This Habit Will Outlast Every Notes App

Your Notes App Is Useless—Unless You Do This

Too often, we convince ourselves that we need something new to make progress.

It’s easy to feel that new apps, systems, or innovations will unlock deep thinking or creativity, but this constant pursuit can limit us by creating dependency and distracting us from developing deeper understanding and skills with what we have.

But the truth?

You don’t need the latest tool—you need to grow in something far more simple. Something already in your hands.

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The Story of the Minas

You see, in the economy of God, more is directly tied to how we handle what we already have.

Take the story of the nobleman in Luke 19:12-26. A nobleman left for a distant land to claim a kingdom, entrusting ten servants with one mina each—about a hundred days’ wages. Upon his return, he called his servants to account. The first servant turned one mina into ten. The second multiplied his into five. But one servant, paralyzed by fear, wrapped his mina in a handkerchief and buried it. His inaction led to his mina being taken away and given to the one who already had ten.

Jesus’s explanation is clear:

“‘I tell you that to everyone who has [because he valued his gifts from God and has used them wisely], more will be given; but from the one who does not have [because he disregarded his gifts from God], even what he has will be taken away.’”

It’s time to stop burying the handkerchief (your thinking) with more apps and note-taking tutorial videos.

The Lead Domino

The path to “more”—more creativity, more curiosity, more understanding—is surprisingly simple.

It starts with writing.

Writing is foundational because it transforms scattered thoughts into clarity, enabling you to process, explore, and refine your ideas as you engage with them actively.

You care for the ideas you have by gaining a better understanding of them. You gain understanding by thinking. You think by writing. Your lead domino that when knocked over will knock all the others down is writing.

3 Practical ways to write more often:

#1 Go Atomic

Set a timer for 2 minutes and write about 1 single idea.

If at 2 minutes you don't have anything more to say, then you're done. If you go over the 2 minutes, it's icing on the cake.

#2 Don't start with a blank page

Add a quote at the top of the page and write what you think of the idea.

These words will give you a starting point. A compass for your thoughts.

A blank page communicates "write about anything". Narrow your focus to a single idea and write about that.

#3 Make a sketch of your thoughts

Your first draft isn’t going to be what you share with others. And this is freeing. It's a sketch. Very rough and unorganized thoughts. And that's perfectly fine. At this stage you're not polishing, you're sketching.

For me this often looks like a bulleted list of everything I can think of. This post you’re reading now started out like this:

The temptation to chase new tools is real.

But the key to unlocking creativity and growth isn’t found in the next app—it’s in how you engage with what you already have.

This is why the Zettelkasten method works so well. It’s not about finding the perfect tool; it’s about developing a habit of thinking through writing—turning fleeting insights into a growing web of understanding.

So, before you watch another video on PKM tools, try this:

Take two minutes. Write one thought. See where it leads.

Because what you have is enough—if you choose to use it.