1a2 - Why make notes
Why do you care about making digital notes? Like, what are you actually trying to accomplish? That’s not an easy thing to answer. And that’s okay! But it’s worth thinking about. For me, it’s:
So I don’t forget things…So I can make sense of my experiences…So I can reference past thoughts as I write new thoughts…So I can connect ideas across domains…So I can develop those ideas across time…So I can create and share those ideas across the world—even if that’s just the world between my ears.
Speaking from experience, it matters how you set up your digital library so that will ==grow and evolve with you==, not just for this month, not for the year, but throughout your entire life. That’s a really powerful thing. Because if you can’t rely on your digital notes—you’re just one step away from ==digital dementia.==
A digital library should possess the ability to find what you’re looking for—when you’re looking for it—whether that’s today or in 10 years. That means it should be ==future-proofed.==
Future-proofed notes are not fragile—they’re not trapped in some proprietary software that might not be around in half a decade. They are in a format that can always be with you no matter what. That format is called plain text and as long as there are computers, there will be computers that can read plain text.
Plus, they are completely private. No worries about having your data and private information sold off to third parties. You can simply keep them locally on your computer and easily make copies to the cloud.
==A digital library should be a joy to use, you should enjoy when you get to spend time in it.== It’s not cluttered with chaos that causes anxiety, but you actually feel a sense of control, and that you can work with ideas in a way that becomes a a kind of joyful positive feedback loop.
This is the value of smartly Linking Your Thinking: the ability to make meaningful notes, across genre, and throughout time.
# Your Next Actions
In your own notes, finish the prompt: I want to make notes because…
- I don’t want to forget anything, I have a terrible memory
- I want to practice synthetic thinking
- I want to have a better learning experience