10 challenges as a note-taker
Vivian Li
Sep 18, 2024
We are a group of people who loves ideas: writers, researchers, builders. We capture our fleeting thoughts in our notes and turn them into creative output. Note-taking apps are the vault of our ideas. But we have some problems with how note apps work. Let us know if you relate to them. Let’s build a solution together.
Tags Don’t Work On Ideas
“I struggle with tagging my notes. When I write down an experience, I don’t think about what I would use it for later. When I want to search for any idea, but I can never find what I’m looking for using tags.”
🗂️ Tags lack the granularity. Tags are precise words; ideas are fuzzy. Each idea is expressed in slightly different tags. Imagine a search system that understands the idea.
You Want All Your Search Results on One Page
“I want to do a comedy set on dad jokes. I search my notes. I get a list of search results. Then I have to copy and paste each joke into a new note. ”
🗂️ When we search for a word and get the results back, we want all the ideas listed out in full sentences in one document. That way, I can see everything at once.
You Took Lots of Notes But Never Revisit Them
“I take thousands of digital notes—book highlights, articles, observations—but they just disappear into the abyss. My ideas feel scattered.”
📚 Taking notes is just the first step. Connecting these ideas helps build deeper knowledge. Without it, our mental energy dissipates into many fragmented pieces that don’t grow.
Your Idea Later Lost Its Magic
“I was taking a walk and had a revelation—pure genius! I jotted down a few words. Two days later, I read it again... and I don’t understand why I was excited about it anymore. The magic was gone.”
💡 When we revisit an idea, the emotional punch that made it seem genius often fades. Capturing not just the idea but the feeling behind it is key to keeping that magic alive. Best to do it on the spot.
You Can’t Put What’s in Your Mind on Paper
“Sometimes, I have this understanding in my mind, a knowing—a feeling. It’s the peak of my creative moments, like God is speaking through me. But as soon as I try to put it into words, the meaning just disappears.”
🤖 Ideas often start as vague notions that are hard to articulate. Speaking your thoughts aloud can help crystallize them.
You Cannot Capture Your Fleeting Ideas
“My best ideas come while driving. Maybe being in a car is stimulating for me. But by the time I can jot them down, they’re gone.”
🎙️ Hand-free voice notes can be a lifesaver (literally) for capturing ideas in real-time, so we don’t lose our best creative sparks.
You Hate Losing Your Insights
“Earlier today, I spent an hour researching hotels for our vacation. I looked at a bunch hotels and read their reviews. I had some takeaways. Then I rushed to run errand. Now i don’t remember what they are.”
🧠 Our memory is fleeting. It’s hard to remember things when we switch context. We need an easy way to quickly record our takeaways between meetings.
You Can Never Get Your First Draft Done
“I started to draft my story. I spent so much time writing and rewriting my opening scene. I don’t feel like I’m making progress.”
📝 Ideation and expression are two brain processes. Separating the creative process from execution can streamline output and reduce frustration.
You Feel Like An Imposter When You Share
“I have thousands of notes and ideas, but I can’t bring myself to share them. I don’t feel I have a “voice.’“
📈 Writing down our ideas in words seems to be harder than telling friends about it. Talking about our ideas frequently helps us gain a deeper understanding of the topic, develop your opinions, and express yourself more effectively.
You Have a Brain Overload
“There’s too much going on: research for my work memo, ideas for my daughter’s ballet class, planning a birthday. My brain is fried and I feel overwhelmed.”
🧠 Julia Cameron suggested doing morning pages right after you wake up. This exercise will help you dump everything on paper and clear your mind. We want a tool to help quickly offloading our thoughts and free up our mental space.
Here is what we want in a notes app
I can quickly capture fleeting thoughts, especially when i’m on the go, running between meeting or driving.
I have an idea in mind but it’s shapeless. I want to talk about it. Explore different angles. I want to capture all my streams of consciousness so I can remember the one that made this idea feels magical.
Instead of getting the transcript —— a stream of consciousness, I want to distill a coherent idea from my mumbling.
I want an easy way to organize my notes. It takes a lot of work to put tags after every note. I have to think about what tags to use. I can never tag enough.
I want to be able to get my notes when I need it. Searching with tags fail to give me all the note I wanted. I search for an idea, like what topics I get excited about. There is no way to tag that.
When I search, I want to see all my results laid out on one page. I don’t want to go into every note, copy and paste them into a document.
The notes from my search is the creative ingredient to my next task. I want to edit and format it to my liking.
Use Mumble Note to capture fleeting thoughts on the go
We made Mumble Note because we know the struggle of keeping track of great ideas with regular note apps just doesn’t cut it. We want to help you hold onto those bursts of inspiration, organize your thoughts without a fuss, and find them easily when you need them. You can Download Mumble Note on iOS App Store. Give it try, mess around with it, and tell us what you think. For any feedback, drop us an email at feedback@mumblenote.com