How I take notes

Plain files, links between them, and a rule about deleting.

Underneath all of this is one habit: notice, then count.

Noticing is cheap and slightly embarrassing. Counting is the part that makes it stick.

Pay attention, then count.

What I would tell my past self

I do not trust ideas that cannot survive being written down in plain sentences.

So I write plain sentences, link them to each other, and see what the pile looks like after a year.

Related notes: Notice things, measure them, Spreadsheets as therapy.