How do you find out who you are? Try using a note-taking app.

Whilst I'll never know any different, navigating my 20s in an influencer-heavy-ad-maximised world has been... interesting. Everything feels so polarised and complicated. Figuring out who I am amongst all this noise is overwhelming. We find our own ways to cope but mine is my note-taking app.

Writing things down and engaging with them has been the quiet antidote to the noise that I didn't realise I needed. There’s no pressure to perform to my notes. I don’t have to think about likes, shares, or views. I get to engage with the world at my own pace, and because of that, I feel more prepared for the world outside.

I find my notes give me a sense of safety. More broadly, my entire note-taking app is a safe space for me to figure out who I am and what I'm interested in. I resonate entirely with this quote:

But what has emerged for me? Since I started consistently using a note-taking app in 2020, I've noted that

• I trust myself more

• I am more confident in my conclusions

• I can think and read critically

• I care less about what others think

I feel like a fundamentally different person in all the best ways, and I've got there in my own time.

Today I want to share some ideas for how you can get started too.

How to get started

first, tune into what resonates

Resonance is your guide. It’s that feeling when something, big or small, makes you pause, think, feel, or question. It could come from a song lyric, a photo, a conversation, a book, a film, even a meme. A pause is a signal, and your job is to catch those signals; it's the beginning of it all.

Here are two key signals to listen for:

1. Anything that genuinely interests you

2. Anything you want to remember, be it a moment, a fact, a feeling, a question

You need a way to capture these signals. That might be Apple Notes, a physical notebook, or a mobile app like Capacities, Sublime or Arena. You’ll find what works for you, but the key is reducing friction so it’s easier to catch the resonance.

My good friend Réka taught me that resonance is a muscle. The more you flex it, the better you get at using it, and we'll learn to act on it.

second, spend time with what you capture

Capturing something is just the start; it's the signal that you have resonated with something. But the real magic happens when you go back and spend time with those things.

So it starts with reviewing what you've saved: Tiktoks, bookmarks, daily notes. You'll want to ignore/delete some things at this point, that's fine! For the things you don't ignore, ask yourself:

• Does this still resonate with me? Why?

• Am I still curious?

• What does this tell me about myself, or what do I want to explore further?

Then tell your note-taking app the answers.

Write why it mattered to you, tag it with themes, link it to related notes, create notes for things you want to explore further. Linking gives you a way to rediscover what you've captured. Unexpected rediscovery is serendipity, and that's one of life's greatest pleasures.

To do this regularly, I recommend building light review rituals. Mine is a Saturday afternoon session where I sit down with my notes, revisit the week, and follow rabbit holes triggered by what I've captured. I don't attempt to review everything, just what resonates that day. It's the best time of the week.

why does this work?

Because it’s self-inquiry in action. You’re paying attention to what moves you, by returning to it with curiosity and time to listen. Over time, this becomes a quiet but powerful habit: learning who you are by noticing what you’ve noticed and why. These rituals feel like leaving breadcrumbs for my future self. I’m documenting a journey as I go on it.

To be honest, that’s it really: capture and engagement. A simple practice of paying attention to your inner world, sparked by things in your outer one. As you keep showing up, you’ll write more, think more, and ask more questions. It's useful and fun.

Let me show you a few ways I do this.

How I do this in Capacities

quotes

Quotes that resonate get their own note in Capacities. Here are three that speak to me about how "finding yourself' is actually an active process, one that takes time and reflection.

You can see they're tagged as well. I occasionally pick a random tag and review everything tagged with it. I then write about what those things have collectively taught me and my views on it.

For example, opening my agency tag is a way to prompt some introspection on my current approach to agency, which is something I think about a lot when reflecting on my own behaviours and patterns.

At some point in the future, I'll collect my thoughts on agency, based on the items I’ve tagged so far and write my thoughts in a note called 'agency'. I'll reference the inspirational notes/sources as I write. Once I've updated the note, I time-stamp it so I know when I last reviewed them.

Then I repeat: collect, tag, review, learn, update my beliefs. I might only review a tag once or twice a year, but there are always learnings to be had and it’s always really good fun.

tags for evolving views

I have two Very Important Tags™️: #MyLifePhilosophy and #MyPoliticalViews. I'll keep the content of these private, but I collect things that have helped shape my world view or have prompted my beliefs to evolve. I used to think I had to fit into a box, where I fully aligned with one political party or only agreed with one philosopher. The more I read and learned, the less realistic or even necessary this seemed.

What I deem more important now is that my beliefs are mine, and that I engage critically with them. Your beliefs should evolve as you learn more and gain more experience and Capacities is where this thinking and evolution lives.

Sometimes, the things I tag don't make perfect sense to me yet but the tag is a signal to look deeper, and my research takes place in Capacities anyway, so it's in the right place. I saw a great line from Roam Research about note-taking apps: "It’s not just for storing what you know but it’s for exploring what you don’t". I agree entirely.

So a couple of times a year I dig into the tags, and update the pages I have for my life philosophy and my political views. This is where engagement with the difficult questions and challenges live.

These tags have especially helped me develop my knowledge and understanding of the world, and as a result I feel better equipped to show up in the world. I am more understanding but also more able to listen and learn. It's great to witness the evolution and to see the work and the inspiration behind the evolution. It's the traces of my journey, and I love to capture traces.

media

I also take notes on media I consume in which something resonated. Quotes are the most common thing to capture, or questions sparked. But in the case of Bridget Jones, I just loved one of her outfits, so initially made the note just for that.

I don't take in depth notes as a standard, because that's not a standard that I can maintain, nor should it be one I reach for. Resonance represents a spark in a moment, and I promise myself that I'll listen to it, it's not about launching into essays about everything. That's one way to dull sparks over time. There's no standard for note-taking, and I think the perception that there is puts people off.

beautiful randomness

Because resonance can come from anywhere, there's a range of fun and random things that I capture. For this I text my Capacities daily note via Whatsapp. Sometimes I write profound things that pleasantly surprise me, other times it's about a potato... I'll pick it up in my review nonetheless.

regular reflection

Reflection is a life practice and it is bigger than just what I do in Capacities, but Capacities plays an integral role. I do structured daily, weekly and monthly reviews in Capacities (see LifeOS) and then I expand on the nitty gritty in Day One which is where my journals are because the 'on this day' feature is a light in my life.

These reviews are where my narrative on the habits/media I'm consuming and the actions I'm taking intersect. What's working for me (good decisions) and what isn't (bad decisions)? What stands out from the week? What am I thinking about?

I feel it takes the engagement with what I capture that bit further. What I learn from reviews is fed into my weekly/monthly intentions. It's always in motion, always time for learning and experimentation. And seriously all of this stemmed from capturing what resonates with me and expanding on it.

Summing it all up

We are consistently reminded that the world is messy, scary and difficult. I cannot overstate the value of having a safe space for you to get lost in and to make sense of the mess, and learn about yourself along the way. I saw a Tweet (and saved it to review later 🫡) about it being your fourth place. I like that. If you start this practice, I hope you like it too.

What’s resonated with you lately? And where are you engaging with it?

I got so excited about note-taking that I started writing about it in 2023. That lead to a job with Capacities the same year! This article is not part of my work with them. The process is tool agnostic.