How We Optimize for Creating to Learn
At first glance, this app would look a lot like a note taking app, but there are some differences.
Published on October 29, 2025
If you haven’t heard about creating to learn make sure to check it out here. In creating to learn, the focus is on creating variations in your ideas as opposed to memorizing or storing information. At first glance, this app would look a lot like a note taking app, but there are some differences.
Firstly, we are optimizing for creating because that’s how we learn and understand. The way we are making it easier to create is that we have structured the app such that you can create as you type. There is no worrying about where to put your notes because we’ve removed folders.
What we are doing instead is something similar to link your thoughts from Nick Milo. In this method, it starts out with creating notes or pages. As you continue to create more pages, a structure will start to emerge where you can combine them into one page with backlinks. This page is called your map of content and is used to traverse to the other pages. Since this how you traverse to your pages, you’ll want to use the pinned notes feature to quickly get to your notes. On the left hand side, you’ll find the pinned notes section for quick access.
Secondly, we are optimizing for creating by changing the goal from storage to a shared goal of making progress. In moving away from storage, we remove the necessity to have to maintain the storage. This can get tedious as your notes start to pile up and maintenance takes more and more effort.
The way we move away from focusing on storage is by moving towards the model where it becomes more important to be able to find the information you’re looking for. In combination with traversing through links, we are also implementing semantic search. In semantic search, you can now find content based upon the meaning of the content. This makes it so that the search bar can replace the need to organize.
Another issue with storage is that eventually your notes become this tome that is full of stale content. We are changing this by focusing on the goal of making progress. That’s what should be happening if you are learning and understanding. When you’ve understood something, there is generally no need to keep going back to it. Lao Tzu had a quote: ‘To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.’ This is indicative of the model we are aiming toward, where creating is the main focus.