Why I Struggle with Note-Taking: Escaping System Traps and Returning to Actual Needs

The Trap of Researching Note-Taking Systems

Back in 2020, I started following flomo (a note-taking app) and sspai (a Chinese tech and productivity site), and promptly caught the productivity bug—the whole information/knowledge/notes/efficiency disease. The core symptom was an obsession with building an ultra-advanced productivity system tailored perfectly to my habits, spanning information management, knowledge management, life management, and everything in between. I poured my energy into chasing shiny new tools, novel concepts, and the latest workflows cooked up by productivity gurus. After a full day of tinkering, I hadn’t taken a single actual note, but my brain felt wonderfully satisfied.

I used to criticize people who claimed they could learn things by scrolling Douyin or Bilibili—to me, that was just an excuse for laziness. But look at what happens when people “research” note-taking systems. It’s the exact same thing.

Dissecting the Trap

The patient suffers from an initial illusion: I need to build a well-oiled productivity system. Why? To “reinforce the future.”

• On one hand, it’s the toy mentality. Building a productivity system feels like playing with Lego or building a house; the process itself is a massive reward.
• On the other hand, it’s premature optimization. You start anticipating what future-you might need way too early, frantically trying to prepare for it today.

For some people, maybe this kind of research is genuinely useful. But for an INFP like me, I fell into the rabbit hole and couldn’t pull myself out. Eventually, I got sick of it and defaulted to the lowest-friction state possible:

I dropped every concept, unfollowed everything related to productivity, and stopped taking notes from the top down. Five years later, I’ve finally rescued myself from this terminal condition.

Principle 1: Start from Immediate Needs, with Pen and Paper

Assume you’re a newborn in the world of knowledge management. If you actually are, great—if not, pretend.

1. Whatever you do, don’t go looking for more concepts, philosophies, or complicated tools. They will only derail you.
2. Whatever you do, don’t manufacture a task called “I need to take notes.” You’re brand new; nobody is forcing you to take notes.

If you can get things done without taking notes, don’t take notes. Wait until your work, your life, or some actual objective demands it, and only then start writing things down.

The core takeaway: Notes are a means to an end, a vehicle for finishing other tasks—never the objective itself.

Pen and paper are more than enough to start. If you must go digital, start with the default Notes app on your system. Convoluted tools only bring more confusion to beginners. (Looking right at you, Notion.)

Some people manage their lives brilliantly with nothing more than a single .txt file or a notebook.

Principle 2: Just Enough, Expand on Demand

As your note-taking practice deepens, you might eventually find a bare-bones setup isn’t cutting it. Before diving into methodologies, run a quick sanity check on yourself:

1. For the area you plan to expand, how many actual notes have you written so far?
2. Imagine: what if you completely ignored this need? Would anything actually go wrong?

I once tried to build the “perfect” web clipping system where everything was supposed to flow together. Bookmarks, likes across platforms, Cubox, Obsidian… Not only did it never actually work, I barely even used it a handful of times. Most of the time, when I want to find an article, I still remember roughly what it was and can find it just by digging through the native bookmarks on that platform. The ones I don’t remember? Odds are I forgot they ever existed in the first place.

If it really is a genuine need and your current setup falls short, feel free to expand a bit. There are far too many note-taking principles, tools, and methodologies out there—seek out only the specific piece that solves your immediate problem. The rule here is simple:

Settle for something that just barely covers your current needs, and whatever you do, don’t plan ahead. Curb your curiosity and perfectionism, and stay focused on solving the problem in front of you.

How I Take Notes

I still haven’t found the note-taking routine that fits me best, mostly because the tasks driving my notes keep shifting. But roughly, it looks like this:

• Pen and paper: My canvas, mainly for thinking. Flip a fresh page every day.
• flomo: Quick capture, fleeting thoughts, card-style notes.
• Obsidian: Documentation tool.

I no longer force tags in flomo, or backlinks in Obsidian. I stopped obsessively organizing folders, and let go of the MECE obsession. Without the dread of downstream maintenance hanging over me, capturing ideas upfront became so much easier and more prolific.