the system behind my daily routine

People online talk a lot about routines. Morning rituals, 5AM wake-ups, cold showers, green smoothies, and inbox zero before breakfast. The grindset mindset. The productivity worship.

But let’s be honest:
Most of it’s cosplay for corporate serfs pretending to be elite. It's discipline porn. It doesn’t work for everyone — and it’s definitely not built for people like me.

I’m not the most organized person. Sometimes I forget to mop the floor. Sometimes I go to bed without brushing my teeth. Not out of rebellion — just because I’m tired, human, distracted, or deep into a weird late-night code spiral.

And I think that’s fine.

You’re not a machine. You’re a human being

If your work involves even a hint of creativity — building products, designing systems, running experiments, starting a business, hacking something — then living like a boot-camp soldier won’t get you very far.

What you need isn’t strict discipline. What you need is resilience, curiosity, and a system that forgives chaos — but also gives it shape.

• A structure that doesn't fight the mess, but makes it livable.
• A way to exist inside the noise and still find clarity.
• A way to stay creative without losing your grip.

entropy

I’ve always had this strange obsession with lists. Notebooks, sticky notes, bullet points, drafts, digital planners — anything that helps me track what’s going on in my life.
It’s comforting to put thoughts into containers. Until those containers start overflowing.

Still, I do write things down on paper — mostly work-related stuff — but I treat it more like a personal ritual than a productivity tool. It’s something I enjoy for its own sake. There’s a kind of satisfaction in it that you just can’t replicate online. I won’t go deep into it, but for the record: I write with a Rotring 600 mechanical pencil on thick ivory-colored paper, usually from Sketchmaker or Strathmore, A5, 140 gsm.

This habit started hurting me back in school. I’d write things down and never find them again. My notebooks were a mess. My thoughts were scattered. I’d forget where I wrote something, or what I even meant. I kept trying to be organized, but it just made the chaos louder.

Even though I grew up in a world where Emacs already existed, I didn’t seriously encounter it until university. And when I did, it looked… terrifying:

• A massive, unapproachable tool.
• A Lisp-powered cathedral of arcane keybindings.
• A system that, according to survivors, was harder to master than shellcode.

Basically unlearnable.

But one day, something in me shifted. I stopped trying to "learn Emacs" the right way.
I just… started using it.

era of technology

At some point, I realized that true organization — the kind that actually works — can only happen inside a computer (or phone).
You simply can’t offload your whole brain onto paper. That’s when I first stumbled upon guides about building a second brain — a concept that really started gaining traction in the 2010s.

Sure, there were enthusiasts long before that, but the real hype came during the golden age of the internet.
Now, YouTube is flooded with videos like this one — all promising the ultimate system to "think better."

But then the question becomes:

where do you build your second brain?

• Emacs (Org-mode, org-roam)
• Notion
• Obsidian
• Logseq
• Tana
• Roam Research
• Apple Notes / Google Keep
• OneNote
• Craft
• RemNote
• Zettlr

where the answer?

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, really. So instead, let me walk you through my own journey — how I tried to organize my second brain, what worked, what absolutely didn’t, and what I’ve learned along the way.

As we go, I’ll break down the pros and cons of each decision I made — and you’ll see what turned out to be a clear no-no for me.

my second brain

I’ve tried literally everything. At first, it was just me messing around — awkward attempts to jot things down on my phone. But once I realized that my thoughts weren’t just stored on my device but also someone else’s server (hello, Notion), I started hunting for a local-first solution.
Something I could control. Something I could sync myself. Something that wouldn’t vanish if a cloud platform changed its business model.

Obsidian

By the time I left Obsidian, my setup looked like the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon — blinking panes, nested folders, graph views, and plugin panels everywhere.

And still… something didn’t click.

Sure, you can customize everything. But not in the ways I needed.

why obsidian didn’t work for me:

• It's markdown-only, which sounds nice until you try to manage non-text-heavy workflows.
• The plugin ecosystem is huge — and also fragile. Updates break things, and you’re often relying on one guy’s weekend project to make core features usable.
• The graph view looks cool but turns into noise fast. It’s beautiful at first — then completely useless once your notes grow beyond 100.
• Cross-platform sync? It works — but only if you pay, or you roll your own git + sync hack.
• And worst of all: it never felt alive. I was wiring a spaceship, but it never flew.

Obsidian gave me control, but not delight.

So I moved on.

todo on phones

I tried a bunch of mobile apps to wrangle my thoughts.
The last two I seriously used before giving up entirely on mobile task management were Grit and Orgzly.

