Today I want to share the four rules I set for myself in my note-taking practices, and how I actually act on them with workflows/systems.
The rules are
Capture everything, but don't add it all to Capacities
Use my own words and clearly mark AI authored content
Delete often
Link carefully
Over the years I've learned that having no guard-rails in my note-taking practices only leads to more problems down the road. More to organize, less clarity and ultimately more time spent getting my tools back to a level I feel I can work with. My personal infrastructure makes acting intentionally far easier.
Rule 1: Capture anything of interest, but don't add it all to Capacities.
Information overload is one of the great problems of our time. One element of it I find particularly difficult is there is so much information I want to overload myself with. I used to frantically capture and add as much as I could to my old note-taking app. I rarely did anything tangible with it and I felt stressed opening the app because there was just so much more in there than I could actually process and enjoy. In 2021, I noticed this and developed my Resonance Filter with Raindrop. I call the filter both a method and a mindset for dealing with information overwhelm.
In brief, the method is that all links are sent to Raindrop before Capacities: it's literally a barrier to entry for Capacities, that makes sure only the really good stuff (the stuff I actually want to take notes on) goes into my note-taking app. I pick out the best bookmarks every Sunday and add them to Capacities (and work on them further) then. My Sunday review is a sacred ritual now, and my Raindrop review was the first step to this.
The mindset is knowing that not everything deserves a place in Capacities, but that I am still honouring my interests by capturing something. I know Raindrop holds everything for safe keeping, and I know I can pick my favourites to work on in Capacities. This has removed the frantic feelings and the overwhelm and just left the enjoyment of engaging with interesting things!
Rule 2: Always Add My Own Words, Clearly Mark AI authored content
Fundamentally, I view note-taking as a tool for sense-making and I realised that simply making a link/image move home from Raindrop to Capacities was just duplicating something with no context as to why I did that. When I add something to Capacities, I must either tag it, add a comment or use it in some way. As part of my Sunday review, I review all the 'Created on this day' items that are automatically captured for me at the bottom of the daily note and I make sure I've done one of those things.
Using my own words is more important to me in this age of AI. I use AI to help develop my thinking, and if there's ever a well phrased point I will happily add it to my notes. But to make it clear it came from AI and not me, I write /purple to colour the background. It's simple but it's helpful, and it means I trust what is my writing and what is not.
Rule 3: Delete Often
I mentioned above that I review all the notes I created in the week as part of my Sunday review. I make sure I've added my own words but I also delete things that aren't speaking to me in the same way they did earlier in the week. Because everything is safe in Raindrop, I will be able to find it again in the future. Therefore, I don't want it in Capacities if I have lost even a bit of interest in it within the past 7 days. I happily delete articles I’ve highlighted too. The highlights are safely in Readwise and I can re-import it at any time!
This is a very supportive structure to work in, and means I am not stressed by my maintaining or working with my systems. They work for me in the background, which is an important part of personal infrastructure.
Rule 4: Link Carefully
I have a full post about this in more depth but linking is truly magical and the basis for the sense-making I mentioned earlier. To keep the magic, I find it very improtant to link very carefully.
I find links most helpful when I remember two things.
Backlinks are not mentions: Don’t link every mention of a term in your notes. Too much linking leads to clutter, which makes retrieval and synthesising so much harder.
More backlinks ≠ better: The quality of backlinks matters much more than quantity. Too many low-value backlinks make reviewing them tedious and unhelpful.
So what makes a high-value backlink? I ask myself one question when linking: do I want to see the mention of this thing in this block again later? Is it going to help me understand this thing better? If yes, link. If no, leave it. Equally if you come across a link you shouldn't have made, just remove it. Search will always be there as a backup.
This mindset makes me slow down. Capacities is a place that is calming for my brain, and not somewhere I should feel stressed or frantic. Slowing everything down and being intentional helps keep it that way. And just like Raindrop is a safety mechanism behind Capacities, search/unlinked mentions can always help you find links you might have missed.
Conclusion
I used to hate the idea of rules and constraints. I thought if my note-taking app is just for me, then I can do whatever I want in there and save whatever I want. Of course that's true, but I have learned over the past 6 years that it doesn't mean it's a good idea. It's up to each of us to determine what our personal rules are, and to craft the personal infrastructure that will support you in that.
Would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to comment or reach out direct via [email protected] 🙂