Title notes with the natural-language words you'd search for, not abstract labels or jargon — search terms beat category names

Why This Is a Rule

This extends Title reference items with the words your future self will search for, not the words that categorize what it is's search-oriented naming principle specifically to notes (rather than reference files). The distinction matters because notes tend toward even more abstract, jargon-heavy naming than reference files. A reference file might be named "Q3 Budget Report" (somewhat searchable); a note might be named "Epistemological Implications" (completely unsearchable for future-you who will be looking for "how do we know things" or "knowledge validation methods").

The gap between expert-category naming and natural-search naming is largest for abstract or theoretical notes. You might create a note about the Dunning-Kruger effect and title it "Metacognitive Deficiency in Self-Assessment" — technically accurate but unretrievable by anyone searching for "why people overestimate their abilities" or "dunning kruger." The natural-language title would be: "People who are bad at something don't know they're bad at it (Dunning-Kruger)." Both the colloquial description and the formal name appear in the title, maximizing search surface area.

The principle is: name for how you'll search, not for how you'd categorize. Categorization serves organizational purposes (and can be achieved through tags, folders, or links). Titles serve retrieval purposes, and retrieval happens through search in modern note-taking systems.

When This Fires

• When creating any note in a digital knowledge system
• When notes exist in your system but you can't find them by searching
• When you remember writing about something but can't find it with any search term
• Complements Title reference items with the words your future self will search for, not the words that categorize what it is (reference naming) and Evaluate search results by reading only the bolded/highlighted passages from progressive summarization — skip full-text scanning (search result evaluation) as part of the search-first retrieval strategy

Common Failure Mode

Academic/jargon naming: titling notes with the most precise technical term rather than the words you'd actually search for. "Allostatic Load" is precise but unsearchable for someone who remembers "chronic stress wearing the body down." Include both: "Chronic stress accumulates as physical wear — allostatic load."

The Protocol

(1) After writing a note, draft the title by asking: "If I forgot this note existed and was searching for this idea, what words would I type?" (2) Use those words as the title. Natural language, not jargon. Descriptive phrases, not abstract labels. (3) Include multiple retrieval paths: both the colloquial description ("people overestimate their abilities") and the formal name ("Dunning-Kruger") if applicable. (4) Test: would this title appear in search results for at least 2-3 different natural-language queries about this topic? If only one specific phrase would find it, the title is too narrow. (5) Periodically search your system for topics you've written about. If you can't find your own notes, rename them with better search terms.