You do not need to worry about your note-taking system
I love note-taking, journaling, and building and maintaining a knowledge base. Since I started taking notes about the projects I am working on, the books and articles I read, the podcasts I listen to, the events I am experiencing, and the struggles I face as part of my life, I improved and grew as a person. Starting journaling every single day and writing consistently has been one of the best decisions I have made. People who want to dive into the same realm often see themselves faced with productivity gurus, note-taking masterminds, and knowledge management geniuses preaching that you need to have a note-taking system to make the most out of your notes and your writing. If you have a goal that leads you into note-taking, journaling, and writing, you are all set, as the most important part about writing is simply starting to capture ideas, take notes, process what you consume, and gather the things that are important to you.
When I started note-taking, processing information, journaling, and building up a knowledge base, I intentionally did those things because I wanted to learn new things, remember and recall them, build and evolve my projects, and get the most out of the content I consume. Writing things down helps me thinking about the stuff I encounter in my life, no matter if it is related to personal or work stuff. When I am working on a project, a design, or a feature, writing down my thoughts is always the beginning of the journey and helps me immensely structuring my path before even starting to actually work on the project. When I am writing I am feeling the most creative. The heart of creativity and innovation is making spontaneous connections between seemingly unrelated things. Whenever a tool forces you to use a specific system, it is drawing the image that it requires the huge effort to set things up, plan everything, cataloging, organizing, before even getting the chance to do the creative work of creating spontaneous connections between everything you encounter.
I saw so many people sharing and talking about their systems that I questioned everything within my own system, although it has always worked, since I simply captured stuff that felt important to me. We should not worry about crafting and creating the perfect system, but rather just start capturing, taking notes, processing, and gathering things that are important to us. Instead of hunting for the perfect system, we should focus on strengthening the ability to systematically capture and review and deploy our ideas. It is important to remember that the essence of note-taking and journaling lies in the process itself, not in a rigid system or structure. By focusing on capturing and reviewing our ideas consistently, we enhance our ability to make meaningful connections and deepen our understanding of the world around us. Embracing the spontaneity of creativity and the fluidity of our thoughts allows for genuine growth and innovation, rather than being constrained by the limitations of a predefined system.
When we embrace the fluidity of our thoughts and allow for spontaneity in our creative processes, we open up new avenues for growth and innovation. Instead of fixating on the constraints of a predefined system, we should foster an environment that nurtures creativity and encourages exploration.
I am not saying that those systems which are getting shared and highlighted online do not work, but I believe it is fallacy that there are so many people thinking they need to adapt those systems to get started with note-taking, journaling, and knowledge management, just to realize after investing a significant amount of energy and time, that the system is not working for them.
The most powerful thing you do right away is start capturing what is important for you. No matter what tool you use for it, just make sure to revisit those things regularly, ask yourself if they are still important to you, if so add some more thoughts, try to make connections, and dive into your ideas and thoughts.
There is no need to worry about a system, or an app. As you are building a writing, journaling, note-taking habit, patterns will arise, and you will realize what actually contributes to your practices, suddenly a system will form itself or you will realize what extactly has not been working for you when trying out a specific system. Keep adding to it slowly. Maybe you start with linking your ideas, after some time it might need tags or folders, or you are fine without them. Just because someone or even app tells you that folders do not work, that we do not need them, since they are working against our thinking, does not mean that this is a fact. I could not care less "all you need is links", "you have to create a map of content", "stop using tags", or "start using tags". I always struggled to fit tags into my note-taking system, until I made the decision to not use them and then slowly realizing how I could use them to actually fuel and benefit my writing.
When it comes to best organizational and knowledge management system out there, it is the one that allows you to capture and create rapidly, support your thinking, and helps you keep track of the things that are important to you. There is no need to worry about not using any system, since as long as you are capturing and writing, you are doing the right thing.
Till next time! 👋
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