Ask HN: How do you keep track of your creative thoughts?

[jianzong]

Hi Hackernews, I am a developer with lots of random creative thoughts, especially when I am in shower or after a few shots of caffeine. I have yet to find a perfect solution to keep track of my random thoughts. Here are a few things that I've tried at least for a few months:

1. Physical notebook: still using, but some times my notebook is in my backpack/left at home/in office 2. Evernote alike: never works for me. I hate the constant changing features/UI and the overhead of simply opening it 3. (My pick) use instant IM to send messages to myself: the IM tool really doesn't matter. It could be mail app, facebook messenger, slack. Laptop and phone syncing is free and always reliable.

I know these are my throw away thoughts. I am wondering whether there are some amazingly good solutions that I didn't know of. Otherwise I am planning to create one for myself.

Thanks!

[srikz]

I (and am sure many here) have been in the same situation. I have tried physical books (which I'm still biased towards), OneNote (my next favourite, especially on tablets with stylus), txt files, wiki etc.

Ultimately what I realised is that it is all useless if I don't have a periodic review session for these ideas.

So, what I am doing these days (not with much success due to lack of discipline) is to have 2 or 3 different sources for such ideas - notebook, onenote, email, bookmarks, Google Keep etc. But spend sometime during the weekend to organise these week's ideas into the correct container. In my case the 'source of truth' is OneNote, so I have several notebooks and sections within each notebook and I file things there.

Even though this is tedious and repetitive I find it to be absolutely necessary if anything good has to come out of those ideas. It also gives me a chance to revisit old ideas and file my new half-baked ideas into a section where it fits in with some other idea.

The other important task is that I need to plan some small action items with these ideas or else it will just accumulate there and cause lot of stress eventually.

P.S. It will be great to hear your thoughts on the tool you plan to create. Like what features you find missing and how you plan to accommodate the user's laziness in your UX

[jianzong]

Thank you srikz!

It is a little surprising to see a handful of recommendation for OneNote. I have never used OneNote before, but will definitely give it a try.

I think one's idea tracking system should cover two parts: fast and slow. The slow part is as you mentioned we should periodically review ideas. For this part, I am almost 100% happy with Github issues/wiki/projects.

For the fast part, like you, I used notebook, IM, Google Keep and a bash script at the same time (whichever that is most handy). I am 90% happy with the process. Given the high frequency of the day I am spending tracking ideas (~10 times per day), I am willing to spend some time to fine tune the practice until I am 99% happy.

The idea I have in mind is to write a IM-like note taking app for iPhone and Mac, which stores plain-text and image in iCloud drive. The app should utilize platform features such as Siri, 3D touch, Mac status bar to enable fastest idea capturing.

This sounds boring to me, but I believe if it is done right, it could be my most efficient zero-effort idea tracking solution on the go. (And review ideas using the plain-text db in iCloud)

[ryanmarsh]

Periodic review is the most important thing for your creative ideas, next to writing them down.

I love to write on clean sheets of copy paper. Most notebooks don't lie flat and the ones that do seem to fall apart with travel. I used to have tons of loose copy paper floating around my laptop bag, desk, folders, cabinets, etc... It was getting lost and damaged so I bought an iPad Pro and got used to writing on it. I still prefer paper, but at least I'm not losing my ideas now.

Two years ago I printed everything out (including all the scanned copy paper from older notes). It was about a ream of paper.

I started going through it, it was surprised at how many amazing and prescient thoughts I'd had and later forgotten about. There were thoughts that, combined with newer thoughts, created powerful insights that have benefited my clients and made me more money.

I have not done a review of my notes since then and I sorely need to, but I can say with absolute certainty that periodically reviewing your notes will bring you great value.

[kd5bjo]

I’ve been using a new system for the past few weeks, so I don’t know how well it will stick:

I carry a small spiral-bound memo book with me all the time for short-term notes. In the case of random thoughts, it’s generally just a title.

Every morning, I move everything from the memo book into other systems and tear out the used pages. For ideas, this means putting the title at the top of a blank sheet of paper and free writing until I either run out of things to say or reach the bottom of the page.

About once a week, I file all the new notes in a binder sorted by title and put an index card for each one in a Leitner box for reviewing in the future.

When working through reviews, if I find a note interesting it gets promoted all the way to the front section of the box, and otherwise it gets pushed back one, so that its review cycle gets longer. I also use the review as an opportunity to ensure the note is recorded properly in a topical index.

[interlocutor]

The problem with OneNote is that its file format is proprietary (though documented). I have random notes that are 20 years old. Notes I take today need to be readable 20 years from now. Will OneNote be around 20 years from now? I prefer to store my notes in plain text because it is guaranteed to be readable decades from now.

