Do Not Migrate Your Old Files
When starting a new system, the urge to migrate thousands of old notes is a trap. It leads to burnout and paralysis. If your current system is broken, don’t drag its corpse into your new workspace. It is time to declare Note Bankruptcy.
The Strategy
- Archive Everything: Move all old notes into a folder named Archive_Legacy_Do_Not_Touch.
- Start Fresh: Create a new, empty folder for your Commonplace Garden.
- Trust the Search: Your old notes aren’t gone. If you need a specific quote, search the archive, find it, and then migrate it by copying it into a new note.
Why it Works
You only migrate what you actually touch. Over time, the ideas that actually matter will naturally cross the border into the Garden. The remaining 90% — the dead links and abandoned projects — stay out of your way. Stop trying to perfectly preserve your past; set up a system to think about the present.