I envy people that stick for a system like this for so long. Because when you master it, it is when you can build a system around it. For this piece, i suggest the author to build his own frontend app, that mimics this system but with a better, clean UI interface. Hell, he can just vibe code it in under a hour these days and at the end leverage the ergonomics of a clean interface, and of course implement integrations that the app will enables, to build systems around it, to become even more productive.
I've been doing pretty much the same thing since 2019. The only big change I made was in early 2023, when I started saving a new version of the long txt file each day. It works very well for me but I recognize it isn't the right system for everyone!
I have a file like this, several years long, but parsed with YAML so that each day is clearly separated from the next, and for list parsing, and for dictionary parsing so each project I work on is associated with a YAML dictionary key. I can go back in time and easily find notes related to specific projects or specific dates.
I have seen colleagues using an almost append only txt file with notepad.exe. It worked for them I guess, but there were some features I could not live without on Notepad++
Google Keep for me is the way to go. Easy to use on desktop or mobile, can "share" anything with it. I like to make notes with various titles & colors that I use to organize my life/thoughts.
-rw-r--r-- 1 nick nick 691 Mar 16 2001 2001-03.txt
I separated mine by YYYY-MM which is long enough to keep related things together but short enough where it's easy to find things within a single file. It's all super easy to grep things out on demand.
There's no procrastination about organizing or perfect tags. Just brain dump the thought or notes and move on with life.
https://github.com/nickjj/notes was created so I can type things like `notes hello world` and it inserts it for the correct YYYY-MM or `notes` to open the current YYYY-MM in your $EDITOR. It supports piping into it too (good for pasting from your clipboard). It's ~40 lines of shell scripting with comments.
I do something similar but with Emacs and org mode. I start a new file each time I join a new company and just keep on updating it with things as I'm progressing through my day. The one I carry right now goes back as far as Dec 2017. It's a super useful resource for dailies, or looking back at what you did. Heck I even add TODOs and shell snippets that I often find useful. If you feed it to some LLM then you can even do nice summaries and meaningful searches that aren't necessarily based on single keywords.
I'm using org mode too. For time based tasks I like to get an overview of tasks and timestamped notes by using EasyOrg [0]. You can search based on schedules and deadlines.
This was my system for a long time and I eventually moved to Notesnook with success, but I bounced off so many notes apps before it. I don't know why, but the feature set had to be just right because one little thing would keep me from sticking with anything else. Plain text files are great and served me well but don't lose hope that some new option could come along and be an improvement.
I ended up doing a similar thing when I was a contractor. Just a really long note file that I'd track everything I was doing.
Relatedly, I find all of the todo/task management apps to be utterly overwhelming for my person tasks. I'm so tired of all of the task apps adding way too much complexity.
All I want is:
* Something that's available on all of my devices.
* Can be ordered by sections
* Triage
* Now
* Today
* Tomorrow
* Soon
* Eventually
* Whenever (when-never)
* Let's me add a task without thinking (default to triage)
I used to have a zillion todo txt files in the early 2000's, migrated to OneNote around 2005 and have been using the same OneNote notebook for 20 years now. My life is in there - 20 years worth of todos, lists, thoughts, ideas, etc.. always evolving, perfectly synchronized across computers and mobile. I'm referencing and updating my OneNote all day as I get things done, have ideas, and think of new things to do, or things to remembers. It's an extension of my brain at this point.
I've tried alternatives, but OneNote has been simple and reliable, it just works everywhere. Probably one of the most important apps in my life.
The only extra thing is I set up autohotkey macros
For example typing $today or $yesterday will insert the date with a dividing line underneath to separate days into clear blocks
I've tried a lot of different note apps and what I eventually realized is that when it comes to work, I generally don't actually care about old notes 98% of the time.
I only really care about the last week or two and when everything is in one file its optimized for viewing that, like a working memory.
The text file ends up gigantic but its still small data for a computer even after many years of adding to a single file and searching is still fast.
It also doesn't nag you with administrative tasks to "save" notes when you close Notepad. You close the editor, Notepad is gone. You open Notepad, the notes are there again. And since recently it has tabs too. What a time to be alive.
There's nothing on macOS or Linux that comes close.
One thing I would like about this system is that I wouldn't get incessant notifications about things I haven't yet done lol. I do think that building a habit to check on a txt file periodically (like the author says) to stay on top of things is better for emotional health than a wall of notifications on the phone lock screen that I've been conditioned to just tap on and select "Remind me tomorrow " without even thinking.
