Getting started with a PKM tool
The Weekly Review: Vol VIII Issue 3
Hello folks 👋
I'll keep the preamble short this week. As the year has rolled along and the days are starting to get a little longer up here in the north, I've been enjoying my use of Obsidian more and more. As I mentioned in the past about Roam, these tools are additive.
The more you use them, the more valuable they feel.
This isn't by accident — you have to make meaningful connections between your notes (as I mentioned here). But as you make those connections,you experience the feeling of building. Your base of knowledge matures a little more.
Obsidian illustrates this in lovely fashion with its graph view. I shared mine in late January, but here's how that has expanded as of today:
I've brought my 12 years of blogging content in here and started making connections. As well, I've added the Bible and started adding all my notes from the years. It makes for a pretty picture, but the value is in the connections and working with the notes themselves.
But I don't want to talk about that today. Instead, I want to focus on the basics.
How to get started with a tool like Obsidian
I had a colleague mention how hard 2020 had been and how he'd watched myself and others jump onboard with tools like Roam and Obsidian. With everything going on, he hadn't any margin to even make an attempt. And so his request was this: just tell me how to get started.
Good news: it's really easy. Here's the two step process:
- Just start writing and making connections to notes.
- Add existing content
Ok, so just start writing is hard on its own when you're struggling with a lack of margin and mental space. But maybe going through the effort is worth it. Let me expand on that.
Start writing
A nice option with both Roam and Obsidian is the daily note (that option needs to be enabled in Obsidian, but is the default view in Roam). To start using these tools, simply start outlining what you do each day with the daily note. It doesn't need to be a fancy template or filled with clever prose — just jot down what you do.
Making this a habit is valuable on its own. Both to build a base of knowledge over time, but also for the sake of your mental health.
As you build this habit, you can then start making connections. Come across an article that resonated with you? Add that to your daily note, then make a new note from it using the double bracket [[]] syntax (same for both tools). Now you have a note for this article and it's connected to the day you first came across it. You can open the new note and add quotes from the article, as well as your own thoughts.
Another common, easy use case is to make new notes based on what you're doing. If a specific project at work or home has your attention for the day, as you note what you're doing in the daily note, create a new note for the project itself. Open it and add a few details about what you're doing.
And that's it. I used Roam in this fashion for several months as I watched the community build and grow around these kinds of tools.
Use existing content
For me, I used both options to get started, but it's easier to get a sense of the value of these tools with option 2. When you can add a bunch of notes and easily make connections between them, you can very quickly start to see the value.
I was able to quickly add my blog content to my Obsidian library. As I previously used Kirby as my CMS, all my old blog content was text files stored in a flat folder structure. A little AppleScript, a little bit of work in Renamer, and I had 475 markdown files ready to add to a sub-folder where my Obsidian vault is stored. Then I commit it all to Git as well.
Once I could see all my writing from over the years, I started to make connections. I set a recurring daily task to update 5 notes in here. I open the graph view, grab a random unconnected dot, and open the file. From there, I made an explicit reference to my The Weekly Review note (plus any other direct references if they make sense and I happen to think of them), then I add any applicable tags.
Here's how that looks in the note itself:
After that, I started bringing in the Bible and adding my notes from my study over the years. And again, here's how these connections look now:
You don't have to use option #2 to see the value of Obsidian. If you don't have a collection of existing notes or articles, no problem. Today is the best day to get started on that.
Download the free tool, then start writing daily notes. Even 5 minutes a day will result in some good connections after a month or two.
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Items of note
William Van Hecke has an interesting idea for how to use his time. Based on a concept he read in a Neal Stephenson novel, he organizes his time in ten day periods:
Time is divided into ten-day decades. (We commonly use the word “decade” to mean ten years, nowadays, but prior to the 16th century, it could mean any collection of ten things, including days.) I love my desynchronized rhythms; the 10-day decade and the 7-day week create a healthy polymeter that drifts in and out of sync over time. At the start of each decade, I choose a template for how I’ll spend the next ten days worth of available time.
His days can be focused on five different themes: connect, read, study, create, or play. I love the idea, though I'm not sure I'd want to use the 10 day rhythm. If you like this article, his fuller picture of personal productivity can be found here.
In what ways can we form useful relationships between notes?
Nick Milo, the fellow behind Linking Your Thinking, shares the basic concepts that underly his system in this post.
Until recently, folders were all we had. They weren’t good enough. Now we have links. Now many people have taken a hard stance that all they need are links. Hard stances become fragile stances. Don’t fall for the dogma. The right tools for a healthy digital library include a multitude of relationship-builders.
These relationship-builders include: a Home note. Maps of Content. Direct Links. Proximity. Tags.
And yes, even a few folders.
If you're not familiar with Nick, his LYT is simply a Zettelkasten with some structured notes included within. These notes are mentioned in this quote: maps of content and a home note. Simple ways to make it easier to see themes and structure within your collection. Anyway, if you're into this PKM stuff, check out Nick's article and go from there.
From note-taking to note-making
Related to all this, Anne–Laure Le Cunff shares her thoughts on the topic of making notes and how that differs from taking notes.
In his 1962 book about study methods, Edgar Wright makes the distinction between “note-taking” from “note-making.” Note-taking often happens while listening; the goal is to quickly capture content so we can refer back to it later. Note-making is more common while reading; it consists in deliberately crafting our own version so we can learn and create better.
That fits nicely alongside the advice of Adler, Ahrens, and the Zettelkasten concept itself.
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Quote of the week
The proper response to this situation is not to shun technology itself, for human beings are intrinsically and necessarily users of tools. Rather, it is to find and use technologies that, instead of manipulating us, serve sound human ends and the focal practices (Borgmann) that embody those ends. A table becomes a center for family life; a musical instrument skillfully played enlivens those around it. Those healthier technologies might be referred to as holistic (Franklin) or convivial (Illich), because they fit within the human lifeworld and enhance our relations with one another. Our task, then, is to discern these tendencies or affordances of our technologies and, on both social and personal levels, choose the holistic, convivial ones.
Alan Jacobs, From Tech Critique to Ways of Living at New Atlantis
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Currently
Reading: The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espianoge Story of the Cold War by Ben Macintyre. Just getting started on this one, but it's a riveting story so far. Also finally started Dune.
Watching: The newest season of Studio C kicked off this week and that's always an exciting time in our house. Our entire family loves this show and appreciate the clean humour. Not every sketch is a home run, but overall we have a lot of fond memories watching the show over the years.
Drinking: I've been wanting something different in the world of beer of late. Two options have hit the spot. The award-winning Blood Alley ESB from Russell Brewing is one (extra special bitter). And the other is Boyd's Black Lager from the Smithers Brewing company.
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All right, friends. That's it for this issue, so until next time, peace on you and your loved ones!