GTD vs 'Second Brain'

As someone relatively new to Standard Notes I've started to think about how best to set up my note-taking from what is essentially a blank slate. In my previous note-taking I had:

• Too many 'notebooks'
  • An exercise journal
  • A music practice journal
  • A 'thoughts' journal for general and more daily output

Into each of these I had integrated:

• Detailed time tracking for my main tasks split by:
  • 'types' of task, (e.g. Music Theory, Fingering Exercise, Practicing Repertoire, Improvising, Aural Exercises, etc...)
    • 'content' tags (e.g. composer, or specific exercise book)
    • 'other' misc tags

In short, everything was atomised and granular which almost by default necessitated a building a second brain method of knowledge and data management due to the many detailed levels of tasks and 'tags'.

This was partly the data analyst and social researcher coming out in me, with a wish to have 'data' at the most detailed level possible. This can be useful; it can aid the finding of patterns which may otherwise be hidden, it can also improve the ability to draw inferences at different levels of observation and to revisit notes from specific points in time (for example, a single piano practice session). In short, it can make any analysis more nuanced.

Taking notes and journals in this way can be appealing for other reasons. For example, some of us have a natural tendency to want as much 'order' or organisation in things as possible, fearful we might miss some crucial piece of information or miss a connection between different bits of information. For those with ADHD or similar, this can also be an excellent way to focus.

However, in the spirit of the philosophy behind Standard Notes I've started to restructure my task setting, time and habit tracking, note-taking, and journaling to be much simpler affairs. For example, I now have a daily journal in which only anything relevant goes, which each day split into a few high-level sections, generally consisting of a few bullet points.

I've also stripped back habit and time tracking. To use piano practice as a good example I now only measure weekly minutes of:

• Intentional structured practice at the piano
• Improvising

To help meet these targets I set myself small 'to-do' lists. This is still quite structured and following more of a Getting Things Done (GTD Method) but gone are the detailed tasks, time tracking, and note-taking.

It is early in the piece, but let's see how this changed approach of looking at the bigger picture rather than the detail works for me, I'm confident it won't affect the quality or quantity of my practice, but it will, I'm sure, improve my enjoyment, which is ultimately why I do it.