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How I Organize My Obsidian Vault 📥 Tags, Topics & Maps of Content — Transcript

by Wanderloots · 9,110 words · 1,228 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00hello my name is Callum also known as
0:02water loots and welcome to today's video
0:04on tags versus topics structuring
0:07obsidian for emerging insights people
0:09tend to be confused at how to organize
0:11their obsidian vaults which is
0:12completely Fair since obsidian is so
0:15customizable but that customization
0:18opens the door to structuring a truly
0:20personal Knowledge Management System one
0:22of the biggest confusions that people
0:24have when using obsidian is how to use
0:25tags versus Topics in this video I'm
0:28going to walk through what tags and
0:29topics ICS are and the pros and cons of
0:31using them in different scenarios here's
0:33today's outline an overview of tags
0:35versus topics setting up tags the three
0:38main types setting up topic notes
0:40leveling up your topic notes with maps
0:42of content the key characteristics of
0:44tags versus topic notes and then tips
0:47and best practices I'll go through my
0:49own personal tips and best practices on
0:51how I use tags versus topics at the end
0:53of the video once you have a better
0:54understanding on the pros and cons of
0:56each of them but before we dive into
0:58that I just wanted to briefly touch on
1:00the concept of structure versus
1:01emergence as I think if you understand
1:03these two concepts better you'll be able
1:06to much more easily understand the use
1:08cases of tags and topics and when you
1:10should use one versus the other tags
1:12enable structure a predetermined system
1:15for organizing your notes you can think
1:17of it like a filing cabinet it's
1:19something that you can have a different
1:20cabinet or a different folder for each
1:22type of note and then that completely
1:24removes the decision process of
1:26organizing your notes because you know
1:27exactly where each note is supposed to
1:29go talk topics enable emergence a
1:32pattern a structure that emerges and
1:34grows over time the goal is not to
1:36predetermine anything but to allow the
1:38structure to emerge you can think of it
1:40kind of like having a trunk of a tree
1:42with a bunch of branches that begin to
1:43grow off and then leaves that grow off
1:45the branches this is how your notes
1:47begin to form clusters over time so that
1:49you can identify emerging insights in my
1:52opinion the best system is to do both to
1:54use both tags and topics a Hybrid Theory
1:57of
1:58organization the structure of topics
2:00removes decision fatigue and
2:02organizational paralysis because you
2:03don't have to think about how you're
2:05organizing your notes and in contrast
2:07the emergence of topics allows you to
2:09have serendipitous insights that are
2:11based on your own intuition where you
2:13follow the your notes between different
2:15topics and have the structure emerge
2:18gradually over time now as I walk
2:20through this tutorial I want you to keep
2:21one thing in mind each of us is going to
2:23have a completely different system each
2:25of us is going to organize a system that
2:27works best for us there's a reason it's
2:30called personal Knowledge Management
2:32because what works for me might not work
2:34for you the goal is to allow you to
2:36naturally connect to your notes without
2:38overthinking without having decision
2:40fatigue something where you can go into
2:41your second brain and you can follow
2:43your own path of intuition based on the
2:46unique structure that you've established
2:47here this really boosts your ability to
2:50generate ideas and find insights and
2:52follow trains of thoughts to new areas
2:54in your second brain let's dive in okay
2:56so now that you have a bit of an idea on
2:58the value of using tag T and topics and
3:00how they introduce different types of
3:02structure for your second brain or for
3:04your obsidian Vault thought I would give
3:06a brief overview on what tags and topics
3:09are and why you might be interested in
3:11using one versus the other before we go
3:14into depth on what each of them have to
3:16offer so really the goal here is that
3:18we're trying to introduce both structure
3:20and emergent in our organization systems
3:23for obsidian so what do I mean by that
3:25well there's two different ways that you
3:26can consider organizing your system
3:29there's what's called called a top- down
3:30approach and a bottom up approach a top-
3:33down approach is effectively a way where
3:35you predetermine the type of
3:36organization that you want to have in
3:38your system so this is where you would
3:40come up with a list of tags up front and
3:43then each time you create a note you
3:45have an idea on what tag you want to use
3:47in contrast a bottom up approach is more
3:49of an emergent system and that means
3:52that you build as you go you don't
3:54predetermine what you want in your
3:56organization instead you just allow the
3:58structure to emerge organically the way
4:00that I think of tags is that there are
4:01three main types there's a main note
4:03type a status type and an inline note
4:06type the main distinguisher between a
4:08tag and a topic in my opinion is asking
4:10yourself the question is this and is a
4:14note and what do I mean by that I mean
4:16is this a source is it a book is it a
4:19topic is it a daily note or is it
4:22something like psychology or
4:24Neuroscience is it an about note
4:27something that involves the contents of
4:29of the notes itself rather than the type
4:31of note so that's where we would use a
4:33topic note topic note are an about note
4:37topic notes are used to make connections
4:41between notes rather than classify them
4:44into categories like you would use a tag
4:46for and since we're using a note rather
4:48than a tag if we go back to tags for a
4:51second I can create hashtag Source I can
4:53create hashtag book but if I click on
4:56this all it does is it pulls up all of
4:59the the notes that I have with the tag
5:01hashtag Source you can see here at the
5:03top it searches tagon hash source so
5:06effectively what a tag is doing is it's
5:08operating as a file and CIT it's
5:10operating as a folder so a lot of people
5:12actually use tags instead of folders now
5:15with that means is that the source
5:17itself the hashtag Source if I click on
5:19it or if I click on hashtag book all it
5:21does is it pulls up a list of all of the
5:23books that include the tag of hashtag
5:25book now in contrast if I go to topic
5:28notes if I wanted to create a new note
