šŸ—’ļø Anatomy of a Note-System

When is the last time you cleaned out your notes app?

What are some note essentials?

  • šŸ—’ļø KNOW what a Note-System IS FOR.

  • 1ļøāƒ£ Create a SINGLE SPACE for notesā€¦ or you will lose things.

  • šŸ—ƒļø KEEP IT ORGANIZEDā€¦ the antithesis is also a recipe for losing things.

  • šŸ’Ž Know WHAT TO KEEPā€¦ otherwise it will get cluttered.

What is a Note-System šŸ—’ļø

Weā€™ve all gone through a Post-it phase in our organizational journeyā€¦

To be fair you can make a notes app do a lot of thingsā€¦ but just because you COULD make it do a bunch of things, doesnā€™t mean you SHOULDā€¦

For example, you could use notes for TASKS, but you wouldnā€™t get the benefits of a dedicated task manager.

  • Auto sorting based on task due date.

  • Integrated task reminders.

Or another example, you could use notes as a CALENDAR, butā€¦

  • You would have to write out your schedule fully.

  • You wouldnā€™t get integrated event reminders.

  • And you wouldnā€™t be able to share and integrate other calendars and scheduling tools.

So WHAT is the purpose of a notes app?

  • Tasks belong in Task Managers

  • Events belong in Calendars

  • INFORMATION belongs in a Note-System.

Notes are meant to be an extension of your brain, recording important information that can be recalled later, when needed.

Create a Single Space 1ļøāƒ£

Pretty straightforwardā€¦ if you keep information in multiple spaces, then youā€™re bound to forget where those things are stored, and you wonā€™t be able to find what you need when you need it.

So just pick a notes app and use it well!

If you use your note-system a lot, then youā€™re going to find that youā€™ll want more organizational tools than what is offered in a standard notes app; thatā€™s okay! Itā€™s better to start using a system and then migrate it when needed (I did this a little over a year ago, and it wasnā€™t bad at allā€¦ it also gave me another opportunity to do some ā€œspring cleaningā€ in the process šŸ˜„).

Keep it Organized šŸ—ƒļø

Notes organization is super easy! Itā€™s just going to take you some time to sort through things if you have 300+ notes that have stacked up over time (Donā€™t try to do it in one sitting - Schedule chunks of time to sort top-to-bottom and eventually youā€™ll be all done).

Really you just need to create a few folders to sort things, and then be ready to delete a bunch of old items that you donā€™t need anymore.

Needed Folders

If youā€™re organizing a basic notes app, hereā€™s what you need:

  • Inbox - 1 Folder - Notes will start here, but itā€™s just a temporary holding spot until the get sorted or deleted.

    • In Apple Notes youā€™ll have one initial folder called ā€œNotesā€ that you canā€™t removeā€¦ or rename unfortunatelyā€¦ use that as your inbox.

    • When you first establish an ā€œinbox systemā€ it might take some discipline to sort or delete. But really quickly, it ends up being second nature, you instinctively search for opportunity to bring your inbox ā€œto zero.ā€

  • Areas - As many Folders as Needed - This is where items get stored for safekeeping.

    • Ex: Personal, Work, Recipes, Home Projects, Templates, etc.

  • Archive - 1 Folder - Where you move things that might provide value down the road, but you donā€™t really want to keep cluttering your other folders (Weā€™ll look at this distinction some more in the next section).

Know What to Keep šŸ’Ž

Is it helpful, will you reference it again, do you need to share it with someone else? This really is intuitiveā€¦ the problem is that most people have note-systems where everything gets dumped and nothing gets sorted or deleted.

There will only be 3 End Destinations!

  • šŸ—‘ļø Deletedā€¦ after staying in your inbox for a short period of time.

  • šŸ“‚ Kept in an appropriately labeled folder for safekeeping.

  • šŸ—„ļø Archivedā€¦ just in case you need something from it in the future.

EXAMPLES

  • Lists of drinks for an office coffee run

    • šŸ—‘ļø Stays in your inbox until you complete the coffee run, then you delete it.

  • Quickly jotted down notes from a meeting or phone call

    • šŸ—‘ļø/šŸ“‚ Depending on the content, itā€™s either deleted after you do something with the info, or it is kept for future reference.

  • Outline of essential steps for particular processes

    • šŸ“‚ Keep in appropriate folder (is this a home recipe, a work system, a personal tool?).

  • A picture of a tool, manual, reference resource

    • šŸ“‚ Keep in appropriate folder and thereby remove the need of keeping it in your photo appā€¦ you should only have fun memories there šŸ“øšŸ˜Ž!

  • List of items borrowed by others from you

    • šŸ“‚ Keep in a folder (home, personal?) and now youā€™ll have an ongoing system to use! Now youā€™ll never lose track of who has that book or movie you gave out šŸ˜„.

  • A short script you created for a work presentation

    • šŸ—„ļø Drop in the archive folder. Itā€™s probably too specific to put in a folder for immediate future useā€¦ but you MIGHT need it, or specific elements, in the future.

šŸŒŸ TOP PICKS

Those who are new to note-systems really should start using Apple Notes or another native Notes App. The best Notes App is the one you USE!

But there is one Notes App that is THE KINGā€¦ and youā€™ll end up needing it if you want to take your Note-System to the next level (as seen in my šŸŽ¬ BEHIND THE SCENES section below).

Notion

All Hail THE King

A dynamic Notes App that allows you to not only build out ā€œfoldersā€ (called Pages) but create a living information system. Itā€™s like Evernote but on steroids šŸ’ŖšŸ¼

  • Create Databases to easily sort and retrieve information.

  • Embed files, create hyperlinks, make a living database that is well integrated with your world.

  • Create excellent shared spaces and collaborate easily with teams.

  • AI integrated

Check Notion out Here / The best partā€¦ itā€™s free!

šŸŽ¬ BEHIND THE SCENES

Naturally, I needed to cover a Note-System because it is one of the basic tools that everyone needs to leverage properly (Maybe youā€™ve noticed thatā€™s the purpose of this initial ā€œAnatomy ofā€¦ā€ series). BUT itā€™s also because itā€™s connected to a tool/topic that we MUST visit laterā€¦

šŸ§  SECOND BRAIN šŸ§ 

I actually use my Second Brain to draft out this newsletter! And according to my SB Iā€™m not going to talk about it here until sometime after the start of the New Yearā€¦ and that seem so far away to not share something that is SO HELPFUL. So my consolation prize is sharing two videos for those who would like to dive into the concept themselves!