On the topic of notes: are there any standard formats you prefer: I've been guilty in the past of ending up with a chaotic endless MD and I'd like a bit more process
It's not a process, but I found this gives some structure to the chaos.
Being able to quickly jot things down and later revisit and expand them is crucial. Logseq also gives you a fresh journal for each day, and you can make and reference your own topic-specific pages as well.