Transforming my digital garden: a new approach to organizing thoughts

For years, I’ve been cultivating a digital garden—a collection of notes and thoughts that I publicly share on my website. This garden has served as a category in my archive, a place where my ideas can grow and evolve. But recently, I’ve realized that my current method of organizing these notes isn’t as effective as it could be. So, I’m embarking on a journey to transform my digital garden into something more useful and meaningful.

The old process: from brain dump to keyword

My process for creating notes has always been quite organic. I use a note-taking application called Tana, where I jot down ideas inspired by articles, personal thoughts, or even random musings. These notes often start as a brain dump—a collection of everything that comes to mind related to a specific theme. I then add research, citations from blog posts, podcasts, or videos that I’ve already saved in my system.

Once I have all this information, I synthesize it into a statement. This statement is then summarized into a keyword, which serves as a shorthand for the note. The keyword is supposed to reflect the essence of my thoughts, including all the tangents and related topics. I then publish these notes on my website, linking them to other related notes.

The problem with keywords

Over time, I’ve noticed that this keyword-based system has its flaws. First, the keywords are often too brief to capture the full scope of my thoughts and research. This makes it difficult for me to remember what a particular keyword was about. I might have a vague idea, but not the specific details.

Additionally, I often find that multiple notes could fall under the same keyword, but because I use the keyword as an identifier, this creates confusion. As a result, I’ve stopped using keywords in my personal notes. However, my digital garden still relies on them, which has become increasingly problematic.

A new approach: daily improvements and detailed explanations

To address these issues, I’ve implemented a new process. Every day, I review a random note from my system. I have a rule: whenever I open a note, I must improve it in some way. This rule applies to all types of notes, whether they’re based on books, articles, meetings, or personal thoughts.

When I review a note, I now write a short text to accompany it. This text includes a statement that captures the core idea, followed by two or three paragraphs explaining how I arrived at that statement. I detail the background, the studies, and the other ideas that influenced my thinking. I’ve even built an AI function to help summarize the content of my notes into these explanatory paragraphs.

Implementing the new structure in my digital garden

This new structure—where the statement serves as the title and is followed by detailed explanations—has proven to be much clearer and more useful for me. However, it doesn’t align with the current format of my digital garden. So, starting yesterday, I’ve begun updating my digital garden to reflect this new approach.

Each morning, as I review a note, I also update its corresponding entry in my digital garden. Instead of a keyword and a brief statement, the entry now features the statement as the title and the explanatory paragraphs as the content. These entries are still linked to other related notes, but I’m being more selective about these links to ensure they add value.

The future of my digital garden

As I continue this process, you’ll notice changes in my digital garden. The titles will become longer and more descriptive, and the content will be richer and more informative. I’m not republishing these notes, so the original publication dates will remain the same. My hope is that this new structure will be clearer, more useful, and more engaging for those who visit my digital garden.

I invite you to explore this evolving space, to wander through my thoughts, and to find value in the detailed explanations that now accompany each note. This transformation is just beginning, and I believe it will make my digital garden a more meaningful and enriching place for everyone.

Jeroen Sangers @jeroensangers