How do I practice tag taxonomy?

The most direct way to practice tag taxonomy is through a focused exercise: Open your note system and pick 10 recent atoms. For each one, add 1–3 tags that answer this question: 'If I had this same insight again in a different context, what word would I search for?' Do not overthink. Do not build a taxonomy first. Tag by instinct, then review your tags as a batch. Notice which tags recur. Notice which atoms are now connected that were not connected before.

Common pitfall: Creating a tag taxonomy before you have enough atoms to need one. You design a careful hierarchy — #work/meetings/retrospectives — and then spend more energy maintaining the structure than writing the notes. The system collapses under its own organizational weight. The opposite failure is never tagging at all, leaving your atoms as isolated fragments that cannot find each other.

This practice connects to Phase 2 (Atomicity and Decomposition) — building it as a repeatable habit compounds over time.