<story><title>Tired of note-taking apps</title><url>https://akkshaya.blog/2020/07/19/note-taking/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vijucat</author><text>My theory about handwritten note-taking is that the bandwidth difference between thinking (fast) and writing (slow) is somehow extremely beneficial to the process of generating creative and evocative output. There have been so many journaling sessions which I started with the absolute conviction that I had nothing new to say, and after 4 pages of extremely creative and detailed ideas, &lt;i&gt;surprising even to me&lt;/i&gt;, I had no choice but to exclaim, &amp;quot;Now where did that even come from?!&amp;quot;. Maybe the hypnotic act of twirling the pen on paper slowly puts the mind into that sub-conscious creative state similar to what happens when one is about to fall asleep? It is honestly magical. I now use OneNote every day (because I can search through a large volume of notes easily), and I quite miss the dramatic revelations of pen on paper journaling. My notes were about programming and trading. For those who write fiction, I bet slow, old, typewriters are similarly more beneficial than the latest ergonomic keyboard and Word 365!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mumblemumble</author><text>I think you could even generalize that a bit, and say that limits tend to foster creativity.&lt;p&gt;My best software designs happen when I&amp;#x27;m taking notes on paper, and I think it&amp;#x27;s largely what you say - I can&amp;#x27;t write as fast as I can think, which more or less forces me to think more carefully.&lt;p&gt;The founder of You Need a Budget makes a similar argument about budgeting and not spending on credit - the financial limits encourage you to manage your entire lifestyle more creatively.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s often observed that small, scrappy, &lt;i&gt;hungry&lt;/i&gt; companies tend to come up with more creative solutions than large, well-capitalized corporations, and even observed that formerly small and creative startups seem to lose that spark as the money rolls in.&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s that section in &lt;i&gt;The Odyssey&lt;/i&gt; with the island of the lotus-eaters.&lt;p&gt;Speaking of poetry, I suspect that many poets would say that their creativity is enhanced by working within the limits imposed by a poetic form.</text></comment>
<story><title>Tired of note-taking apps</title><url>https://akkshaya.blog/2020/07/19/note-taking/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>vijucat</author><text>My theory about handwritten note-taking is that the bandwidth difference between thinking (fast) and writing (slow) is somehow extremely beneficial to the process of generating creative and evocative output. There have been so many journaling sessions which I started with the absolute conviction that I had nothing new to say, and after 4 pages of extremely creative and detailed ideas, &lt;i&gt;surprising even to me&lt;/i&gt;, I had no choice but to exclaim, &amp;quot;Now where did that even come from?!&amp;quot;. Maybe the hypnotic act of twirling the pen on paper slowly puts the mind into that sub-conscious creative state similar to what happens when one is about to fall asleep? It is honestly magical. I now use OneNote every day (because I can search through a large volume of notes easily), and I quite miss the dramatic revelations of pen on paper journaling. My notes were about programming and trading. For those who write fiction, I bet slow, old, typewriters are similarly more beneficial than the latest ergonomic keyboard and Word 365!</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>sooheon</author><text>Ted Chiang&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Fiction&amp;quot; is one of the best treatments I&amp;#x27;ve read on this topic.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20140222103103&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;subterraneanpress.com&amp;#x2F;magazine&amp;#x2F;fall_2013&amp;#x2F;the_truth_of_fact_the_truth_of_feeling_by_ted_chiang&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;web.archive.org&amp;#x2F;web&amp;#x2F;20140222103103&amp;#x2F;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;subterrane...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>