• Grit was kind of fun — lightweight and simple — but also raw and unfinished. And then there’s that stupid banner in the settings: “Buy me a coffee.”
  Dude. If you need money, get a job. I have no problem tipping someone for a good tool — but don’t beg inside the UI like that. Just Bigass ugly banner in settings. Eww
  Yes, I ripped it out of my fork and made a few tweaks to fit my flow. But the bitter taste stayed. That kind of thing kills the vibe for me. Just being honest.

• Orgzly? Not usable on a phone. It’s just too clunky to operate on a small screen.
  Other than that — it’s actually kind of awesome. But touchscreen and Org-mode don’t mix well.

And so...

I just built my own app. It’s called todoh!

1. I didn't know Java well enough to build something really cool, so I struggled with it big time.
2. I ditched the whole Java thing and rewrote everything in React. Yeah, it went from 4MB to 12MB, but was it worth it?... Long story short, it was an interesting pet project. I wrote both apps in a week and forgot about them the next day. Don't even want to think about it anymore. I just realized that to-do apps on phones don't give you the same freedom as on PC. And why reinvent the wheel when you've got emacs?

emacs emacs emacs

what is emacs?

ho-ho-ho let me tell you!

• How do i write my blog posts? Emacs
• How do i do my project management? Emacs
• DNS sequencing? Emacs

what is Emacs?

Emacs is way more than just a text editor – it's basically a programmable environment that happens to be really good at editing text. Created by Richard Stallman in the 1970s, it's been around longer than most programming languages and has evolved into something that defies easy categorization.

The running joke in the developer community is that "Emacs is a great operating system, unfortunately it lacks a decent editor." But honestly? That's selling it short. Emacs is both a powerful editor AND a complete computing environment.

why Emacs is Different

Most editors do one thing: edit text. Emacs does everything. You can read email, browse the web, play games, manage your calendar, control version control systems, run shells, debug code, and yes – create incredibly sophisticated to-do lists. All without ever leaving the editor.

This is possible because Emacs is built on Emacs Lisp, a full programming language. Almost everything in Emacs can be customized, extended, or completely rewritten. Don't like how something works? Change it. Need a feature that doesn't exist? Build it.

the Org-Mode Revolution

One of Emacs's killer features is Org-mode, which is basically a markup language on steroids. It's what the author in your translation was referring to when they said "why reinvent the wheel when you've got emacs?"

Org-mode lets you create hierarchical outlines, manage complex project workflows, schedule tasks, set deadlines, track habits, take notes, write documents, create spreadsheets, and export everything to HTML, PDF, or dozens of other formats. It's like having Notion, Todoist, and Google Docs all rolled into one – except it's plain text, so it's fast, searchable, and will work forever.

the Learning Curve Reality

Let's be honest: Emacs has a reputation for being difficult to learn, and that reputation is earned. The default key bindings are... unique. Everything is customizable, which means everything needs to be configured. It's like being handed the keys to a Formula 1 car when you just wanted to drive to the grocery store.

But here's the thing – once you get comfortable with it, nothing else feels quite as powerful or flexible.

enter DOOM Emacs

This is where DOOM Emacs comes in, and it's a total game-changer.

DOOM Emacs is a configuration framework that takes all the power of Emacs and wraps it in a modern, fast, and surprisingly user-friendly package. It was created by Henrik Lissner and has become one of the most popular ways to run Emacs.

What Makes DOOM Special

Speed: DOOM is blazingly fast. It uses lazy loading and careful optimization to start up in under a second, even with hundreds of packages installed.

Modern Defaults: Instead of Emacs's archaic default key bindings, DOOM uses Vim-style navigation (through Evil mode) and modern conventions that feel familiar to developers coming from VSCode or other contemporary editors.

Batteries Included: DOOM comes pre-configured for dozens of programming languages, with syntax highlighting, auto-completion, debugging support, and more. It's like having a perfectly tuned IDE for every language you might want to use.

Beautiful Interface: Gone are the days of ugly, terminal-looking Emacs. DOOM has a gorgeous, modern interface with themes, icons, and visual polish that rivals any contemporary editor.

Sensible Module System: DOOM organizes functionality into modules that you can enable or disable with a single line in your config. Want Python support? Add :lang python to your config. Need a file tree? Enable :ui treemacs. It's that simple.

the DOOM Philosophy

DOOM takes the approach that Emacs should be powerful but not painful. It keeps all the extensibility and power that makes Emacs special, but removes the friction that keeps people away. You get a editor that's immediately usable but infinitely customizable.

