PLAIN TEXT. PAPER, LESS

I finally know what belongs in my notes, tasks, and time files

6 min read8 hours ago

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I have been keeping daily, dated notes in one yearly text file since the beginning of 2024. In 2026 I started prepending entries instead of appending them. This post explains why, and how some key tweaks have enabled me to keep all the advantages of the old system.

From OBTF to 1-N

I used to call my daily scratchpad an OBTF, or One Big Text File. That moniker stopped working as I became aware that for some people an OBTF was literally the only place they stored every. single. thing. That’s not what I was doing and certainly wasn’t what I was aiming for, so I renamed it 1-N, which stands for 1 Note.

One file for a single year’s worth of daily notes. Entries and ideas that warrant further expansion are copied into their own space.

The 1-N is the digital equivalent of the 1-P (one page notebook) I carry everywhere; a zero-friction space to record whatever I want to get out of my brain.

Top down (append), or bottom up (prepend)?

Now for the practical side of things. Do you add notes to the bottom of a long file (append), so that entries read in chronological order? Or at the top (prepend), so that the most recent note is the first thing you see?

For almost two years I was all-in on appending. I loved having the top of the file as my home base, a dashboard of quotes and links, and it made sense to see a later entry appear after earlier ones. Chronological entries made it easy to navigate past entries via the outline, too. Year > Month > Week > Day. It was all neat and organised, but as time went on it began to feel forced. My instincts and intellect seemed to be at odds with each other.

So at the end of 2025 I archived the appended OBTF and started a brand new file named 1-N (1 Note), where every new entry began on line 1. And it felt so much better! I finally admitted to not liking older posts being up front and centre on opening the file, despite the logic behind that arrangement.

I’d been prepending notes under a Creative Log header on project pages for years, because it felt natural. Now, at last, this daily notes file feels right operating the same way.

My intellect and instincts finally feel in alignment.

Getting clear on what does and does not belong in each file

So, what changed? Why does prepending now feel so right, after years of feeling that appending was the better choice?

Dates! Or rather, the letting go of forcing a dated structure onto a space whose very nature begs for simplicity.

Neatly organised Markdown dates in my former OBTF were an attempt to see the past in neat boxes, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted the future, too! But not at the expense of adding dates freely. I didn’t want to navigate to the right pre-existing date heading before writing what was on my mind, and keeping up with adding date headings after the fact was getting onerous.

The key to resolving this conflict was to sit down and nut out the scope of each of the files in my plain text productivity system. What type of input belonged to each? What needed to stay out?

• 1-N — For any random note, link, or idea. A note worth expanding will be copied into its own separate file.
• Planner — Solely for time-bound events, notes, and scheduled tasks. Anything that must be tied to a specific date.
• todo.txt — For single tasks that can be completed in ≤ 30 minutes
• Project pages — For planning how to achieve a pre-determined outcome. Some projects start in todo.txt or 1-N then move to their own file.

Now that I have a dedicated plain text planner there is no need to attempt to impose an organisational structure on the 1-N scratchpad, beyond each entry having a date in YYYY-MM-DD format. That planner is the place where both past and future dates are in order; the 1-N is for everything else (except tasks and projects). I can easily add notes to 1-N directly into Obsidian, or via Drafts, and search entries by month, day, or key words.

I prefer the text approach to tracking events as it is part of a deeply integrated workflow, but of course a regular calendar also works for this step.

But what about the dashboard??

Back when I was appending to my OBTF, one of the advantages mentioned was the home base, the dashboard that lived at the top. It contained -

• My theme for the year
• Links to frequently accessed notes
• Uplifting quotes
• Things I was trying to memorize

At first it was good seeing all of that each time I opened the file, before pressing ⌘↓ to teleport to the bottom to add a new note. But then it started to feel like friction. All I wanted to do was open and type! I didn’t want to rely on a plugin for cursor placement.

The solution: keep the dashboard in a separate file. I call it my Life Dashboard, and have linked it to the Homepage plugin in Obsidian.

There’s a Homepage icon in the tab bar for quick access to all that information when I want to see it, not when I want to write a quick note. Believe me, those notes need to be recorded quickly, before they fly out of my brain! I don’t need to be reminded of other options, goals, or previous notes when I’m trying to hold onto an idea.

Another option for appenders: add notes without distraction via Shortcuts, or apps like Drafts or Journelly.

Ruminate, iterate, celebrate

What’s the takeaway from this? It’s to pay attention to how you feel when you are using your systems, and to iterate until it feels right. Stop doing things a particular way because you think that is how it should be done.

One of the most important folders in my task and time management system is named ARCHIVE. Each time I want to try something new, I duplicate the file in question, add the date to the name, and place it in the Archive. This helps me feel free to experiment without worrying about whether or not it will work.

I have stopped thinking about whether I’ve arrived at the best plain text planning system. There’s no time for that when you are focused on your core values and on enjoying each step along the way!

After all what is productivity for, if not to help you become the person you most want to be?

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