Juggling Between Digital and Analog Notes. Here are My Thoughts.

Photo by Jess Bailey on Unsplash

I’m going back and forth about digital versus analog. I’ve been doing both for the last few years.

Digital note-taking has its strengths. Analog note-taking also has its strengths. But they both have weaknesses too.

I’ve been pursuing perfection in my note-taking system. And in doing so, I’ve lost in productivity. Focusing on the system takes attention from actual content work.

Here are my conclusions:

1. There is no perfect system. Every feature comes at a cost of something else. I enjoy the act of writing by hand. But I lose on search capacity. Search capacity that only a digital format provides. The digital format has a great search function. But I stare at screens all day for work. I’d like to avoid screens especially at night.
2. The act of putting thoughts into written format is the end goal. In either format (digital or analog), I have rarely returned to previous thoughts. Sometimes I do. But those happen out of curiosity. Not intention.
3. You refine your system by…USING your system. The perfect system results from constant use and refining. We’ll make mistakes in this journey. But those mistakes teach us what is effective and what is ineffective.
4. System-Hopping is the biggest obstacle to a perfect system. It doesn’t matter which system you use. It only matters that you use the system. Find the flaws in the system yourself. Refine the system yourself. Don’t take anyone else’s recommendation. Their situation is always different.

That’s it. Pick a system. Use that system. Refine as you go. Your system will develop into a great one.