If your notes inbox feels like a processing factory instead of a sweet place to think… you’ve been optimising for the wrong outcome.

The Problem With “Processing” Your Notes (& What To Do Instead)

Ev Chapman
6 min readAug 10, 2022

If I look in my writing inbox right now I’ll find 680 ‘unprocessed notes.’

My writing inbox is where all of the notes I’ve taken while I’m consuming content end up ready for my daily writing practice where I take them, think on them & use them as prompts to start to develop my own ideas.

It’s my single most important tool as a creator.

Photo by Helena Lopes on Unsplash

It’s fun when I share my screen with people and suddenly they get that anxious look, like how can you have so many notes that you need to process and it not cause you major anxiety.

And while it might look like I don’t actually process any of the notes, I’m in my writing inbox every day, so it’s not a lack of time I’m spending in there. The reason I have so many is that getting to inbox zero is not my outcome — so I don’t optimise for that.

The current state of my writing inbox. 680 notes & counting

A Shift From Processing To Thinking

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Ev Chapman
Ev Chapman

Written by Ev Chapman

Personal Knowledge Coach | I help professionals package their expertise into content & products that generate independent income 💸

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