The forever notes app

Note apps are an amazing invention but we underutilize them. We use them to write today's to-dos, record this week's meeting discussions, or take notes for this month's projects. But we should also use them to document things for the long term.

A filter I have been using is this: What do I want to pass down to my kids 20 to 30 years from now?

Here are a few things I have been writing down:

• Parenting: What worked and didn't work for us
• Family recipes: Dishes my kids grew up eating (online recipes never include personal tweaks)
• Life lessons and personal stories: Making major decisions, building character, and finding your values
• Timeless craft work: Learnings from writing, making things people want, and running a business
• Books: Notes from books and why I read them so that my kids can use that to decide if they want to read the books

Even if you don't have kids and don't plan to have any, this will be helpful to future you, too. Thinking about my kids is just a way to force me to think much longer term. If you don't want to think 20-30 years from now, cut it to 5 to 10 years, which is still much longer-term than how most people think.

This is not the same as hoarding as many articles, quotes, and ideas as you come across because you might somehow magically find a connection between them someday in the future. This is highly selective. Curated. Only things you want to come back to.

It doesn't matter which app you use. I would prefer apps with these traits:

• Ownership. I should be able to open and read the information 30 years from now. So, open file formats like Markdown, JPEG, and MP4 will be better than an Instagram post or a company's proprietary file format. Cloud services are fine as long as I can export my notes in those formats.
• Read-only by default. I should be able to read my notes without worrying about accidentally editing them. Writing and editing should be an intentional mode to enter.
• Hierarchy. I should be able to file my notes in a structured manner. The act of organizing helps me process the note further. But more importantly, the order can communicate meaning, like the relative importance of the notes, the intended reading sequence, and the depth of a topic.
• Linked. I should be able to jump to related notes, even when they are not hierarchically close. For example, a note on decision-making could link to a note about a book. It will be helpful if the app can also automatically suggest related notes for linking.
• Searchable. I should be able to find specific information quickly. This could be a simple search feature or one enhanced with AI, which can understand what I'm looking for and find the right notes.
• Proactive. The app should have some ways to remind me of my notes. Ideally, it can surface relevant notes at the right time (but hopefully without needing a chip in my head). It could be surfacing similar notes as I'm creating a new one, suggesting notes on a regular cadence to review, or maybe even weaving in my notes when I chat with an AI.
• Version history. I should be able to view the edits I made to every note, like how GitHub visualizes git diff, to see how my thinking evolved.
• Separation from scratchpads. I prefer to use a separate app from my daily notes app so that I think more long-term while using this particular app and temporary notes don't clutter up my organized notebook.

Unlike paper notebooks, digital notes don't physically degrade. Let's use them accordingly.