I commend you on your skepticism, but even the skeptical mind must be prepared to accept the unacceptable when there is no alternative. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family Anatidæ on our hands.

Douglas Adams

It’s not every day that someone recommends a new whizzbang note-taking software. It’s every second day, or third if you’re lucky. They all have their bells and whistles: Obsidian turns your notes into a funky graph that pulses with information, the web of complexity of your stored knowledge entrapping your attention as you dazzle in its splendour while also the little circles jostle and bounce in decadent harmony. Notion’s aesthetic simplicity belies its comprehensive capabilities, from writing your notes so you don’t need to, to exporting to the web so that the rest of us can read what you didn’t write because you didn’t need to. To pronounce Microsoft OneNote requires only five syllables, efficiently cramming in two extra words while only being one bit slower to say than the mysterious rock competitor. Apple notes can be shared with all the other Apple people who live their happy Apple lives in happy Apple land – and sometimes this even works!

So no, this isn’t one of those productivity-porn posts where you learn how I keep my meticulously organised thoughts recorded in a beautifully structured markdown collection that is simple and aesthetic and renders stunning LaTeX equations that float off the page.

That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the idea of tidy note taking, or the value, or the usefulness. But somehow, I do (sort of) manage mostly without – and occasionally I fantasize the distinct possibility that this is, in fact, the best way (for me) to work. I don’t want to argue against striving to do better. But in revering organisation and order, it seems all too easy to lose sight of creative exploration and spontaneity. I don’t keep many detailed notes, but I occasionally jot down to-do’s, I record lab protocols (what stuff to mix how and how much of the stuff to mix) and write down results somewhere – all in on “fluid” mix of media composed of my phone, laptop, lab computers, and (gasp) physical notebooks. It keeps things interesting. You probably shouldn’t aim to work like this. However, when I have tried more systematic note-keeping, it quickly starts to feel tedious and routine. I will likely try again. But thus far, things seem to have worked out, and if like me your attention span is limited, and you find you can just “get things done” without subscribing to ritualistic chronicling, then know that you are not alone, and it’s perfectly acceptable – just so long as you don’t go telling anyone of your dysfunction, for example writing a blog post on the internet about it for your future employment rejectors to amuse themselves over.