All of the notes apps these days are so good. This might not seem like a problem.

However, it can make choosing feel like you’re selecting a sports team that you have to like for the rest of your life.

New features are added constantly, and new apps pop up on the scene that promise to do something just a little bit different than the last one.

The big hitters like Apple Notes, Notion, and Obsidian have been around for a while and have cult-like followings of their own.

Choosing a notes app can be an overwhelming situation. It’s hard to figure out which one will work best for you.

Here are some practical tips on how I go about selecting a notes app and what features I look for, before I think about moving a second brain of over 1000 notes to a new app.

The biggest productivity hack that I’ve discovered in the last 10 years.

I used to separate notes and tasks. Todoist and OneNote, Things and Apple Notes, then finally Apple Reminders and Apple Notes.

Why?

Because you can link Notes to a Reminder.

This acts like a Notion Dashboard.

When I’m in Reminders, I can see that a Note is linked, with easy access to click it and pull up the Note and get right to work.

No searching around for the Note or context switching to distract me. Instant access to move from “oh yeah I want to work on that today”, right into the work.

My Reminders list became my go-to as a kanban setup.

Reminders now also appear on the Calendar.

This is how I planned, managed and scheduled over 200 YouTube videos in the last 3 years.

I prefer to see a monthly view, with a YouTube channel, Podcast, Newsletter and Writing as part of my creative pursuits, there is a lot to manage.

Making sure that I have a bird’s eye view of what is coming out and when, has helped my mental health throughout this process.

Without it, my life feels chaotic, and I spiral into thinking that I am behind or not doing enough.

I love reading on the Kindle.

I love listening to podcasts and learning from them.

Kindle and Snipd both sync with Readwise.

I constantly pull highlights for videos, articles, social posts or this newsletter.

Readwise integration is the backbone that lets me keep up with that and not forget what I am reading, listening to, and learning from, wherever I consume it.

Having it automatically sync is the preferred method, though Apple Notes and many other options that I like don’t offer this.

Apps like Notion, Craft and Obsidian have you covered here.

Making sure that you have a backup of your files is important. Any one of these online services could be gone at any moment.

Files are lost, servers crash, hurricanes wipe out data centers, any number of things could happen that put your data at risk.

Backup is one of those things we could argue about for hours. Even best practices can’t guarantee that you won’t have data loss, but can help give you the best chance at not losing data if something were to happen.

With pretty much all of the apps now you can export to markdown files. Files that you own, that work in any markdown text editor app.

You can then do 3-2-1 backup strategy, or just keep a local copy, or whatever you determine to be the easiest, cheapest and best solution for you.

I’ve backed up my Apple Notes Second Brain to Obsidian, which is both on my computer and on my home server.

Not perfect, but I know there are at least duplicate copies in a few different places. My computer is also backed up to the cloud via BackBlaze.

This is something that I’d need a personal consultation with you to figure out.

There is a notes app that fits your vibe, something you gravitate to, without ever looking at or trying out the other options.

My approach?

I don’t recommend it.

I use all of them, at various times in my life.

Apple Notes, Notion, Craft, Obsidian and even Bear Notes have all held a place in my dock at some point, often times at the same time.

There are positives and negatives to each tool, but you do need to spend considerable time inside of the app to figure out if you will hit the limits.

Most people would be just fine with Apple Notes.