I am trying to figure out how to consolidate work and home note silos, A; then subsequently maintain the solution, B. Years ago, I had quit using a service that might have filled in the gap because of rising subscription cost, visible in hind-sight because I was not then working on my current projects. Really, the pain point is web access.

I’ve stopped using paper because in my work and home life I use keyboards and screens. I love writing and I love pens and mechanical pencils, but experience has shown me incapable of keeping working tools on my person at all times. I have stacks of notebooks I have written in that I have closed and never re-opened. I have found that at this time I do revisit things in the digital realm more often, that I dependably have at least one device on my person or nearby, so I am leaning harder into this.

In my personal life, I’ve put about two years into making Forever*Notes work for me. I have built something I’m largely satisfied with.

Importantly, there are significant restrictions on allowed applications on work computers, as is good and right, so I’d want to use a web-based solution to reduce that friction.

However, Apple Notes via the web, even via Safari, has a lot of delays and slowness as a web app. Keeping a personal Apple device at my work desk is helpful and useful, but then lacks a direct pass-through to my employer’s workstations because I use distinct AppleIDs on purpose.

I’m trying to reduce double or triple data entry and improve the likelihood that I am putting information in a place where I’ll be most likely to retain and act on it.

I have been thinking about switching to a more open Markdown and text-file-based solution, but I end up in the same place with respect to sync.

What I am mindful of, dating from 1990’s Franklin-Covey planner training, is that separate calendars, task managers, and notes create friction and reduce effectiveness. Idealistically, I’d like the same access to my own insights no matter where I am. And I’d like this to be true even if at some point I cannot maintain an Apple ecosystem.

There is an ideal here that I’m trying hard to uphold, but I’m not currently seeing a path out of the corner I have painted myself into.