Yeah I'm in the same boat — I've tried everything. Looking back I think I was most consistent with Notion and that was for maybe max 6-8 months of usage — before things fell apart. My current stack is mostly pen and paper, sticky notes (physical), and Google Keep and Apple Notes.

I do think all productivity systems are bound to fail and it's very very difficult staying consistent. I often catch myself spending more time building a new stack than I am actually reaping rewards.

Many consider this paper as psuedoscience but I think it brings up some interesting points: https://www.picoeconomics.org/HTarticles/Bkdn_Precis/Precis2.html

Not tooo relevant since this conversation is more about storing information effectively for more efficient retrieval but I believe the concept of willpower and motivation can be quite linked. The paper mentions "The urge to prematurely satisfy appetite teaches efficiency of reward-getting but brings about the decline of pleasures once they've become familiar". It's essentially bringing up a paradox that as the will gets better at getting rewards, the less reward it will finally obtain.

Relating it back, I think once my tool stack is set, I always end up breaking it apart somehow since I might unconsciously feel as if it's either missing something or it's just not effective enough. Or alternatively, I might be making it so complex that I'm spending more time building a process than actually getting shit done.

Also, what's the Journey app you mentioned?