> I ended up spending most of my time configuring systems and formatting than actually inputting information & accomplishing things.

I end up feeling this way about a lot of “productivity” tools like notion, obsidian, and ESPECIALLY Arch browser. I don’t want to have to learn how to use a tool that I’m using to do something fundamental like visit websites or take notes. Give me the barest abstraction possible over these features.

Do not ask me to make extra decisions to do basic things like open a tab (decide between 3 levels of ephemeral and how it relates to other tabs). And don’t automatically close shit on some arbitrary schedule which can’t be disabled!

Ironically, the best productivity tools I've used in & for the past ten years has been Things, and my Moleskine notebooks. Incredibly simple system, and while both can be considered a bit expensive, the work every time, without fail, in a way that makes sense and creates the results I expect and require.

I've found the simple things that are high quality work the best for me, in almost all aspects of life.

Me too. I spent New Years Eve reviewing my journals (wife was sleeping) all the way back from 2013 and found some very enlightening arcs that would not be available with transient data. Some things just need to be read rather than presented.

Subjective counterpoint to Arc browser; I spent all of 10 minutes getting used to it, and it’s been a game changer ever since. I can’t actually use chrome/firefox again. That’s wild! Maybe it just fits with the way I use the web naturally, but moving to other browsers is like moving back to tabless IE after getting used to tabbed Firefox. Automatic (very important) Picture in Picture mode, and their way of organising/deleting tabs is a game changer.