[kristoft]

Oh, man, you just have written my exact thoughts! I also have a problem revisiting my notes, ideas, etc. I was thinking about creating a note-taking app with reminder. I know, that there is a whole world of note apps as well as reminder apps, but i wanted to have specific tool. Also, what is the point to be a programmer if you don’t create things for yourself, right?)

[dublin]

OneNote is by far the best electronic note-taking and organizing tool out there, in spite of many glaring shortcomings. (e.g.: It really needs a way to tag things, as the full text search quickly becomes less useful as you pour more of your life in it, especially web clips; also need real tree-structure organizing that lets you go deeper than just Notebook/Section/Page; UI is a disaster for pen/touch use since removing radial menus, etc.) It's the main reason I will never go back to a "caveman laptop" w/o pen support. I just wish MS would really put serious effort into OneNote as a product.

That said, I capture critical ideas and project and research info in OneNote, but still use a plain old notebook (using a system I made up myself similar to the old Franklin planner and Bullet Journals) to do much of my ordinary day-to-day notetaking, planning, and task management. The truth is, there is NO electronic "day management" system available today that is even close to as good as what Palm had 20 years ago.

[stunt]

Dedicate a wall in your bedroom or private office to hang a whiteboard for writing your ideas. If one of your creative ideas is going to have a positive impact on your life, it worth to be in front of your eyes.

[kristiandupont]

Physical notebooks started working for me when I started using them for daily planning, which I did by buying a silly $5 stamp of off AliExpress: [link redacted]

On NYE I went through my books of 2018 and it was a great experience -- both reiterating all the things I've actually accomplished and refreshing various thoughts and ideas that I had stored and sort of let go. https://www.instagram.com/p/BsDWesbnkDI/

[jason_slack]

+1 for physical notebooks. I still do this. I still make notes on my laptop but most everything is still on paper!

It gives me something to show my kids someday.

[eigenstuff]

Just dropped everything and bought that stamp! I'm an artist so a sketchbook is just part of the job, but I have tried and failed for years to keep a proper planner. I like this, though, it's so easy and less overwhelming.

[christophilus]

Same. When at a computer, I keep it all in a single markdown file. Easy to find, edit, search, etc.

[ajflores1604]

Switching to Notion from Evernote has pretty much changed my life. I tried mind maps before but the scattered nature of how I dump ideas I think requires a little more of a structured framework for me to play in. With notion the key features that really help me is having nested pages, and being able to group select things and drag them into a nested page. From there I can keep nesting if I want. The general ease of being able to organize and group things, and also create overview pages that link to several other deep dive pages, allows me to move further with ideas than I ever did with evernote. With evernote, it felt more like a scattered dump, even if I grouped things into notebooks. There was no spacial distinction or grouping of concepts, just a bunch of small random thoughts thrown together in a loosely defined notebook. And once things got out of hand it felt pretty much impossible to wrangle it back together. Evernote for me was great if I knew there was a specific piece of information I had saved, that I needed to look up through search. But it never felt like I could map out and grow and abstract idea as I slowly created it overtime. It's hard to really explain over text the workflows I can create with notion to organize my thoughts, I'd definitely recommend watching youtube videos of different workspace layouts ppl have come up with like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_mh91IRLL8

The general point being that this tool has helped me in my goal of shifting from simply aggregating lots of thoughts and ideas, towards having the structure to make that next step and actually do something with them.

[KlaymenDK]

Man, it's annoying when things are named with such common words.

Here is (I think) their web site: https://www.notion.so/mobile

It doesn't seem to have a web or Linux desktop app, though.

[oracle2025]

I gave Notion a quick try on my Android Handset, but it felt quite slow and unresponsive, adding a subpage gave me a spinning wheel animation, that took a little bit, and trying to reorder items by dragging quickly flashed the keyboard over the content.

My preferred way to keep notes of thoughts that I have on the way, is "Simplenote". I've tried other Note taking Apps, but so far Simplenote feels the most solid when it comes to syncinc the content. Syncinc NEVER blocks the App, it happens automatically and quickly in the background, I Never had to wait for the sync, or press a button or refresh anything.

Other than that, "Simplenote" feels very lightwight and fast, exactly what I want, when I want take a note when in hurry.

[caseyf]

I love notion too. It's basically what I've always wanted for organizing my notes and lists and thoughts: a personal wiki that doesn't have separate modes for authoring and reading

[hazz99]

+1 for Notion. It's added so much structure and value to my life.

[vfinn]

I have simply a folder that contains 10+ text files, mostly containing numbered lists: 01_calendar; 02_TODO (just a stack of things I want to do); 03_questions (e.g.: "What substances emit sound when heated?"); 04_ideas (entrepreneurship, organization -- this is helpful because for one thing you start to see the pattern in your ideas -- what you value etc.); 05_opinions&thoughts; 06_self&improvement (my habits are like this and that, I could improve them like this); 07_read&watch&experience (list of interesting people, movies etc.); 08_my_history (contains critical events that have happened to me, it's really useful to see them all at once for self-reflection); 09_principles_I_follow; 10_humor (humorous ideas that I collect in order to create a stand-up routine someday)

[catacombs]

You should consider Org Mode.

