Productivity
Beginner
15 min
Notes and personal knowledge — stop losing what you already learned
The problem
Six months ago you worked out why a supplier's pricing was inconsistent. You wrote it down. You cannot find it, cannot remember which app it was in, and the search terms you try do not match the words you used at the time.
The workflow
1Capture messily
2Collect weekly
3Structure each note
4Extract the principle
5Append to one file
6Query it
★Prune yearly
What you need
Raw notes: Supplier Kaveri quoted 82/kg but final invoice 89. Freight not included in quote — check next time.
The tool
Whatever you already use — do not change it
The prompt
Subscribers. The full prompt is part of the SMEMinds AI Playbook. See plans.
What comes back
Entry 1 TITLE: Supplier quotes — ex-works versus landed rate confusion (Kaveri) DATE/CONTEXT: March, purchasing review. Supplier: Kaveri.
Verify before you use it
Human review required. Check every line below before this leaves your screen.
- Fill in the [UNCLEAR:] markers this week. In six months you will not be able to, and the entry will be worthless.
- Check the general principle is genuinely general. 'Always ask for landed rate' is reusable; 'Kaveri overcharges' is not — and is also unfair.
- Confirm no facts were added. The model should expand your shorthand, not supplement it.
- For anything commercially sensitive — supplier names, rates, internal targets — decide whether this file should be pasted into a consumer AI tier at all.