On Small

We all know the three bears. Not too small. Not too big. Just right.

I’m not certain that’s always true. Often times the middle road is often a manufactured path far in excess of the required. Orchistrated to emphasize our fear of missing out while tickling our desire to claim austerity. Neither of these human intuitions are bad per say. Missing out on something wonderful is awful indeed. The drive to find new things is why we have computation and know that certain mushrooms make mirrors look out of this world maannnn. Neither is frugality or austerity. Operating within limits keeps us safe from times of famine. Creating within a strict limit produces wonderful art.

But simply trying to appease these oposing forces is folly. Austerity may not be the right solution when you have to invest in the future. Excess spending may not be a great idea two days before you lose your income. The key is not to thread the gap here but select what is appropriate.

Often times I think the middle road is just a way to not think small or be constrained. Sometimes small is wonderful. Let’s talk about something mundane as an example. Recording ones thoughts digitally.

We are spoiled for choice in this arena, there are applications and services and coaches abound. For the purpose of this exploration let’s just size up three options.

• Small. Recording your notes in plain text using tools that are free and available on most computing devices.
• Medium. Using a purpose designed but modest suite of tools from a provider for example Obsidian. Paying for sync here cost 8 USD per month a modest price.
• Large. Using one of the larger premier note taking applications Evernote which ranges from 15 to 18 USD per month for a personal license as of the time of writing.

On a first glance its easy to settle for the middle route. Like the plain text solution the notes are plain text and portable. The tool claims power and elegance. While it is not free if you wish to sync the notes its far cheaper than Evernote and it has fewer nice to have features and in some ways more power user features.

And frankly Obsidian looks cool to me also. It seems a well thought out tool but it comes with a price and it may not only be to the wallet but we can start there.

How essential is recording one’s thoughts. That could depend. If you tend to float around mindlessly all of these options may be of little use to you. If you are deciding on a tool like this however there likely is value to you. You want to be organized perhaps, write a novel or simply be able to remember things without keeping your mind cluttered.

Would this need stop if you became poor? Would it stop if you had to focus your spending on your home or your health? Would it stop if you had select an older computer or perhaps use shared computing resources in a library? Should it stop?