Mail app (part of macOS)

Folder per research topic for a bit of structure.

In the Todo folder, 1 email is 1 todo. Reply can be used to change the todo or add more information. When task is finished then email is moved by replying done to the email and rules will take care of the rest.

With Safari I can email an article to myself that is basically only the article and not the whole website.

Search in Mail app is amazing.

I have ~20k emails now in my notes folders.

Also part of many mailing lists. Discourse forums often have mailing mode. Mail is basically my second brain. I find things that are important quicker in Mail then via Google. Rust mailing list (via discourses mailing list mode) is a life saver. Beauty of it is, all emails are on my disk so it also works offline.

Total emails in my mailboxes come close to ~500k now.

Also from other places I can send notes to myself with special email addresses.

1. I’ve been using Joplin across apple and Linux footprints since 2016. Laurent is a very attentive maintainer and the community forum is very active and reactive when you need them. I’m very satisfied. Ui serves my needs, plugins can be developed when I need to do something domain specific (mermaid, plantuml). I like markdown.

I use pen and paper continuously everyday, and snap pictures of journal pages in the Joplin. Mobile app when need be.

3. Not sure what additional you’d be looking for here.

4. I don’t expect my note taking app to be Jira if that’s the thrust on q 4.

5. Roughly 1/3rd is summarizing citations from the web or other sources.

I started using a technique that I call continuous journal. It came about as quick and dirty way to have a simple personal knowledge manager that was synced across my devices.

Essentially it is just a single long Google doc that you structure in a way that suits you best.

For example:

Use the hierarchical structure for sections and subsections down to 3 or 4 or more levels, then you've always got a useful table of contents.

Use shortcuts and 'word find cmd f' to easily navigate.

Use anchor link bookmarks to link connected sections and for shortcuts to frequently-access sections.

Create a table of your tags and tag sections/entries as appropriate.

Etc, structure it according to your needs. This technique benefits from the great usability and features of the Docs app.

I find this continuous journal technique enables you to get a nice overview by quick reading and quick eye scanning - great for learning reinforcement!

You can get to a few hundred pages before loading becomes a bit slow, but it's normally quick if you sync a local downloaded copy.

Use Gemini tools for summaries and text refinement.

Loading up your continuous journal doc as a source in a Google Notebook LM gives you increased utility.

I also use pen and paper. For the stationery nerds: Lamy Safari, 4 color Bic, Uni Kuru Toga pencil, Leuchtturm1917 Master dotted notebook, and my absolute favorite notebook - Mnemosyne 104 dotted

1. Obsidian. I can’t say I use it to the fullest, but I create folders and subfolders for important areas in my personal and professional life.

2. I use dictation more than pen and paper these days. I have a shortcut set up on my phones action button that pastes the transcript from my dictation into my daily note. I’ll likely move to a weekly note instead shortly.

3. I wrote about this on my website recently: https://www.jonathon.site/productivity

4. Task breakdowns limit my procrastination. I’m thinking of creating a Claude project that can take items on my to do list and break them into bite-sized subtasks.

5. Using Obsidian’s Web Clipper, Readwise Reader, MyMind and Twitter bookmarks helps me archive ideas to reflect on later. I’d say the majority of the new ideas I come across are from the web. I’m still working on the best way to keep it all organized.