Because, before you end up with a finished product, book, blog post, video..., before the work you do produces knowledge, you have nothing more than a bunch of ideas, lot of strategies, many small pieces of work here and there...
Everything is sparse and links between ideas are really tight. You see a lot of things, but you still can't see all those things as a whole result.
In those conditions, before you produce knowledge, for me the best way to take note is chronologically.
Here a list of 3 reasons in favor of chronological notes:
- It is unambiguous,
- it cost nothing (you don't have to think about nothing, you just write things done in chronological order) and,
- this captures the context (what came before and what came after) of an idea, a thought or a production.
Then, with those chronological notes, you can do whatever you want.
Although you can argue against the 3 previous given reasons to take chronological notes, you can't discuss this one that just apply to me: taking chronological notes makes me feel really confident.
Why?
Because this way, I know that I will almost lost no information that matters to me. And ten years from know, I'll be able to answer to that kind of questions:
- What did I do on September 7, 2021?
- Did I have a significant idea or thought this day?
- Did I make a decision this day?
- What do I was doing when I had this idea?
- What was the context around the birth of this idea?
And, to be able to answer to those questions matters to me.