> fragility of plaintext

For that, I have .dir-locals.el file in the root of my notes folder with a single line: ((org-mode . ((eval git-auto-commit-mode 1))))

Even if I accidentally make a change, there's always trackable history

You can use a combination of auto-save-visited-mode (this will save to the actual file, rather than a backup) and gitwatch to auto commit all changes. It should prevent most forms data loss or desynchronization.

> The point about linting still stands, though.

Do you run org-lint on the save hook? I wonder if that'd be too distracting, or if it can be done silently unless some errors detected.

Org-roam is an extension that works on top of Org-mode, and it's very simple to switch to if you already know Org-mode.

Org-mode by itself, if you've never used Emacs before, can certainly be challenging - it has too many features. One of the best overviews of the Org-mode's built-in features is Rainer König's playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVtKhBrRV_ZkPnBtt_TD1... He also has a Udemy course https://www.udemy.com/course/getting-yourself-organized-with..., but I've never tried it myself - by the time he published it, I was already well-versed in Org-mode features.

Besides these, Org-mode is extendable with other packages. I, for example do my pdf-annotations, presentations, anki-card editing, http endpoints testing, dotfile management and many other things in Org-mode.

That sounds like spending far too long managing TODOs, instead of DOing them.

I haven't given the article the dedicated read that I intend to yet but my impression is that he does not expect to address all 133 items and it does not matter.

As someone who has compulsively accumulated lengthy to-do lists and buckled beneath the phantom of hopes and intentions of varying importance and ambition I find it enlightening that the possibility of completing a task other than those that are important enough to not have to write down to begin with can be measured by their meaningfulness and address according to this measure.

I gather that the .0050% of information that I consume daily is what is of the greatest priority and the remaining 99.995% is synthesized and iterated over the next day until it reemerges as something important. I suspect that Wiegley completes on average about 5 important things each day. This sounds like a solid baseline.

If it's the Org Mode agenda view in anything close to its default configuration, those 133 items will contain not just tasks scheduled for today, but also any incomplete tasks that were either scheduled for time before today, are past deadline, or have a deadline coming in the next 7 days (IIRC, maybe it's 14).

This is to say, if you don't keep on top of current work, the agenda view quickly turns into an ever growing wall of shame.

I have a pretty weird love-hate relationship with it because of that.

It entirely depends on which tasks you have and where they are coming from. Not every task has to some unique hour-long work. People who are using routines, pre-defined lists or elaborated project-planning, usually have very detailed and long daily lists full of small tasks, each in the range of some second to minutes of work.

Maybe the 133 items are 120 items of one minute work each, and the rest are conditional or optional task you will not do that day.

Yes but I use OmniFocus for habit learning or reminding myself to take eg meds. Taking 7 meds or supplements in 20 seconds is doable :)

It used to reduce anxiety for me too, until my brain learned that, unless acted upon immediately, those lists get out of date within couple days, at which point they never shrink. More than once I ended up with lists that rot faster than I'm able to fix them, so I eventually stopped planning too much in advance.

This is why I don't let my to-do lists automatically roll over. If it wasn't important enough to copy to today's to-do list, then maybe it's okay if it's never done. But I do keep them around in some form, because maybe the old to-do items had some interesting ideas associated with them that I might want to re-visit later. Or keep the 'cool ideas' and 'tasks to take action on said cool ideas' separate.

https://www.nuke24.net/docs/2024/202410-to-do-lists.html

> Noise is either a sound of too short a duration to be determined, like the report of a cannon; or else it is a confused mixture of many discordant sounds, like the rolling of thunder or the noise of the waves. Nevertheless, the difference between sound and noise is by no means precise. — Ganot

http://www.websters1913.com/words/Noise

At record time, don't know what is signal and what is noise. Separation of signal from noise is not persistence problem, it is presentation problem. Model is sophisticated: number of delays against action intended time, etc. flow into whether task is noise. Being in list is protection against amnesia but not protection against prioritization.

Noise is good. There's nothing wrong with noise. Internet is noise. You only need a good search engine or discovering technique. For Org users there are plenty of different choices - Org-Roam and org-roam-ui; built-in org-agenda, tags and todo stickers; Denote; Khoj, plain grepping, etc.

HN does not render markdown

Do you then actually look it up at the right time? I often don't. My anxiety increases with the number of uncompleted items on the list, until it eventually stops me from looking at the list ever again. Filing something away becomes a license to forget.

Both John Wiegley and Adam Porter are insanely productive, so something must be working for them.

  >This can seem farcical at times. Sometimes the knowledge-management world can seem like a manifestation of OCD or perfectionism.

  >But to be clear, I don't want to discount in any way that such approaches could work for many people on many projects. My general take is that if a person is being mindful about the _effort in_ versus _benefit out_, they'll probably end up in a pretty good place.


  >My general take is that if a person is being mindful about the _effort in_ versus _benefit out_, they'll probably end up in a pretty good place.

For a YouTuber it's more advantageous to keep switching between various systems to keep generating more YouTube content.

> special physical filing cabinets for notecards

It sounds like you're a bit dismissive of it. The creator of this system Luhmann was a very prolific writer [0] which he credited to this system.

0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann#Note-taking_sys...

> Think of sharpening a sword you've no intention to swing.

More like having every intention to achieve glorious victory in battle with your sword, but never getting to it as you keep finding ways to make the sword even sharper. That's legitimate trap, yes.

Most are so afraid of this trap, that they just live on the battlefield and keep fighting with their dull, wooden swords; when asked if they heard about sharpening - or steel - they mumble some quotes from Arthur C. Clarke's story, "Superiority". And it's true, many people fall into this trap. Some are never heard from again. But then others occasionally share their sword designs and sharpening tricks, which end up improving weapons for the whole army. Then there are those who pop in and out, tinkering in the field, upgrading their blades until they become rocket propelled chainsaws or other weird shit.

The truth is, if you're not satisfied with your Army Standard Issue Sword and want something better, you'll need to fall into this trap once or twice. That's how you learn how to upgrade your own gear.

Or, in short: exploration vs. exploitation tradeoff. If you want to get shit done, you need to find a good balance. Maximizing either of the two is a failure.

I am so here for this comment. I forget things. If I don't take notes then I have to spend time rediscovering things. Searching my own notes solves that problem for me. I wish I had started taking comprehensive notes sooner.