Current challenges and questions

Current problems with § My note taking system:

Successfully draining fleeting inboxes

• I feel confident that I should embrace that 𝍌 Inboxes only work if you trust how they’re drained, however this relies on being able to categorize or archive every single note in a Fleeting Inboxes. I don’t currently feel I’m able to go through all my scratchpad notes and place them elsewhere, so that the scratchpad is emptied. So I need to reflect more on whether there’s a way to solve this conundrum.
• A related issue, is that these Fleeting Inboxes are split across multiple places, which doesn’t help me with draining them all regularly. See this article from Andy Matuschak: Inboxes shouldn’t be split into multiple places.

Should there be a distinction between fleeting notes and fleeting inboxes?

• A question I’ve been pondering is, should some Fleeting Notes just be left to let go, more of a feed than an inbox?
• And should the distinction between feed and inbox be made explicitly somehow? Otherwise, how can I successfully drain the fleeting inboxes where there is real value in ensuring I go through those inboxes later to capture value.

Simple and effective tag structure

• I have so many tags across bear, with a mixture of note types - § My notes taxonomy. Ultimately, I think I need to find a way to really improve this.

• One of the key downsides of this, is that it is leaving a lot of opportunities for Topic Notes left on the table within a variety of different notes. There’s a distance between my day to day and the pool of Topic Notes.

• Another issue is that some tags truly have a mixture of note types. It would be really valuable to clearly identify which types are truly fleeting, and perhaps even consolidate those and not worry so much about the tagging system.

• The other option is to just really intentionally assume that all of these notes are Fleeting Notes. But also not think of them as inboxes.

• Maybe what I need is another type of note. Perhaps a “Working Note”, or something like that.

• What is a meeting note?

• What is a draft for a memo?

• Where do those belong?

• Could it all be within an overall system of § My notes taxonomy?

• An example of this would be:

  • Fleeting
    • Journal Entries
    • Meeting Notes
    • Working Notes

• Argument: a fully finished memo to the team is actually a Topic Notes categorized within the Buffer § Buffer thoughts and decisions outline.

  • That said, some memos / announcements don’t feel evergreen. Those should arguably stay as Fleeting Notes, or at least Working Notes.

• Thinking about Working Notes:

  • In § My notes taxonomy, they would sit between Fleeting Notes and Clippings / Topic Notes.
  • They’re pretty close to Fleeting Notes, but they’re not totally discardable / ephemeral. There is value to the history of those notes, especially the meeting notes.
  • However, they’re not anywhere close to the value of Topic Notes, and so I do need to make adjustments that allow me to regularly contribute to my Topic Notes as a natural part of my working week.