A plain text system

Keeping it plain and simple.

I'm a man of systems.

In the past, I've created a system for taking notes, keeping track of my to-dos, habit-tracking and the list goes on. For every system that I've created, there's a specific app that goes hand in hand.

Keeping track of each app became a system in itself. For quite a few reasons, I started to grow tired of the many applications, this post is about how I decided to purge almost 90% of the apps and ended up with a simple plain text system instead.

Bloatware

I was reliant on quite a few apps. However, as time went on I started to become frustrated with all the updates, lack of control and unnecessary bloat.

Take for example my to-do app. Being a fan of the kanban system, Trello was my go-to app. I had used it religiously for years, planning out my tasks, creating deadlines, and moving each task to a specific list.

Throughout the years, Trello would constantly update its features, including tools that I didn't really have any use for. Not only did I find this annoying, but it was slowing me down. I was spending more time trying to remove or learn a new feature. What annoyed me even more was how they revoked certain features and hid them behind a paywall.

I understand that companies need to earn money, but what I don't like is how they entice you with a free tier, lock you in, and then revoke certain privileges in the hope that you pay the premium price. It's quite a common theme among applications these days.

How about my note-taking app, Evernote. It served me well, but again, constant updates, features being revoked and the thought of my data/privacy being abused didn't sit well with me.

The same could be said for my habit tracking app, journaling app, and the list went on.

I was growing tired of relying on apps that I didn't have control over. That's when I realised that I had to figure out a way to refine my systems. I realised that instead of adding a new app to solve my problems, I had to remove a bunch of them, if not all.

Analogue vs digital

The idea of going back to an analogue system and using pen and paper did cross my mind, but I wanted to be able to always have a backup of my files, be secure, as well as be able to take it anywhere with me. I knew that the solution still had to be digital.

I came across an article that talked about the benefits of a plain-text system. It's lean, not reliant on a specific platform, and can be taken anywhere with you.

Pretty much everything I was looking for.

Since a text file is the digital version of paper and pen, I was drawn to the idea. No unnecessary features, no updates, just simple text on 'paper'.

Keeping things lean

Fast-forward 2 years and I can't be more pleased with the switch to a plain text system. Everything I do now is written in plain text. Any new note, journal, blog, pretty much everything, is written in a text file and is filed away accordingly in a folder.

It took a bit of time for me to get used to the simplicity of a plain text file, but the lack of features allows me to focus on the content and not get bogged down with the latest bells and whistles.

I lost count of the many apps that I used to be reliant on. Now, I've whittled it down to just 3:

1. A command-line interface to allow me to navigate around my files and folders. I've programmed my own scripts to help me navigate even faster.
2. A text editor for creating and editing plain text files. Depending on the device that I'm on it differs slightly, but my go-to is VIM.
3. A cloud storage provider to store all my files to the cloud for online access. For security and privacy reasons, I opted to go with Sync.

Nothing more to add

I'm reminded of the quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

After making the switch to a plain text system, I can relate to the quote above. Not that I'm saying my system is perfect, in fact it's far from it, but by stripping away what was unnecessary and forcing myself to simplify everything that was left over, I'm able to focus on what's important.

This kind of mindset can be applied to almost all aspect of life. With that being said, I'm going to add nothing further and stop myself from adding more unnecessary words.