My 100 day blog challenge is tomorrow, so I wanted to discuss the variety of note taking, task management, and knowledge management methods I’ve tried since I wrote about them early in the challenge.
I want to note that part of the way through this challenge, my family faced some sickness and health challenges, and then depression crept in, and I didn’t realize it for a bit. All of these things have greatly affected my follow-through on all of these systems and on the challenge itself. Since I don’t feel like I was able to use my full bandwidth to really learn and build a practice around using these systems, I’ll probably continue to try them in the future.
- Zettelkasten – I love the idea of Zettelkasten. I like note taking on index cards, but I haven’t been consistent with it. The zettlekasten method has a bit of a learning curve to start, and until you’re really comfortable, it takes discipline.
- Obsidian – I like Obsidian. I love how notes can be linked. It takes a little bit to learn, but I find it’s a great place for notetaking. I don’t like digital tools to be my main ones, but Obsidian is perfect for DnD world and character building.
- Sidetracked Home Executives – I also tried the Sidetracked Home Executives index card task management system for repetitive tasks and habits. It worked great for a couple of weeks, then suddenly the number of cards was just overwhelming. I don’t know how much of it was my own bandwidth, the fact that I created too many cards, or that the system doesn’t really work for me.
I think all of these systems are great; they just didn’t work for me in this season of life because I couldn’t maintain the practice.
Going Forward
- Bullet Journal (Bujo) – I’ve used bullet journals many times, and although I like the index cards, right now I need something less chaotic. I’m going to use a bullet journal for a while, but not the complicated, decorative monster that some bullet journals end up being. I’m going to be using the original, simple, rapid logging bullet journal system. It’s not perfect, but I know the method well, and I know it can work even if everything isn’t ideal. My main problem is forgetting it exists, but I’m just going to keep it by my computer so that I don’t forget about it. I will revisit other methods later.
- Flylady – For home and task management, I’m going to go with a system that has worked for me several different times in my life. I’m not having trouble keeping my house because most of it is habitual now, but I want simplicity. Not having to think about the tasks that need to be done will be nice, so following FlyLady’s schedule for a while will lessen my mental load.
What systems have been working well in your life lately?