In the two and a half hours we hung out, Michael and I talked about everything under the sun: work, blockchain, productivity, parenting, self-care, writing, creativity, and on and on. One particularly noteworthy topic? Note-taking.
Michael uses Obsidian, an advanced way to organize and link your thoughts. When he asked how I organize my ideas, I admitted my system was quite rudimentary. Apple Notes for administrative stuff and a basic structure, Evernote to save everything without immediate use, and then, well, a lot of writing drafts filled with notes. I did, however, explain my reason for never bothering to formalize my notes more: I believe the brain is the perfect filter.
When I write an already-long story, I don’t want to comb through every idea I’ve ever had to pick a few relevant examples to include. I’d rather just use what my brain comes up with in that moment. Sure, there’ll always be some recency bias, but often, when you think about a movie you watched last week, you’ll remember a similar one you watched many years ago. Your brain is already full of links. Why not trust them? It is very much imperfect, but this imperfection gives your creations a unique twist. An imprint only you could have made, thanks to whatever your mind delivered in that moment—and that’s beautiful.
Case in point: On the way home from my conversation with Michael, my brain was buzzing with inspiration. Had I taken notes during our conversation, I probably could have drafted a dozen blog posts on the spot. But I didn’t. I let everything simmer in my head, then picked one question from Michael that stood out to me. That became the next day’s post—and that, in turn, led me to this one. No elaborate system needed.
No matter what you do, your net will never be wide enough to catch all idea butterflies. Not all the great and extra shiny ones. Not all the normal ones. And not even all the small swarmers which you could release quickly and go watch them be on their way.
Don’t worry. That’s life. Catch what you can, and enjoy the rest as it flies by. You’ve already got the perfect, imperfect filter—all you have to do is trust it.