A hierarchy of note taking. After trying all of the top organizational tools, I settled on a combination of what worked for me. Here is the basis of it:

- A pen. Simply something to write with. This is important as you may not always be in a situation where you can record items digitally.

- 1 3/8 x 1 7/8 Post-It notes. These are for quick, temporary notes. Things such as minor tasks, small reminders, or short messages to others, should be recorded using these. They are then either placed at my desk (home or work) or on the desk of the intended recipient.

- Pocket notepad. This is the companion of the pen and should be carried around everywhere. Where Post-It notes are intended to be disposed after completion, the notepad is for long term records. Anything written here should have a bit more information. Specifically the type of note (task, event, idea) and date/time. These are then transferred later on. I've carried a notepad for a while, but it was always a little disorganized. I found myself with notes without context or direction. Adding simple categories didn't really help organize the notepad, but it did help organize ideas that could be transferred to a more manageable program.

- Zim personal wiki: This is simply a knowledge base to organize everything. All the categorization from the notepad is used to direct where to record notes in your wiki. The root of it for me comes down to Personal, School, and Work. Each one has many sub pages intended for specific things. You can do this with almost any wiki. I've tried many and settled on Zim because it fit exactly what I was looking for. It's easy to use, desktop based, I can access is remotely, it works with my backup system, and I can publish it if needed. I would like to try org-mode eventually, but haven't gotten around to learning emacs yet.

- Google Calendar/Mail: The final piece is a global calendar and messaging system. Gmail fit that bill. If an event comes up, it's usually written to my notepad, manually transferred to Zim, then created in my Google Calendar.

- Motivation: The most difficult part was getting myself to commit to the whole thing. It may not sound that hard, but developing the whole system required a lot of trial and error and eventually drawing out the hierarchy of what worked best. Since this system is based on a lot of other's recommendations, part of that motivation is building it to suit yourself. If you want to be able to fully manage yourself, it can take time to build what you need.

I've used this system for several years now, but it took me much longer to perfect it. I've tried several apps to support it, but found that recording things digitally leaves them in a weird place of not being seen as often and easily forgotten about. Using the notepad provides the physical interaction of writing it (which helps commit it to memory) and the constant view of it, since I see my last notes before writing another. This may seem elementary for many people, but it does really help me out. The Post-Its started as a thing between my wife and I, but turned into a crucial part of the system. I had many notes in my notepad that didn't really need to be there. If they could be written and removed in a day, they seemed much more temporary. So I started carrying small Post-Its as well. I started the wiki for school, but ended up using it for work and home projects as well. The calendar/messaging piece is one that I wish I could automate from the wiki, but a lot of it is manual, which I don't mind. Each week I can sit down and record things from the previous week, while planning out the coming week. It's a small period of reflection which helps me out quite a bit.