Another recovering former Evernotes user here. I moved most everything into DEVONthink which covers a lot of the ground that you listed here. On the surface Obsidian is the closest comparison but a lot more under the hood. The only thing it does not do very well is sync docs and notes across devices. There is a mobile version but I have gotten along with it so well.
First of all, I see her sleeve. Your collection never ceases to make me smile.
Second, this post is brilliant and I have it saved for after my move when I've got some time to investigate. Some of these sound like real time savers. Thanks Joyce!
Joyce.... forever fascinating in your topics and narratives. I first heard the term Personal Knowledge Management System around the time Tiago became famous for his Building a Second Brain book, podcasts, writing, and multiple promotions. What matters the most is my understanding of how the brain works coming to truths around the gifts I bring to the world and who in the world wants such gifts. That improved my relationship with the tools. The WHY is more important that all of the HOW and hundreds of tools. I'm striving for minimalist here with maximum support for my body, mind, and soul. The biggest thing to remember about the tools is who is the owner? Journal, paper, pen--you own it and searching and using the information is challenging. Evernote--that was the hot thing for a long run (in technology years) and I paid for Evernote Coaches to make me a power user. The owner is not me, so I put in place the necessary backups because that's what I own. Then Evernote lost its damn mind and sold out to an Italian software company. Like you, I put my transition plan into place and transported more than 10,000 notes to a better, safer place. And closed the door on Evernote. Thank you for your article. I'm glad you are finding what works for you and the projects that interest you.
Georgia ... thanks for your note ... sounds like our paths have woven in and around each other. Why is always more important than how, IMHO. Tiago has helped my thinking a lot and made me more daring to take on a bigger learning project. For me, the why of these tools is to lever up my memory and understanding. And, I am having a great time with all of this.
Did you find a simpler way of transferring Evernote to a safer place? I'm plodding along realizing how much of little importance managed to find it's way into that space. With basically a worthless search engine, I'm rather lost about how to do the transition efficiently.
Joyce, What I know is what works for me. I'm glad to tell the story and let you pluck from any anything that sounds familiar, then hum along.
The Evernote transition provided a great reminder that some kind of annual review or quarterly tidy up is wise. I gave myself the grace of a whole week to look at every one of those 10K+ items and retag them into a new system.
Think about taking everything out of your large walk in closet and putting it in a pile. As you touch each one, use criteria formed recently from the past 20 years of wisdom to answer 3 basic questions: 1. When was the last time you wore this and would you ever wear it again? 2) If the item is not deleted immediately, then ask, What am I doing now that needs this? Allow up to two tags and stop. Three tags or more is already dropping back to yesterday habits. 3) If the item is still in your hand, now assign it to one of those folders learned in Second Brain: Action, Archive, Areas, Projects, Resources. Done and done! Everything, across all tools is organized in one of those five folders. Really doesn't matter on the tool as much as it matters on your intentions. Across all tools, just those five folders. And tags? I went from about 300 to fewer than 100. Soon we won't need that either with AI taking over the function of anticipation based on patterns each individual follows for their desires and destinations.
The good news is once you review and reassign everything worth keeping, you also have the better knowledge of your purpose and future. For example, are you a collector and curator or are you a writer and producer? Are you running a museum or are you publishing a book? Like that. Getting clear on who and what deserves your attention will speed your Evernote sorting and regrouping right along.
Georgia … you must be much more efficient than I since you got this done in a week. The math is daunting me. Assuming I mentally scan and delete half of my 10K at the rate of 2 per minute, that’s 40+ hours. Actually transferring with any kind of system of reading, tagging, cutting and pasting might take an average of 3 minutes (assuming some will most likely be rabbit holes) takes up another 240 hours, so I’m up to 300 hours projected time, which makes me just sigh and put it off for another day. You are an inspiration so maybe this will get done in bursts before I have to lay out another chunk of money to Evernote. Thanks.
It goes faster than you think. I encourage you to roll up your pants and wade in. At the end of day one you have an appreciation for your own wisdom and you've gotten past the demons of thinking you need to give anything 3 minutes. Day two is faster. By day three, your brain recognizes patterns and it goes even faster. Here's why. Instead of copying and pasting, you'll discover a lot of what you kept was NOT Creator Originals. Those originals--fast decision into ARCHIVE folder. More than 75% of what I kept...I could find again on the internet with my two key words or a hyperlink.
See? Two words, a hyperlink, delete the page, move on.
You already know your demon is wanting to go down a rabbit hole so make the big reward to yourself at the end ...one whole day of going down the rabbit hole with those items that seemed SO PRECIOUS in the moment that you tagged them "Rabbit". It's not everything... it's just the gems you felt compelled to love again. The best news? Now you can Delete the tag "Rabbit" after you take that look and decide what, more relevant, more useful tag it needs.
Another recovering former Evernotes user here. I moved most everything into DEVONthink which covers a lot of the ground that you listed here. On the surface Obsidian is the closest comparison but a lot more under the hood. The only thing it does not do very well is sync docs and notes across devices. There is a mobile version but I have gotten along with it so well.