It's particularly popular with developers who want the power of Emacs but don't want to spend months configuring it. You can install DOOM and have a fully functional, beautiful development environment in about 10 minutes.

getting Started with DOOM

If this sounds interesting, DOOM Emacs is definitely the way to start. The installation process is straightforward, and the documentation is excellent. You'll have a modern, powerful editor up and running quickly, and you can gradually explore the deeper features as you get comfortable.

The best part? You're not locked in. Everything you learn about DOOM transfers to regular Emacs, and you can always customize or extend it further as your needs evolve.

DOOM Emacs proves that you don't have to choose between power and usability. You can have both.

my second brain in emacs

I'm not here to talk about all Emacs functions today, so let's dive into the specific case of my second brain system. I built it using this simple file structure with convenient hotkeys, since that's what I use 90% of the time when I jump into Doom Emacs. However, within each of these main categories, I organize the internal subcategories later when I have time for it.

(setq org-roam-capture-templates
      '(("c" "WORK/COUNTRIES" plain "%?"
         :if-new (file+head "WORK/COUNTRIES/${slug}.org"
                            "#+TITLE: ${title}\n#+CATEGORY: COUNTRIES\n#+FILETAGS: :work:")
         :unnarrowed t)
        ("j" "WORK/PROJECTS" plain "%?"
         :if-new (file+head "WORK/PROJECTS/${slug}.org"
                            "#+TITLE: ${title}\n#+CATEGORY: PROJECTS\n#+FILETAGS: :work:")
         :unnarrowed t)
        ("h" "PERSONAL/HARDWARE" plain "%?"
         :if-new (file+head "PERSONAL/HARDWARE/${slug}.org"
                            "#+TITLE: ${title}\n#+CATEGORY: HARDWARE\n#+FILETAGS: :personal:")
         :unnarrowed t)
        ("T" "PERSONAL/WISHLIST/TECH" plain "%?"
         :if-new (file+head "PERSONAL/WISHLIST/TECH/${slug}.org"
                            "#+TITLE: ${title}\n#+CATEGORY: TECH\n#+FILETAGS: :personal:")
         :unnarrowed t)
        ("S" "PERSONAL/WISHLIST/STUFF" plain "%?"
         :if-new (file+head "PERSONAL/WISHLIST/STUFF/${slug}.org"
                            "#+TITLE: ${title}\n#+CATEGORY: STUFF\n#+FILETAGS: :personal:")
         :unnarrowed t)
        ("p" "PERSONAL/PEOPLE" plain "%?"
         :if-new (file+head "PERSONAL/PEOPLE/${slug}.org"
                            "#+TITLE: ${title}\n#+CATEGORY: PEOPLE\n#+FILETAGS: :personal:")
         :unnarrowed t)
        ("d" "PERSONAL/DELIVERY" plain "%?"
         :if-new (file+head "PERSONAL/DELIVERY/${slug}.org"
                            "#+TITLE: ${title}\n#+CATEGORY: DELIVERY\n#+FILETAGS: :personal:")
         :unnarrowed t)
        ("m" "PERSONAL/MYSTUFF" plain "%?"
         :if-new (file+head "PERSONAL/MYSTUFF/${slug}.org"
                            "#+TITLE: ${title}\n#+CATEGORY: MYSTUFF\n#+FILETAGS: :personal:")
         :unnarrowed t)))         

Let me break it down:

work Category

The work category includes:

• Countries - with subcategories for cities and companies I work with
• Projects - serves more like a todo list, since I use Git and Kanban boards for proper development methodologies

The projects section works great as a high-level overview while detailed tasks live in proper project management tools.

personal Category

hardware

Describes everything I have on my computer and all my tech and software. This was pretty convenient, but since I switched to NixOS, I don't really need this anymore because everything's contained in one config file.

But back when I was running Arch Linux, this folder was absolutely essential just to remember what exactly I had installed and where, considering all the different package managers, AppImages, and whatnot.

other Personal Categories

• Wishlist - Wants and desires, categorized by type
• People - Basically my address book, organized into:
  • Countries
  • Cities
  • Companies
  • Age groups
  • Contains people info, sometimes photos, and useful notes
• Delivery - Super handy when ordering from tons of different stores. especially for items that take longer than a month to arrive, and when packages go to different addresses or pickup locations.

the Big One: Personal MyStuff

Probably the most massive category is Personal, which contains absolutely everything I own.