[spaceKing]

Thanks man, I created these labels in my google keep (apart from calendar, I have a calendar for that :) )

[quietthrow]

I am a huge fan of txt files. How do you get your files accessible on different devices?

[jianzong]

Props for your simple working solution. Plain text storage is the best!

[donatzsky]

I use Trello.

I have a board called Ideas for collecting. Usually I just put the thought in the card title.

From there more details can be added in the description, and eventually the card can be moved into its own list or board for further expansion.

Since I'm on Android, I have the Add Card shortcut on my home screen, which means there's very little friction to adding new ideas.

[wtmt]

For those on iOS with a device that supports 3DTouch, there’s an option to add a new card in the menu that pops up from the Trello app icon on the home screen. Granted that 3DTouch features are not easy to discover though.

[spatx]

I use Google Keep, Google Docs and Trello.

- Google Keep for quickly jotting down new ideas on the go (usually just a line or two so I can remember). This is my temporary record.

- Then, when I have time at the end of day, I add to to my document in Google Drive with more details, description, etc. This is my permanent record.

- When I'm ready to work on something, I add it to Trello with specific tasks, deadlines and reminders. This is my task manager.

One thing I'm failing to consistently do is to revisit old ideas periodically and remove the old ones I no longer deem worthy exploring.

[schraitle]

+1 to this. I have a board with different lists regarding the overall category of the idea. (App, website, thing, etc.) Along with that I use labels to further categorize within the lists.

[Vekz]

I email myself and capture in emacs org-mode.

I have an email address that is bound to AWS SES. SES listens for incoming emails and writes them to an S3 bucket. I then have a lambda hook which listens for writes to this bucket and processes the email content. This usually means writing an emacs org-mode record on dropbox. Which is then added to my emacs agenda.

[beatgammit]

That sounds really complicated. Wouldn't you just use something like Syncthing to synchronize your org mode files across devices? I use Orgzly and Syncthing in my phone and it's good enough.

If you use it for general email stuff, just have a Cron job pulling your email down and append new stuff to a file that gets synchronized.

I don't really get why AWS, S3, or lambda are involved, unless you just wanted to see if you could do it.

[0db532a0]

That is a pretty good idea. Couldn’t you bypass S3, though? SES can trigger lambdas: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/ses/latest/DeveloperGuide/receiv...

[julienreszka]

I can't tell whether this is serious or you are joking. Either way that's unusual...

[allworknoplay]

I just e-mail myself, make sure to include “idea” or “business idea” or “game idea” or whatever in the subject line, respond to the email chain if i want to iterate, and periodically go back through the search results of emails I’ve sent myself.

[minikomi]

I use org-mode with a keybase git repo. Works on termux too!

[lazyjones]

Over the past 25-odd years I've used text files, Moleskine notebooks I carried with me everywhere and lately just iCloud notes. My main problems turned out to be not the preservation of such ideas, but not actually bothering to write them down often and lack of discipline at revisiting them later. Judging from past "successes", getting to work on good ideas immediately has worked best for me.

[nixpulvis]

Basically the same as me, though I love spending time going back a rereading all my notes. Sometimes I'm really tempted to delete one, as it's stupid, but I resist the urge.

[polote]

I use Zim wiki: http://zim-wiki.org/

I organize everything in it, and I have also a daily journal in zim, it is synchronized with syncthing https://syncthing.net/ on all my computers and my phone.

When I have something quick to add and don't have access to my computer, I send to myself a message and slack, or on whatsapp and I add it later to my notes

[yardshop]

I use a physical notepad, OneNote, and Quire.

The notepad is a shirt pocket sized 3"x4" piece of cedar shingle with a standard size (letter or A4 about) piece of paper folded 3 times to make 8 sub-pages per side, held on with a mini binder clip. This is mostly for shopping lists, but also for ideas I want to capture right away. When one sub-page fills up, I refold the sheet to get another blank page. I also put sticky notes on it.

I use OneNote synced on my phone, home, and work PCs to capture longer format notes, brain-dumps, links to web sites, images, etc.

Quire is a really nice hierarchical todo list that I use to break ideas down into steps and keep track of progress on projects. It also syncs between my devices. https://quire.io , https://quire.io/tutorial

[zwischenzug]

I have a git repo. I wrote about this and other related time management things here:

https://zwischenzugs.com/2017/12/03/how-i-manage-my-time/

[BilalBudhani]

> I was disorganised until my 30s.

