There are a number of things that I’ll want to resurface. For example, the other day I ran into something about “four categories of decisions.” This isn’t something I necessarily want to study in depth, and I don’t feel the need to memorize it necessarily, but I’d like to be able to make a short note and resurface it occasionally as I think “future me” might find it helpful.
I feel like creating a note in something like Obsidian to get it into my system is a good first step, but how do I resurface these things (and ONLY these things that I want to resurface)?
Is a spaced repetition app the way to fly for something like this? Just add anything I want to the stack of “cards,” and let the app handle it?
Start by using Apple Notes. You don’t have a steep learning curve and time investment, and you can tell after a while (a month? six weeks?) if this is something you will find maintainable and helpful.
I would suggest thinking of 3 to 7 broad categories and create folders for them.
I would create an Index note and pin it; you can link the titles of notes in your Index.
I have a list of articles to reread that are linked to a repeating task, currently every four months.
I also try to build that kind of information into something I am sure to encounter again if still relevant, that I don’t have to track as an extra step. E.g., I might send the decision types article to fellow board members to let the insight return to me through their thinking. Or I might add a decision type column to a spreadsheet, knowing it’ll be filled out later and looked up again if needed.
I’ve built a review system into Obsidian. Basically, any note can have a review date, and then it’ll show up on that date and thereafter for review. I can also search/filter for that date field as necessary.
However — and this is a big however — I generally only use that for projects a la Getting Things Done, and even then, I often find I’m overwhelmed by how much I have to review. So much so that I don’t keep a good review practice.
Ultimately I think that’s a deeper, unrelated issue (related to how much I commit to and how much I actually have space for), but it is something to watch for if you’re going to expand the scope of what is “reviewable.”
Rather than randomly displaying a note devoid of context, create a living, evolving context by linking, using tags, etc.
I don’t expect you to adopt Apple Notes for your prmanent repository (though you could), but using Notes as a test bed to find out if this is worth doing in terms of your time, interest and use cases, and if it is, what feature set you want/need.
I do this in Obsidian using the open random note from search command of the Smart Random Note plug-in. This is one ofmy few uses of tags. I tag all the things I want to resurface that way #thoughts. Do a search first then click on the command.
Or, If you want a random note across the entire vault use the built in plug-in random note
DEVONthink has a system of reminders: any item can have a date to be brought forward on a variety of schedules (either once in an hour/day/week/fortnight, or every hour/day/week/month/year.)
You can attach a variety of actions to the reminder, including displaying an alert or notification, opening the item, sending a mail or running an AppleScript, and so on.
It would be fairly easy to set up a review system using this, though it’s probably quite an expensive solution if you don’t already have DEVONthink…
I use Craft for all my notes for work plus as a method of interstitial journaling every day (including weekends).
Its very easy to just do an @ and put in the day or date when I want to be reminded of a note or a task with some reference. So every day when I open the daily note, it not only already has things to be done I’ve scheduled for that date but also a list of references to that date - each one I can look at and decide if I really want to tackle or be reminded of that day.
On most busy days, I just edit the date to a future that will hopefully be a little less cloudy.