, there is a huge variance in how people experience the act of thinking. It made me realize why <thing> that worked for <person> never worked for me, and why you'll find so many people evangelizing <specific approach> because it worked for them.

I've learned that tools that help me visualize my thoughts completely change my relationship with them and help unlock deeper thinking. Over time, I've realized that some tools really are "tools for thought". My brain can't do X, but Y tool can, and it becomes part of my extended conscious experience and enables me to do things I couldn't before.

I think the critical factor here is to be honest with yourself about what is or is not actually working for you. Recognize the trap of trying to solve problems with tools that aren't really going to change much. But do use tools that help.

Thank you for this nuanced view.

I honestly didn't want the post to center around the organizational bit, it was a late addition, because there's the caveat that it gets interpreted as "this is how you gain productivity". In my specific case it's more about flushing thoughts that otherwise would continue to drift in my mind. This is also why I write. It's calming due to the fact it allows me to lay things to rest.

> I think the critical factor here is to be honest with yourself about what is or is not actually working for you.

Yes, and in order to do so you need to do the occasional introspection and be a mindful of your ways. We all have our quirks and it's also fine to acknowledge this. I still have plenty of "bad habits", many which I have no intention of breaking any time soon.

What tools/methods have you found that help with aphantasia?

For awhile, I was using Miro. The infinite canvas made it possible to start arranging information visually and made it easier to load things back into memory when I’d come back to a project later. I still love it, but prefer something local and less proprietary.

Currently, I’m pretty all-in on Obsidian. I don’t have a crazy setup with tons of plugins and I’m not building complex data tables or anything like that.

I use:

- Daily journal note to jot down thoughts and what I’m working on or thinking about each day

- Very actively use [[Link Syntax]] in notes to create placeholder connections to unexplored ideas or real connections to existing notes

- I use the Canvas feature to visually arrange things and love that I can embed notes into the canvas or start a local card on the canvas and later convert it to a standalone note

- I occasionally use the note graph view to see how previous journal notes cluster around specific topics. I know some people find this part of Obsidian gimmicky, but for me, it helps me find common threads and identify interrelated ideas

- I focus on creating small notes that I can grok quickly and rely on note-to-note connections to navigate larger topics

I don’t know how much of this workflow is directly applicable to Aphantasia, but the canvas feature in particular is where I feel like I get the most value in terms of visualizing what I otherwise can’t.

I also use tools like Figma/Balsamiq to get product ideas out of my head. It’s crazy how different things can be once they go from an abstract notion of “an interface that does X” to an actual drawing of an interface that does X.

If there was ever a tool like Miro that I could run locally, I’d use it extensively. Just a nice big toolbox of different ways to visualize things.

> If there was ever a tool like Miro that I could run locally, I’d use it extensively.

Does Excalidraw[1] fit the bill?

[1] https://github.com/excalidraw/excalidraw

It gets me partway there. The thing that I really liked about Miro is that is has tools ranging from kanban boards to data tables to icon libraries and is sort of a jack of all trades sort of tool that goes beyond just drawing and adds structure to some of the elements you can put on the canvas.

This makes it really easy to transition between quick wireframes, sequence diagrams, sticky notes, to structured data, tasks with rich cards, statuses, etc. I haven’t found a good direct replacement yet.

I do need to give excalidraw another look because I think there’s a decent Obsidian integration and I could probably approach some of the things I was doing with Miro in a more Obsidian-centric way.

There is an Obsidian integration also

Yep, I didn't mean to suggest this was my advice for all people, it's just what has worked for me.

Yes. And that's also the risk I run with including such anecdotal "evidence" from my own process, because it definitely won't click with everybody.

I've witnessed people close to me be highly successful with the "single file" approach that you yourself swear by. My point was that most people probably will have some benefit of choosing some approach, and not try to keep it all in your head.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com