|||
My favourite analog scratchpad is a piece of A4 paper folded in half three times, down to A7. It sits in a small pocket of my everyday carry crossbody bag next to a mechanical pencil. Important notes are reviewed later and transferred elsewhere.
In the same spirit, my digital notepad is a single text file for the entire year. Both are capture tools for notes not designed to live forever. Anything that merits its own space is copied (not cut) into a new file, with a link to it in the OBTF.
To be clear, this is not about keeping everything in one file. That strikes me as one degree removed from insanity, or, at the very least, the putting of all of one’s eggs in the same basket. I see no reason to do it. A subjective opinion, certainly, as some highly intelligent people consider storing all text in the same file as a viable path.
I’m more like Mike Grindle, who dumps all his notes into one file because it’s a low distraction, next to no friction way of note making that works for him.
The truth is that the medium and the tools don’t matter. What matters is that you get that stuff in your head down. Tomorrow’s revelation might just be the fleeting thought you had today. —Mike Grindle
There are as many ways to keep an OBTF as there are people who latch onto the idea. The most important thing to remember is that it’s a tool, a method, an approach, and as such, will not be a good fit for everyone.
I start a new OBTF each calendar year in much the same way I used to crack open (and sniff) a fresh notebook each January. It’s a symbolic mindset-refreshing practice that I enjoy. Some people love that experience so much they start the month / week / day with a new file. Whatever works for you.
Read more:
💬 I love to hear from readers! email hello at ellanew dot com or message me on Mastodon or Bluesky.
If you get value from my work I invite you to share this post with someone you think will like it, or to make a contribution to my support jar. Every gift helps to keep me an independent creator and is greatly appreciated. You may also like to check out the resources on my productivity themed Gumroad store.
You can follow my RSS feed (https://ellanew.com/feed.rss), or sign up to receive posts in your inbox
