{"id":2033,"date":"2022-05-31T09:05:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T14:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.bear.app\/?p=2033"},"modified":"2022-05-31T09:16:41","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T14:16:41","slug":"bear-with-us-elizabeth-butler-can-help-calm-your-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.bear.app\/2022\/05\/bear-with-us-elizabeth-butler-can-help-calm-your-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Bear With Us: Elizabeth Butler can help calm your notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post is part of our interview series<\/a> to answer the question: who uses Bear? What do they want out of a notes app? How does Bear fit into their work or play? Do they prefer coffee or tea?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re on a mission to ask these and other burning questions from interesting people. Then we share their answers with you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On today’s episode of Bear With Us<\/a>, we introduce you to Elizabeth Butler: A person who is so passionate about taking notes and organizing information, she built a business and course around it. Elizabeth uses Bear as the “backbone” of her personal knowledge management<\/a> (PKM, as it’s called in the industry), so we thought you’d enjoy taking a look at how she approaches and structures her work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out Elizabeth\u2019s interview below. Then catch us on Twitter<\/a>, Reddit<\/a>, and Facebook<\/a> to let us know who else we should interview for future posts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about yourself and what you do for a living?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Thanks so much for inviting me for this interview! I\u2019m Elizabeth Butler, and I\u2019m a physician, part-time creator\/indie hacker, and parent. In my day job, I work in a hospital and outpatient clinic. In my spare time, I write about note taking, personal knowledge management, and productivity on my blog at ElizabethButlerMD.com<\/a>. I\u2019m currently working on iterating the next version of CalmerNotes.com<\/a>, my course on note taking and personal knowledge management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How about for fun?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is busy these days, but I try to squeeze in fun when I can! I love going to museums with my little one and watching mystery TV series and movies on date night with my spouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You created \u2018Calmer Notes,\u2019 a course and book that teaches people how to build their own PKM system. What\u2019s the origin story behind that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been interested in note taking and personal knowledge management for nearly two decades. It all started when I was doing grad school in the humanities, and I needed an efficient way to organize my research. While doing my PhD, I also worked as a consultant doing training on knowledge structure and productivity for individuals and organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I made the career switch to medicine, I discovered that I had to revamp my entire personal knowledge management system. Even though my previous setup had been a great fit, I realized that I needed to create a new system that reflected my current goals and constraints of my new workplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I went through different phases in my own journey through personal knowledge management, I became really passionate about helping people find a PKM system that works for their current season of life. The Calmer Notes method grew out of this philosophy: namely, that note taking and personal knowledge management should be a tool to make life feel less complicated and overwhelming<\/strong>. I feel that personal knowledge management is a highly valuable tool\u2014 most of all for people who feel too busy to add yet another task to their to-do list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A peek at the ‘Calmer Notes’ manuscript Elizabeth wrote in Bear<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How did you hear about Bear, and how long have you been using it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started trying out Bear on my iPad and iPhone in 2016 or 2017, while I was still using a Windows laptop as my main machine. When I needed to replace my laptop in 2021, knowing I could use Bear was a major consideration in my choosing to switch to a MacBook Air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many notes and tags do you have?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, I have 432 notes and 35 tags. I use tags essentially as folders, and am very glad that Bear lets me nest tags infinitely. I also appreciate the auto-generated icons that make it easy to visually scan my sidebar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does Bear fit into your workflow? Do you use it in certain places, or for specific tasks?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bear is the backbone of my personal knowledge management system these days. I collect ideas and inspiration, draft blog posts, outline course material, take research notes, collect quotes, and journal in Bear. I previously used Obsidian back when I was cross-platform, but I really appreciate being able to seamlessly use Bear between my MacBook, iPad, and iPhone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the quick-capture feature on my iPhone is critical\u2014I can use voice capture or quickly type out a note in the Bear app on my phone, then go back and process through the \u201cuntagged\u201d category (which I use as an inbox) on my iPad or MacBook when I have time for processing. Everything goes in Bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without spoiling your Calmer Notes course, can you share a little about how you organize notes in Bear?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calmer Notes is all about finding a customized approach to fit your life and goals, so no worries about spoilers! There are so many great structures for successfully organizing notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, I\u2019m using what I call the PR2 method (2 folders for Projects, 2 for Reference), where I have tags acting as folders divided into:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Active projects<\/li>
  2. Current reference<\/li>
  3. Completed projects<\/li>
  4. Archived reference (Cold Storage)<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I have two of these folder structures (one for personal and one for work), with plenty of nested tags within each. Here\u2019s a screen cap of my overarching folder structure:<\/p>\n\n\n

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    What is one of your favorite tricks or features when working in Bear?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So hard to choose! A few that are top of mind would be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n