Why I Refuse to Turn My Commonplace Book Into a Database

A recent journal reflection in Ember got me thinking…

There are two things you do with an idea that matters. You treasure it, and you give it careful thought. That's how Mary, the mother of Jesus, handled the biggest news of her life. I'll come back to her.

But I caught myself doing something else with my ideas. I was managing them.

The morning

Recently I spent some time in Capacities. The promise is A home for everything you think, learn, and create. And I want to say this up front: it’s an awesome tool. It really is. It has some incredible features for managing knowledge and connecting ideas.

I set up a Journal. I set up a Commonplace Book. I figured out how to add an author to each quote, so every line points back to the person who said it. I linked a quote to a reflection with a little field I called “Sparked by.”

And I felt it. That small rush of getting something set up right. Everything had a place. My notes felt tidy, even a bit more solid, because now they lived in a database.

The catch

But the minute I added that author property, something in me went, “Oh no. I know this road.”

This is exactly where I left all those other apps.

When I see “add property” on a note, I get uneasy. Not because properties are bad. Because I know me. If I can add an author, I can add a source. A date. A topic. A status. And then I can organize all of it. I know it’s going to suck me in.

The trap

Here’s how it goes. You save a thought. All of a sudden you’re looking at ten empty fields asking to be filled in. Who said it. Where it came from. What it’s about. Which project it belongs to.

By the time you’re done, the thought has gone cold. It’s buried under its own paperwork.

I don’t want that. I want the benefit of technology to help me see how my ideas connect. But I don’t want to become a certified Notion coach, or a certified Capacities coach, or spend hours on YouTube learning how to set it all up. I just want to get back to basics.

It felt like thinking

Here’s the problem. We think managing ideas is the same as thinking. Or at least it feels that way.

Setting up databases feels productive. Adding properties feels productive. I even got a tinge of that feeling today. But tidy shelves are not the same as a full mind.

It’s like a guy who owns every cookbook but never cooks. His shelves look great. His kitchen is spotless. And he’s hungry.

We’ve become skilled librarians of knowledge. We can build the system. We just forgot to sit with what we found.

One of the quotes I saved today was from Natalie Goldberg. She warns about spending more time at the stationery store than at your writing table. I read that right after I finished setting up my properties. She got me.

The old way

The old way looked different. I’m reminded of Mary after Jesus was born. Check out what happened.

…all who heard it were astounded… But Mary treasured all these things, giving careful thought to them and pondering them in her heart. — Luke 2:18–19

Did you catch that?

When was the last time you treasured an idea, and gave it careful thought? The commonplace book and the journal are the two tools that help you do that. You treasure an idea by adding it to a commonplace book and then you give it careful thought in the journal.

That’s it.

These tools were never meant to be filing cabinets. They are spaces to chew and ponder and delight in ideas, in words that shook up your heart in an instant.

So maybe the difference comes down to two questions:

• Managing asks, “Where does this go?”
• Meditating asks, “What is this doing to me?”

The first keeps things tidy. The second changes you.

Back to basics

I’m not saying throw out your tools. I’m saying watch what they pull you toward.

What I want is a tool that lets me go deep with an idea. So deep that I discover more about God, myself, others, how I’m wired, what my next creative project might be, how I can be a better husband and father. I want a tool that sees the connections between the journal reflection from last year and the one yesterday. One that shows me the path I took: where the question came in, which quote showed up next, and how my thinking turned. That’s what I’m trying to build with Ember.

So next time you save a quote, skip the fields for a minute. Just sit with it. Ask what it’s doing to you.

The filing can wait. The thinking can’t.

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