I’d like to post about the structure of my System and M&M notes that I see a heavy use for. I write a lot. Furthermore, I am a GTDer, which means everything must be well-defined on paper. I also used Zettelkasten for 3 years.
The current structure looks like this, and I think it’s close to final.
Why is 00 not the index? I use 00 for M&M notes inside categories and areas. Why would it be different?
01 has been an inbox for a while and I have found it useful to park stuff for later filling, or fleeting notes in my digital note system inbox. I might want to put it as 08 though since it is unused and 07 - 09 is GTD stuff!
I do want to note something I think a lot of people might find useful:
General reference might as well be called miscellaneous, but there is no miscellaneous in the Decimal system.
Miscellaneous, meaning
> of items or people gathered or considered together) of various types or from different
That’s the purpose of a general reference filling system which is critical to implementation of GTD.
I think having a parking plate for misc items is necessary, but if you struggle with allowing misc, you might want to read on the general reference as it is defined by GTD. Maybe this will remove the want of your not-so-smart self to file something misc when you don’t feel like doing the thinking. It did for me.
Anyway, I would like to share some initial drafting and thoughts I have about using the M&M categories.
For instance, something like this seems like it would work well for me. That’s almost like having a single note (02.00) and just creating a new note for each heading. (IDs)
I realise that sometimes, despite not wanting to, I do need to create some more nesting. I also tell myself that I’m smart and can manage it, but then when I’m not cognitively at my best, then I remember why nesting isn’t a good idea. But, again, since I’m smart, I’ll be okay. Or not. Input here would be especially valuable.
Since implementing JD again now, I can see how thinking in terms of IDs would be better than in terms of long note titles for my zettels.
I also have to get to the weeds of my slipbox and build it from ground up. I want to implement a naming scheme for both IDs that follows a pattern, but is also markedly different.
I think it would be as simple as removing the zeroes:
04.01, 02.00a to 4.1 and 2a.
Please be very critical and point out anything you’d like. We’re here to learn. Ask any questions.