Knowing myself, though, I don't think I'd keep up with this since it would take mental strength on my part to overthink the data structure for the task entry. I've been thinking about how I might also track emotional impact of my todo items on me. I wonder if the open nature of a txt file would be good for instant journaling about things that give me stress?
I really like having some guardrails when it comes to organizing thoughts so this system might not be for me. Also building up the daily habit to organize the todos at the end of each day is something I'd probably struggle with for a while. I do agree that is a great habit to have, still.
txt file is great. Makes me wonder, does the author always have their laptop on them since that's the only place I know of where a txt file can live? Do they go to sleep and wake up next to their laptop?
I've always been an iPhone user and have never seen a .txt file on one and probably you wouldn't be able to edit one on an iPhone if you did have it in Files app - I'm not counting Notes app as a text file here.
I do quarterly notes inside of Notes app but it mostly non-work related stuff and doesn't integrate well with desktop since its kind of a pain to login to iCloud from browser. Quarterly notes bc once the note gets too long, it gets very laggy on phone and is difficult to navigate; i.e. getting to the bottom to write a new line can be tough on mobile.
I use Termux on my Android phone and sync my text-files using git or fossil, just like how I sync between laptops/desktops. I run Emacs in Termux (but vim and many other text editors are also available, for those that prefer those). No need for special apps or cloud stuff, just syncing the plain files and using the same software I use on bigger computers.
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[ 1.3 ms ] story [ 78.2 ms ] threadI have seen colleagues using an almost append only txt file with notepad.exe. It worked for them I guess, but there were some features I could not live without on Notepad++
There's no procrastination about organizing or perfect tags. Just brain dump the thought or notes and move on with life.
https://github.com/nickjj/notes was created so I can type things like `notes hello world` and it inserts it for the correct YYYY-MM or `notes` to open the current YYYY-MM in your $EDITOR. It supports piping into it too (good for pasting from your clipboard). It's ~40 lines of shell scripting with comments.
[0] https://easyorgmode.com/docs/org-agenda
What this is:
$ diary # opens vim to $DIARYDIR/year/month/day.md
Relatedly, I find all of the todo/task management apps to be utterly overwhelming for my person tasks. I'm so tired of all of the task apps adding way too much complexity.
All I want is:
* Something that's available on all of my devices.
* Can be ordered by sections
* Let's me add a task without thinking (default to triage)* Lets me drag-and-drop tasks for ordering
Longer explanation: https://zachsaucier.com/blog/notes-the-best-todo-app/
I've tried alternatives, but OneNote has been simple and reliable, it just works everywhere. Probably one of the most important apps in my life.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39432876
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29661167
The only extra thing is I set up autohotkey macros
For example typing $today or $yesterday will insert the date with a dividing line underneath to separate days into clear blocks
I've tried a lot of different note apps and what I eventually realized is that when it comes to work, I generally don't actually care about old notes 98% of the time.
I only really care about the last week or two and when everything is in one file its optimized for viewing that, like a working memory.
The text file ends up gigantic but its still small data for a computer even after many years of adding to a single file and searching is still fast.
Then the next week's new file has the pasted-over to-do items on top.
These were OneNote/Sharepoint files forever until earlier this year. Now they live on my local network, backed up, glaciered.
At the first line of the a .txt file put .LOG This will then put a timestamp at the end of the file every time you open it.
Also, if you press the F5 key it inserts a timestamp.
Been using this for years and it's pretty much all I ever needed.
It also doesn't nag you with administrative tasks to "save" notes when you close Notepad. You close the editor, Notepad is gone. You open Notepad, the notes are there again. And since recently it has tabs too. What a time to be alive.
There's nothing on macOS or Linux that comes close.
Knowing myself, though, I don't think I'd keep up with this since it would take mental strength on my part to overthink the data structure for the task entry. I've been thinking about how I might also track emotional impact of my todo items on me. I wonder if the open nature of a txt file would be good for instant journaling about things that give me stress?
I really like having some guardrails when it comes to organizing thoughts so this system might not be for me. Also building up the daily habit to organize the todos at the end of each day is something I'd probably struggle with for a while. I do agree that is a great habit to have, still.
I've always been an iPhone user and have never seen a .txt file on one and probably you wouldn't be able to edit one on an iPhone if you did have it in Files app - I'm not counting Notes app as a text file here.
I do quarterly notes inside of Notes app but it mostly non-work related stuff and doesn't integrate well with desktop since its kind of a pain to login to iCloud from browser. Quarterly notes bc once the note gets too long, it gets very laggy on phone and is difficult to navigate; i.e. getting to the bottom to write a new line can be tough on mobile.