This might seem weird and pretty time-consuming - and yeah, it really is. I spent over a year on this

But after reindexing all my belongings, I'm grateful every single day that I implemented this system. And my wife is thankful for it too, because now we can:

• Find literally anything in our house
• Read information about each item
• Know exactly where everything is located
• Track the condition of our belongings
• Keep tabs on borrowed items. When someone borrows our stuff, I make sure to write about it and tag it accordingly. No more wondering where things went!

why Emacs works so well for this

Yeah, this is a pretty complex system, but Emacs is absolutely perfect for a second brain setup. It's like your best friend that lets you easily and naturally sync all your notes, browse through everything, and connect ideas seamlessly - assuming you have the necessary technical skills.

It might seem a bit user-unfriendly because there's a lot of typing and writing involved. But if you're a tech person, Emacs will fit you perfectly and you'll genuinely enjoy spending time with it every day.

Anyway, here's a link to a tutorial video, and you can totally find the rest of the info on YouTube - I'm definitely not the only one doing this kind of setup.

There's a whole community of people building second brain systems with Emacs and Org-roam. You're in good company!

the reality of my "organized" home

Based on my Emacs obsession and the super-organization I mentioned above, you might think my house is like some kind of perfectly organized showcase. But honestly? Not really.

What's Actually Organized

I've only got the small stuff dialed in:

• Tech gear - components, gadgets, cables
• Hardware - screws, bolts, nuts, washers
• Tools - screwdrivers, pliers, specialty tools
• Electronics - wires, solder, connectors
• Random tiny stuff - all that miscellaneous crap that's easy to lose

The small stuff matters: These are the things that disappear into the void and drive you crazy when you need them.

The Bigger Picture

I'm definitely planning to expand this organizational system to cover more of the house. But here's the thing - you can't turn your home into some kind of tech store with everything perfectly labeled on shelves like merchandise. I totally get that.

Real homes are messy: There isn't always logic to where things end up in a normal person's house, and that's exactly where Emacs shines.

Why Digital Organization Wins

This is where my Emacs system really comes in clutch. There isn't always logic to how things are arranged inside a normal human home, and trying to force some rigid organizational scheme would make it feel like living in a warehouse.

Instead, I can put things wherever makes sense in the moment, then just note their location digitally. The real organization happens in my second brain, not on the shelves.

organization Within Chaos

Sure, this might seem weird to some people, but this kind of "organization within chaos" system is pretty much what the ideal world looks like when you want to:

• Find something super quickly
• Know exactly where it's located
• Understand its current condition

why Digital Indexing Systems Win

This is where indexing and search systems become absolute lifesavers. Unfortunately, these are only realistically doable through software.

the Analog Alternative (And Why It Sucks)

Yeah, you could go old school:

• Buy a bunch of notebooks
• Create a system of reference books
• Set up shelves (like one for tech gear)
• Write descriptions of items in corresponding books

But here's the thing - you can't stick photos in books. Well, okay, you COULD get crazy and actually take photos, print them out, and paste them in...

where I draw the line

But that's straight-up overkill in my opinion. Putting photos in Emacs is already pushing it, and the next step after that is basically a psych ward with acute obsessive-compulsive disorder. There's a fine line between "helpful organization" and "I need professional help." Digital systems keep you on the right side of that line.

the sweet spot

The beauty of a digital system is that it gives you all the power of detailed cataloging without turning your life into some kind of museum curation project. You get the benefits of organization without losing your mind (or your living space) to the process.

Sometimes the best organization system is the one that doesn't make you question your sanity.

final thoughts

To wrap this up, I want to be honest - I haven't managed to create a perfect system 100%. There are downsides everywhere and there's always something to improve. But I think that's actually the main advantage of any system - you never get the chance to stop working on it, which means you never stop working WITH it.

this Isn't Another "How to Build a Second Brain" Guide

This isn't some guide from those people who lecture you about how to build a second brain. I've realized those guides aren't worth listening to.

Instead, I decided to share the core idea in this article: even in chaos, even if you're possibly not an organized person (like me), you still have a shot at creating a system that works specifically for you.

the Key: Listen to Yourself

The main thing is to pay attention to what's comfortable for YOU:

• Obsidian works for you? Go for it.
• Emacs feels right? Perfect.
• Simple todo lists? Absolutely.
• Want to build your own app like I did? Do it.

The best productivity system is the one you'll actually use consistently. Just Keep Going!

The important thing is to try, push yourself, and keep developing. You'll definitely figure it out, and at some point you'll reach a level of comfort that works - and then you'll keep improving it from there.

Every expert was once a beginner who refused to give up

The perfect system doesn't exist - but YOUR perfect system is waiting to be discovered :)

P.S.
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gigasholtz