How to increase the usefulness of notes over time? Write to your future self
When creating a note now, write it as if you are addressing another person—your future self. This approach helps you establish the context in which you want to find the note and decide why it is important and useful. In the future, you will be a different person and won’t have the same knowledge and context you possess now, so keep that in mind! That’s why you want to convey this information to your future self.
When taking notes, we need to take ourselves out of the moment and ask ourselves, “In a few weeks, or a few months, or even a year or more, when I come back to this note, what do I know now that will be useful then?” It is a mindset of understanding how a little extra work while writing in the present can significantly benefit my future.
A knowledge base is not an end in itself; it is a tool for problem-solving, analysis, and supporting thought processes. Therefore, focus on notes whose value will increase over time, ones that you will be able to use even months after creating them.