Thanks for the note … I’m going to look at DEVONthink. I appreciate the suggestion.
Thank you. Your tools and comments have got me thinking. And re-evaluating. I’m looking forward to trying out some of the tools you mention.
Would love to hear about your experiences with them. Best!
First of all, I see her sleeve. Your collection never ceases to make me smile.
Second, this post is brilliant and I have it saved for after my move when I've got some time to investigate. Some of these sound like real time savers. Thanks Joyce!
Best wishes with the move and I look forward to hearing your take on the tools.
I think about you each time when I try to figure out where to put the little substack logo. ;-)
Joyce.... forever fascinating in your topics and narratives. I first heard the term Personal Knowledge Management System around the time Tiago became famous for his Building a Second Brain book, podcasts, writing, and multiple promotions. What matters the most is my understanding of how the brain works coming to truths around the gifts I bring to the world and who in the world wants such gifts. That improved my relationship with the tools. The WHY is more important that all of the HOW and hundreds of tools. I'm striving for minimalist here with maximum support for my body, mind, and soul. The biggest thing to remember about the tools is who is the owner? Journal, paper, pen--you own it and searching and using the information is challenging. Evernote--that was the hot thing for a long run (in technology years) and I paid for Evernote Coaches to make me a power user. The owner is not me, so I put in place the necessary backups because that's what I own. Then Evernote lost its damn mind and sold out to an Italian software company. Like you, I put my transition plan into place and transported more than 10,000 notes to a better, safer place. And closed the door on Evernote. Thank you for your article. I'm glad you are finding what works for you and the projects that interest you.
Georgia ... thanks for your note ... sounds like our paths have woven in and around each other. Why is always more important than how, IMHO. Tiago has helped my thinking a lot and made me more daring to take on a bigger learning project. For me, the why of these tools is to lever up my memory and understanding. And, I am having a great time with all of this.
Did you find a simpler way of transferring Evernote to a safer place? I'm plodding along realizing how much of little importance managed to find it's way into that space. With basically a worthless search engine, I'm rather lost about how to do the transition efficiently.
Joyce, What I know is what works for me. I'm glad to tell the story and let you pluck from any anything that sounds familiar, then hum along.
The Evernote transition provided a great reminder that some kind of annual review or quarterly tidy up is wise. I gave myself the grace of a whole week to look at every one of those 10K+ items and retag them into a new system.
Think about taking everything out of your large walk in closet and putting it in a pile. As you touch each one, use criteria formed recently from the past 20 years of wisdom to answer 3 basic questions: 1. When was the last time you wore this and would you ever wear it again? 2) If the item is not deleted immediately, then ask, What am I doing now that needs this? Allow up to two tags and stop. Three tags or more is already dropping back to yesterday habits. 3) If the item is still in your hand, now assign it to one of those folders learned in Second Brain: Action, Archive, Areas, Projects, Resources. Done and done! Everything, across all tools is organized in one of those five folders. Really doesn't matter on the tool as much as it matters on your intentions. Across all tools, just those five folders. And tags? I went from about 300 to fewer than 100. Soon we won't need that either with AI taking over the function of anticipation based on patterns each individual follows for their desires and destinations.
The good news is once you review and reassign everything worth keeping, you also have the better knowledge of your purpose and future. For example, are you a collector and curator or are you a writer and producer? Are you running a museum or are you publishing a book? Like that. Getting clear on who and what deserves your attention will speed your Evernote sorting and regrouping right along.
Georgia … you must be much more efficient than I since you got this done in a week. The math is daunting me. Assuming I mentally scan and delete half of my 10K at the rate of 2 per minute, that’s 40+ hours. Actually transferring with any kind of system of reading, tagging, cutting and pasting might take an average of 3 minutes (assuming some will most likely be rabbit holes) takes up another 240 hours, so I’m up to 300 hours projected time, which makes me just sigh and put it off for another day. You are an inspiration so maybe this will get done in bursts before I have to lay out another chunk of money to Evernote. Thanks.
It goes faster than you think. I encourage you to roll up your pants and wade in. At the end of day one you have an appreciation for your own wisdom and you've gotten past the demons of thinking you need to give anything 3 minutes. Day two is faster. By day three, your brain recognizes patterns and it goes even faster. Here's why. Instead of copying and pasting, you'll discover a lot of what you kept was NOT Creator Originals. Those originals--fast decision into ARCHIVE folder. More than 75% of what I kept...I could find again on the internet with my two key words or a hyperlink.
See? Two words, a hyperlink, delete the page, move on.
You already know your demon is wanting to go down a rabbit hole so make the big reward to yourself at the end ...one whole day of going down the rabbit hole with those items that seemed SO PRECIOUS in the moment that you tagged them "Rabbit". It's not everything... it's just the gems you felt compelled to love again. The best news? Now you can Delete the tag "Rabbit" after you take that look and decide what, more relevant, more useful tag it needs.