I'm in my late 20s and I face a constant struggle in organising myself. Your blog post seems to be a nice window in how I should approach this issue. Thanks!

[alkonaut]

I know this isn’t the topic but just for anyone else reading and gets the impression that they aren’t normal:

My answer is - I don’t. I’m reasonably creative and also get ideas in inconvenient situations. But I try to remember and it actually works. Since it’s an “idea” it’s usually such a small piece of information that is key anyway “if I process everything backwards I can do it in constant time” or whatever. Obviously if your creativity is grapical you need to draw, if it’s musical you might need to record. But for problems I’m stuck on, it’s usually a tiny thought that unlocks the whole thing I’m stuck on.

[tapanjk]

I keep track of creative thoughts in a journal [http://jrnl.sh]

I keep track of tasks with taskwarrier [https://taskwarrior.org/]

For both of the above, I use Dropbox to share data on multiple devices. The only downside with the above can be the lack of mobile app support. (Personally, I do not miss this)

Edit: My daily journal is on paper, which I write at the end of the day. The jrnl command line app above is to record any notes through the day (work or home) when I am using a computer.

[Benjamin_Dobell]

My Google Keep is filled with all sorts of unusual ramblings.

Nothing particularly special about Keep itself, but I find having a mobile app handy as I get to sleep easier if I simply grab my phone off the beside table and jot down notes. Otherwise I lay awake worrying I'll forget in the morning.

[Confiks]

I use 2Do with a keyboard shortcut for a new task set to Ctrl+Alt+Cmd+T, so I can instantly note anything down and forget about it. That lands into an inbox I can process later.

If it's an actionable thing I then categorize and schedule it, but I also have a large 'Maybe' list for unwieldy project ideas (52 items and counting).

For random daily or project notes I use a small shell script (and Dock application, via Automator) that creates a daily file and opens the containing folder in an editor:

    touch "~/notes/$(date +%Y%m%d).txt"
    $EDITOR ~/notes 1>&2 2>/dev/null &

On my phone I use a very simple but therefore fast and effective open source notes application: https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/diary.git. I never write much there, so I just sometimes manually copy it to my other notes.

[chubot]

A personal wiki that I wrote in 2004 (my first web app ever).

It's one step above text files, and purposely no more than that. Hyperlinking and availability on different devices is important to me.

It started as something like this (which amazingly is still online) http://infomesh.net/pwyky/

After 14 years, I have 3017 wiki pages of notes, and still use it every day!

[exodust]

This is a good strategy. To write your own thing, and not rely on Google and others, who insist that you log in and remain online just to write a simple note.

[Martindm]

Nobody else mentioned it which really surprises me but I use Google Keep.

Allows you to organise cards, colour code then, pin them and share them across devices.

Anyone else use this? I find it's simple and restricted UI reduces distraction; just you and the idea.

Also good for check lists, links and reminders.

[kennu]

Since I use Things for todo management anyway, I tend to write down creative thoughts there as task items under a "miscellaneous" project. Bigger ideas sometimes get promoted into their own projects with several tasks.

Things synchronizes between iPhone and macOS so it's pretty convenient for short textual notes. More complicated drawings and plans I put in Google G Suite.

[prasanthmj]

I have dokuwiki installed on my macbook pro. Having a quick reference conveniently on local laptop is important for me because I should be able to access it even when offline. Having access to the wiki from different devices is not that important. Hence no cloud-based solution. The local wiki is added to the 'hosts' file. so http://mywiki in browser brings up the wiki quickly. Installing dokuwiki on mac is quite easy by the way. The sidebar of the wiki has items like: ideas, tomorrow, to-read, references, and items for each of the project I work on. When an idea strikes, I add an entry in the ideas folder . This helps because I know that it is 'filed' for later reference and as it is out of head, I can continue working on whatever I was working on. One advantage of the wiki over things like paper notebook is that it is quite searchable. For example, once I stumbled upon one video about a 'water from air' project (making water available in remote deserts by extracting water vapour from air). I filed it in a sub-page under "ideas " along with links that I could find. Then moved on. Didn't come back to it for quite some time. Then one day in some other discussion, the topic came up. It was quite easy to get back the links and references from the local wiki. The wiki pages are plain text files that I add to backup scripts (local and cloud). So it survived system failures in the past.

[bthallplz]

I've been recording them via my Android phone in the Orgzly app (org-mode mobile), which works very well for ideas and TODOs. I sync the files over to my desktop, where I edit them with a text editor and refactor them into my TiddlyWiki (personal wiki). It's been a game changing combination for me.

I'm hoping to make a GUI editor for working with the org-mode files produced by Orgzly, as Orgzly is wonderful and learning Emacs is pain.

[padthai]

For me writing is too slow. I carry a tape recorder and every couple of months I transcribe the ideas that I consider worth my time.

Lots of things sound stupid in retrospect.