notes post pt. 2: infinite structure
i’ll spare you the 1,500 words i’ve written on how i got here and why it matters to me. i’ve finally (!!!) figured out an infinitely nesting system that works anywhere, including with index cards 💪
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01 - JOURNALS
02 - PROJECTS
03 - NOTES
x
journals are all of my time-based entries. you might also think of this like a calendar, log, or timeline; it has all of my meeting notes, travel logs, and personal journal entries. they’re separated by year:
JOURNALS
2010
2011
...
2025
projects are any open loop that i need to come back to; the top level of my projects can be thought of as life areas:
PROJECTS
A - Big Idea
B - Longterm Client
C - Business
...
Z - Someday Maybe
i use letters as the “project ID” so i can use pre-labeled index card dividers, *shrug*.
notes are more nebulous; in this case, i think about them like trains of thought and points of reference.
NOTES
PERMANENT NOTES
SOURCE NOTES
EPHEMERA
permanent notes are self-contained ideas and thoughts that i’ve contextualized in the rest of my system (i.e, added to my index). source notes house the bibliographic information for a given source, like a video or book; it also has links to all the permanent notes and ephemera created as a result of – or in reaction to – the source. again, ephemera is more loosely defined. these are things i didn’t create myself, and that i don’t use as a source for thoughts or ideas; think music, movies, poems.
the + icon is my inbox, and the x is for “extras”:
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KEYWORDS
ATTACHMENTS
CLOGs
TEMPLATES
ARCHIVE
(this is a nearly identical skeleton to nick milo’s ACE setup / STIR framework if you’re familiar with that, but that’s where the similarities end.)
infinitely nesting
this is how i finally got my major, long-term projects to live next to smaller, inconsequential projects. if one of my “projects” or “life areas” could benefit from its own system, i can nest the same setup within its parent folder.
JOURNAL
PROJECTS
A - Big Idea
JOURNAL
PROJECTS
NOTES
B - Longterm Client
JOURNAL
PROJECTS
B-0 Routines
B-1 Rebrand and Website Redesign
B-2 Onboarding System Revamp
NOTES
C - Business
D - Dance
NOTES
if i didn’t mind the hell of deeply-nested folders, i could keep going:
B - Longterm Client
JOURNAL
PROJECTS
B-0 Routines
B-1 Rebrand and Website Redesign
JOURNAL
PROJECTS
B-1a Brand Development
Journal
Projects
Notes
B-1b Site Design
B-1c Site Development
B-1d Rebrand Marketing Plan
NOTES
B-2 Onboarding System Revamp
NOTES
this is only necessary in a couple of projects – and i still only try to nest one layer deeper – but it’s been a lifesaver in those areas. meanwhile, something like my D - Dance project only has a couple of class plans in it, so it doesn’t need any subfolders.
using it anywhere
the same system is easy to duplicate as-needed in my email, cloud storage, and physical notes. each has the top-level folders, and subfolders for relevant projects.
note IDs
i use alphanumeric IDs for my notes, based on (the?) folgezettel. when i add a new permanent note, it’s easy for me to contextualize it in my broader collection of thoughts – which makes it easier for me to find it, think about it, or link it to new ideas later:
1.1 Cats meow.
1.1a Cats also purr.
1.2 Dogs bark.
1.2a Dogs howl.
1.2b Dogs growl.
1.2b1 Dogs growl when they feel threatened.
i also take and keep a lot of notes for work: email templates, AI prompts, processes, automation layouts, brand keywords, etc. these are references i want to keep on hand, but they aren’t part of an actively developing train of thought, so i don’t want to keep them in my note index. but they’re also kind of useless to me floating unstructured in a subfolder.
so each project that gets its own note folder also gets its own note index, complete with IDs if it truly is something i need permanently available for the life of the project:
B - Longterm Client Note Index
JOURNAL
PROJECTS
NOTES
B1.1 Brand Guide
B1.1a Brand Keywords
B2.1 Client Communication
B2.1a Weekly Check-In Email Template
B2.1a1 Weekly Check-In Form Link
B2.1b Out of Office Email Template
B2.2 Vendor Communication
B2.2a Vendor Partnership Email Template
i’m still feeling this part out. again, lifesaver for massive areas that involve multiple projects, but it’s harder to gauge the right scope for these items than it is for my permanent notes (which are all “atomic”).
what still isn’t working
i’m close to note nirvana here, but it isn’t perfect. i have keywords and clogs in extras, but that doesn’t feel right. for some reason i moved people, places, and locations to ephemera (these also used to live in extras) – not sure why. i have a folder for snoozed notes that’s in my archive; i like having them out of the way, but archives are a black hole.
part of my issue – this is embarrassing – is that i refuse to have an even number of folders at any given level, lol. i will literally overhaul the entire thing before i put a fourth folder under notes, don't test me ✋