Tag with 1-3 retrieval words

When This Fires

• Tagging a new note and choosing which keywords to assign
• Designing or redesigning your tagging system
• Finding that your current tags don't help you find things
• Feeling the urge to build a perfect tag taxonomy before writing notes

Common Failure Mode

Tagging by topic category ("psychology," "management," "technology") rather than by retrieval context. Topic tags create the same silos that folder systems create. Retrieval tags cross domains: #deciding, #bottleneck, #cognitive-limit — these are terms you'd search for when facing a problem, regardless of which academic discipline the insight came from.

The Protocol

When tagging a note: (1) Ask: "If I had this insight again in a completely different context, what 1-3 words would I type to find this note?" (2) Write those words as tags. Not the topic. Not the source. The search terms you'd use when you need this insight. (3) Limit to 1-3 tags. If you need more, the note might be compound (see Split notes at every 'and' or 'also' — one idea per note…). (4) Don't worry about tag consistency — organic tags that serve retrieval are more useful than consistent tags that serve taxonomy.