How I Stopped Organizing and Started Thinking: My Journey with an Emergent Note-Taking System

For years, I was a digital hoarder masquerading as an organizer. My note-taking apps looked like pristine libraries, with nested folders, complex tagging systems, and perfectly curated categories. The problem? I spent more time organizing my notes than actually thinking with them. It was a subtle form of procrastination. I felt productive creating the perfect structure, but my actual creative output was stagnant. I was a librarian of my own ideas, not a creator. Honestly, it was exhausting.

The myth of the perfect folder structure

I tried it all. The PARA method, Johnny.Decimal, custom systems I’d invent and then abandon a month later. Each time, I\'d spend a weekend migrating notes, convinced *this* was the system that would finally unlock my brain. But the core issue remained: a top-down, rigid structure forced me to decide where an idea belonged before it was even fully formed. A note about a client meeting might also contain a spark for a personal project. Where does it go? The \'Work\' folder? The \'Projects\' folder? I\'d get paralyzed by the decision, and the idea would lose its momentum.

Discovering the concept of emergence

The breakthrough came when I stumbled upon the idea of a \'digital garden\' or an \'emergent\' note-taking system. The core principle is simple: structure should be a byproduct of your thinking, not a prerequisite for it. Instead of building a cabinet and then looking for things to fill it with, you gather your things and let the cabinet build itself. It’s a bottom-up approach that mirrors how our minds naturally work—through association and connection, not through rigid filing systems.

My simple, three-step starting process

Letting go of my folder obsession was terrifying at first, but I forced myself to start with a process so simple it felt wrong. After a few weeks of experimenting, I landed on a workflow that finally stuck.

1. The daily note as my inbox. I created one single note every day. Every thought, meeting summary, phone number, or random idea went into that file. It was my single point of capture, eliminating the friction of deciding where something should go.
2. Making notes \'atomic\'. Later, I\'d review my daily note and extract any distinct idea into its own separate note. The rule I gave myself was one idea per note. This makes them reusable and easy to link from multiple contexts.
3. Linking everything freely. This was the magic ingredient. Instead of folders, I started using internal links to connect notes. A note about \'productivity\' could link to a meeting note where we discussed efficiency, which could link to a book summary I wrote. This created a web of knowledge that I could traverse organically.

What my \'system\' looks like today (spoiler: it\'s messy and beautiful)

If you looked at my notes today, you wouldn\'t see a neat hierarchy. You’d see a sprawling, interconnected web of ideas. It\'s a living digital space that grows and changes with my thinking. I no longer \'file\' notes; I connect them. I find information not by remembering which folder I put it in, but by following a trail of my own thoughts. The biggest shift has been psychological. I\'ve moved from the anxiety of maintaining a perfect system to the joy of discovering unexpected connections. I\'m no longer just storing information; I\'m building knowledge.