I’ve tried Notion, Roam, Obsidian, Logseq and half a dozen Zettelkasten variants. They all make sense on paper. None lasted more than three months.

The system I use today has three folders and two rules. I’ve been using it for over a year. It’s by far the most boring of everything I’ve tried. It’s also the only one that works.

The problem with complex systems

A note system stops working when maintaining it costs more energy than using it. Complexity is a liability, not an asset.

Every time you add a new structure, a new tag, a new relationship between notes, you’re adding maintenance debt. At first it feels like you’re building something powerful. After six weeks, you have a system you’re afraid to open.

The enemy of notes isn’t not taking notes. It’s having a system so complicated you’d rather not open it.

I’ve seen it in myself and in many people I’ve talked to: the perfect system becomes the abandoned system.

The three folders

Inbox. Everything goes here first, unsorted. A single text file or note, no structure. The goal is to capture without friction. If I have to think about where something goes, I won’t capture it when it matters.

In progress. Notes I’m actively developing. Few, always fewer than ten. If there are more than ten, something is wrong with the weekly review or my ability to finish things.

Reference. Things worth keeping but not needed now. Finished notes, processed articles, quotes I want to remember. Organised by topic, but with a minimal taxonomy.

That’s it. No project folders, no status tags, no kanban boards for ideas.

The two rules

First: nothing goes directly to Reference. Everything passes through Inbox. Even if I know exactly where something belongs, it passes through Inbox first. This prevents Reference from becoming a dumping ground for half-finished things.

Second: In progress never has more than ten notes. If it reaches ten, before adding a new one I have to finish or archive an existing one. This rule is the hardest to maintain and the most important.

Without these two rules, the system collapses within weeks. With them, it maintains itself.

The weekly review

Fifteen minutes every Monday. No more. The goal is to process Inbox: decide what goes to In progress and what goes directly to Reference or the bin.

It’s not a deep reflection session or a life review. It’s cleaning. Inbox to zero or close to zero.

The weekly review is what makes the system work over time. Without it, Inbox accumulates and stops being a capture zone to become an anxiety zone.

With it, the system runs itself. Ideas arrive, are processed, mature and are archived. No drama, no overhead, no guilt.

The boredom is the feature, not the bug.