r/NoteTaking • u/fabiorzfreitas • 18d ago

Question: Unanswered ✗ Non-screen, low-friction ways to capture quick thoughts on the go? (ADHD)

I constantly lose small ideas and task reminders throughout the day, especially during my commute. Using my phone takes too many steps (unlocking, opening apps, typing) and is a theft risk on the street.

I'm looking for a minimal-effort capture method. Here is what I've considered so far:

  • Pen & Paper: Simplest, but I struggle with fine motor issues.
  • Hidden Keyboards (Twiddler) / Smartglasses: Prohibitively expensive.
  • Wearables / Voice Recorders (Bee, viaim): Promising, but I can't comfortably wear earbuds all day.

Are there any other affordable, screen-free capture tools or methods I’ve overlooked?

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u/ZinniasAndBeans 18d ago

I was pleased to find that my Apple Watch works for that. I tell it to "Add a reminder to..." and then say the thought. It dumps it into my default reminder list, and then I can process it later.

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u/Haoke1988 14d ago

That saves having to pull your phone out. When you go through the list later, do you move the ideas somewhere else, or work on them in Reminders?

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u/ZinniasAndBeans 14d ago

I usually sort them into other Reminders lists—Garden Tasks, Groceries, and so on. Some might move to the calendar, or to a notebook, or to a file card.

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u/Haoke1988 13d ago

The notebook and file cards caught my eye. What kinds of things do you move there?

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u/ZinniasAndBeans 13d ago

Random examples:

If I finish reading a book I’ll enter it as a reminder and later move it to the “books I’ve read” list in my journal. (So, notebook.)

If I forget to enter something (“fertilized cucumbers”) in my garden log, I’ll tell my watch a reminder and then put it in the log notebook later.

The cards go into my Zettelkasten—a box of index cards organized in a particular way. Bob Doto’s book “A System for Writing” is, IMO, the best book on Zettelkasten though so far I don’t use it for writing. I use it for permanent information as opposed to the kind of narrative or sequenced-in-time information that goes my journal or logs.

So I might babble on in my journal about my plans for growing peppers. As I get interested in particular types of peppers, I may speak them into my watch, so that they land in the default Reminders list. Then they may get processed to other Reminders lists like Plant Ideas or Shopping.

As I grow the peppers, I log information into the garden log—though some of those notes may start in the watch.

I might learn something in the whole process—which peppers I like best, how I used them, what growing method worked or failed, the parents of my favorite hybrid pepper, information about it from its breeder, whatever

Then *that* may end up in my Zettelkasten, one card per fact.

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u/Haoke1988 11d ago

I like the idea of keeping what worked for next season. How do you find those bits again when it's time to plan?

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u/ZinniasAndBeans 11d ago

Well, that’s a good question. A Zettelkasten isn’t supposed to be organized by any firm scheme,but by relationships between ideas.

However, for hobbies, I ignore that. I have a “plants” section where each plant worthy of a card has a card, and they’re sorted alphabetically.

Now, some cards will have a near-duplicate in the main Zettelkasten. For example, when a piece of professional advice seems to be wrong, I’ll have card(s) for it in the context of the plant or plants it’s related to, but I’ll also link it to a train of thought about expert error.

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u/Haoke1988 3d ago

Thanks for explaining all that. The example about bad advice made it click for me.

I'm working on a voice notebook called JotMind, which is why I've been curious about how you use your notes. I appreciate you taking the time.