[jackstraw14]

I've just started using a legal pad and erasable pen (frixion pens are amazing) to help get my life processes better organized, and it's a great place to start and figure out what you want from these kinds of tools. For me this was better than trying the tools to see what works, I even tried Excalidraw but it's still in that category of "go back and learn how to use if I have time".

I'm still heavily leaning on the legal pad, but I've got a project in Claude to streamline this whole thing over time. It's recommended Microsoft OneNote which I completely wrote off because it seems like there must be a price for such a robust tool being free, but it is really amazing these days. Seems very smooth for mixing digital media with handwritten notes and diagrams, I'm really impressed with it. It's probably going to be where I move to from my legal pad system, since it's so similar but offers features that will help organize the notes and make them searchable, etc.

I always look at the new tools and services for these kind of things when they pop up so please share other personal systems as well!

(I'm still not sure what the price is for OneNote, but if anyone knows and it's bad, please say something)

[snozolli]

frixion pens are amazing

Be careful what you do with your notes, if you care about longevity. Leave a notebook in the sun and you may find it blank. Throwing it in the freezer may bring back some text, but it will bring back stuff you erased, too.

It doesn't matter for throwaway stuff, but I've lost notes on older projects due to this.

[jackstraw14]

Yes, would not recommend the pens as a substitute for ones with archival-quality ink :)