Matthias Hilse spent years trying every productivity tool out there, only to come back to the basics—with a system that actually works. His creation, Forever ✱ Notes, is a free, lightweight, and scalable framework inside Apple Notes designed to simplify how we capture, organize, and revisit our thoughts—not just store them. In this episode of The Prestigious Initiative, Chris sits down with Matthias to unpack how Forever ✱ Notes works (Home, Tags, Collections, Hubs, Journal), why digital note graveyards happen, and how to build a knowledge system that grows with you. Whether you’ve ever felt buried by your own notes, overwhelmed by complexity, or frustrated that your tools fail you just when you need clarity—this episode gives practical tools and philosophy to help you organize your inner world so your outward performance becomes sharper, less noisy, and more intentional.
From Overwhelmed to Organized: How Forever Notes Solves Digital Clutter for Good
Every moment tests you. Every action defines you.
If you're here to sharpen your edge and build a life that echoes, you know that clarity is the foundation of everything we do. But let's be honest: in the digital age, clarity often feels like a distant dream. We’re drowning in apps, tabs, and half-finished notes, constantly searching for that one piece of information we know we wrote down somewhere.
This isn't just a minor inconvenience; it's a tax on our focus and productivity.
On the latest episode of The Prestigious Initiative, I sat down with Matthias Hilse, the brilliant mind behind the Forever Notes framework. If you’ve ever felt the frustration of digital chaos, this conversation was for you. Matthias has engineered a simple, scalable, and incredibly durable system for personal knowledge management built entirely within Apple Notes.
No new software to buy. No complex setups. Just a powerful methodology that transforms the app you probably already have into a "second brain" that actually works.
As I reflected on our conversation, one of Matthias's points hit home for me and perfectly encapsulates the problem he's solving:
"You have all of those other notes that are out there, Notion, Obsidian, pen and paper, notebook... I dipped my toes into different softwares, including Notion, including the Bullet Journal, and many, many others, just to find out that maybe all these softwares with all their features is not what I should be looking for."
Sound familiar? We research software for features, but we should be trying to understand our own needs first. That’s the core philosophy of Forever Notes.
The Genesis of Forever Notes: A Quest for a Trusted System
Matthias isn't just a theorist; he's a practitioner who lived the pain. As a freelance art director, creative director, and co-owner of a vegan cake business, he wears numerous hats. Each role came with its own set of tools, leading to a fractured, chaotic digital existence.
"With these different hats came different systems... some of the problems that I've had in organizing my life led to a chaotic situation where I'm using one software for that specific problem... and another software for where I'm collecting my ideas."
His journey through Notion, Obsidian, and even the Bullet Journal led him to a powerful revelation: constraint breeds creativity and sustainability. By limiting himself to Apple Notes, he was forced to build a system within boundaries, one that prioritized workflow over features.
He clarified an important point for the listeners: Forever Notes is a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) system. It's for your ideas, project planning, and reference materials—the core of your intellectual world. It’s not necessarily meant to replace a full business CRM, but to be the central hub for your thinking and personal workflow.
Deconstructing the Forever Notes Framework: The 5 Core Components
The beauty of Forever Notes is its elegant simplicity. It's not about reinventing the wheel, but about layering a smart organizational system on top of Apple Notes' existing features. Here’s a breakdown of the five core components we dug into.
1. The Home Note: Your Personal Dashboard
This is the cornerstone of the entire system. The Home Note is a single, central note that contains links to everything you access frequently.
"The idea is that with the Forever Notes framework, you sort of put an extra layer of organization on top of existing Apple Notes features... I needed one central note that every time I go to Apple Notes, this is where I start from."
Think of it as your mission control. You can have links to active projects, frequently used numbers, or key resources. Matthias even sets up Siri Shortcuts to open this note directly from his lock screen or Mac dock, reducing friction to zero. It’s a living document that evolves with your priorities.
2. Tags & Collections: Automatic Organization
Tags are the secret sauce that brings order to the potential chaos of having thousands of notes. Matthias uses a mini-framework of tags—like #project, #person or #doc—to instantly give context to a note.
Collections are smart folders that automatically gather notes based on these tags. For example, a "Active Projects" collection would pull in every note tagged with #project and #in-progress.
"The moment you tag a note with the hashtag project, it's automatically in the collection. So with maximum two clicks you can access a list of your active project notes."
This is a game-changer for moving away from manual folder dragging and into a dynamic, self-organizing system.
3. Hubs: The Manual, Curated Overviews
If Collections are automatic, Hubs are intentional. A Hub is a manually curated note that provides a high-level overview of a major area of your life, like Health, Finance, or a specific Hobby.
"A hub acts more like an overview note of a very specific topic... It's manually curated. So it's the place where when maybe on your quarterly review... this is where you go into that note. It gives you just the overview of that area."
A Health Hub, for instance, might link to your insurance info, lab results, and doctor's contacts—notes that might have different tags but are all relevant to your well-being. It’s your personal wiki for the topics that matter most.
4. The Journal: Weaving Knowledge Through Time
This was, for me, one of the most compelling parts of the system. The Journal component connects Daily, Monthly, Quarterly, and Annual notes, creating a timeline of your life and work.
"The journal component is... the time aspect of the system... I use it to do short form journaling on a daily basis. But I also create highlights of my previous month... I do planning for the next month."
Matthias has a shortcut that takes him directly to his current daily note, which becomes the launchpad for his day. He creates new notes from within his daily note, providing immediate context for when and why an idea was born.
He shared a powerful personal application: using the #person tag to remember details about new contacts.
"I'm terrible at meeting new people and remembering anything about them... Just the fact that you write it down, you create that note and you spend a little time thinking back on this event, to me, that already helps remembering it a little better."
This isn't just note-taking; it's building a richer, more connected life.
The Secret Sauce: Intentionality Over Automation
In a world obsessed with automation, Forever Notes makes a radical case for manual, intentional work. Apple Notes doesn’t have backlinking like Notion or Obsidian, and Matthias has learned to see this not as a weakness, but as a strength.
"I started to embrace the fact that this is manual work. I enjoy that it actually takes a little bit more time to do because it forces me to be more intentional about what I'm doing and what I'm linking."
That little bit of friction is what prevents the "note graveyard." It makes you think, "Is this worth linking? Is this important?" This mindful practice ensures your system remains a curated garden, not a wild, overgrown forest.
A System That Grows with Its Community
What struck me most about Matthias was his genuine connection to the Forever Notes community. He didn't build this as a commercial product, but as a personal solution that he generously shared. The feedback and energy from users have been his fuel.
"The community has been probably the energy... I've received feedbacks... 'It's changed how I work in general.'... I talked to people all over the world, and it was amazing... They've gone through the same struggles."
This community has even shaped the system's evolution, with users contributing translations, template ideas, and shortcuts. The most requested feature? Weekly Notes, which Matthias is now working on integrating.
Your Invitation to Clarity
Matthias left us with a piece of perfect advice:
"Don't just blindly adapt it... start simple, start with a home note and then build on top once you get a feel for it... because we tend to dive deep and spend a lot of time setting up systems that we then don't use."
If your digital life feels fragmented, I urge you to visit myforevernotes.com and start with just the Home Note. See how that one change transforms your relationship with information.
Simplify what you store, and think to grow clearer.
Onward,
Chris Beane
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