5:31let's say I wanted to create a note
5:33about Neuroscience or psychology you can
5:37see that this is listed within my topic
5:39folder well because I'm not using a tag
5:42that means I can actually click into the
5:43note itself and I can start writing down
5:47Contents I can take my ideas my thoughts
5:49or subtopics and add them into the
5:51Neuroscience note that means that topic
5:54notes can actually contain information
5:57and because of that too if I go to
5:58neuroscience and and I go to the side
6:00and I open up the back links you can see
6:03that there are all of these linked notes
6:05linked mentions of Neuroscience inside
6:07of all these other notes so not only can
6:09I use Neuroscience to contain notes
6:12where I can write information or link to
6:14other notes perhaps related to
6:15Neuroscience like the default mode
6:17Network or flow but I can use that to
6:21indicate the backlinks of related notes
6:24that mention those topics so you can
6:27kind of think of topic notes as a form
6:29of creating an emerging structure so you
6:32can have patterns that naturally appear
6:35again if I go back to neuroscience and I
6:36open for example the linked view of the
6:38local graph I can see all of the notes
6:41that are linked to the topic of
6:43Neuroscience and I can expand the depth
6:45of that where you can see here if I go
6:47from a one note depth to a two note
6:49depth it explodes there's a ton of
6:51information here and what this is
6:53showing me is effectively patterns with
6:56clusters you can see all the different
6:57notes that have been clustered around
6:59certain areas using a topic note allows
7:01you to form an emergent structure where
7:04you can begin to identify in patterns
7:05over time kind of as if this was like
7:07the trunk of a tree and it had all of
7:08these branches going off it whereas
7:10again in contrast with tags if I click
7:13on the Note all it does is pull up the
7:14source note like a folder here really
7:16the goal here is to establish rules for
7:19how you use tags versus topics so that
7:22you don't overthink your structure by
7:25having a scaffolding or framework of how
7:28you categorize your notes notes it
7:30becomes a lot easier to just write notes
7:32and follow the flow of your ideas you
7:34don't want to sit there and and think
7:36every single time you create a note oh
7:37is this going to include a tag oh is
7:39this going to include a topic what's the
7:41topic going to be what's the tag going
7:42to be instead you can use a top down
7:44approach for tags where you have a
7:45predefined list of tags that you're
7:47going to use in your system in other
7:49words a top down approach where you have
7:50that predetermined structure in place
7:52that will help you categorize your notes
7:54and then when you get to the topic you
7:56can use a new topic or an existing topic
7:59based on what you've already included
8:00you can just build on what you already
8:02have which is why it's a bottom up
8:03approach now just as a reminder I want
8:06you to remember that there's no right
8:08way to do this there's no one siiz
8:11fits-all solution to how you want to use
8:13tags versus topics it's up to each
8:15person to establish a system that works
8:17for them what matters is establishing a
8:20system of consistency so that you can
8:21stop worrying about the organization and
8:23start thinking about your next idea so
8:26now I'm going to go through a process of
8:27setting up my tags my topics and are
8:29called a map of content which I will get
8:31into more later but I just want you to
8:33remember that this is just what works
8:34for me and my system is constantly
8:36changing but the goal here again is that
8:38you're generating an emergent
8:40organization system now just before I
8:42dive deeper into tags versus topics you
8:44can see that I have this note inside of
8:46my digital Garden at wander loot. XYZ
8:49you can go back here and get the gist of
8:51what I'm talking about in this video if
8:52you need to remind yourself but I'm
8:54going to go through some more specific
8:55use cases now on how I distinguish
8:58between tags or topics tags help you
9:00file your notes in a way that you can
9:01search for them and find them easily in
9:04contrast topics allow you to connect
9:06notes in a way that's more intuitive to
9:08you so you can begin to have an emerging
9:11structure develop over time eventually
9:13you can expand them into maps of content
9:16which allow for a further Improvement on
9:18the semantic structure of your second
9:19brain now let's take a deeper look into
9:21setting up a system of tags so the
9:23easiest way to set up a tag is literally
9:25to just put hashtag whatever you're
9:27interested in you can turn any word or
9:29series of words into a tag and what
9:32happens is by typing in #the word you've
9:34now created a list that will show all of
9:37the files that contain that tag in a
9:40sense tags are effectively just folders
9:42now I use both tags and folders and
9:45that's just my personal system I know
9:47some people prefer to only use tags or
9:49only use folders but I actually have a
9:51system where I use Tag to move my notes
9:53into a folder so you can see here that
9:55this note is in the general Vault and by
9:57having the word #t in here if I make a
10:00change to this note now that I have
10:01included # Source the note will
10:03automatically move to the source folder
10:05you can see up at the top here it's been
10:06moved to Vault sources and the way I do
10:09this is I use a plugin called Auto note
10:11mover and I have a system of hashtags
10:14that I use a system of tags that will
10:16automatically move notes to different
10:18folders based on the tag that I'm using
10:20and I talk about this a lot more in my
10:21YouTube video on automatically
10:23organizing my obsidian Vault using
10:26inboxes and indexes so I recommend
10:28checking that out if you're interested
10:29in automatic organization of tags
10:32another way that you can use tags is you
10:34can include a property there's actually
10:35a default one called Tags so you can add
10:37this into the yaml which is the front
10:40matter of your note that helps you keep
10:41track of your metadata I often would say
10:44that for example a note is a source or a
10:47note is a book and you can see here by
10:49putting in book it automatically moved
10:51it from the sources folder into the
10:53books folder for the main note type the
10:55first type of tag that I like to use I
10:58keep my main note type tags in the front
11:00matter in the tag section so for example
11:02if I were to create a new note and call
11:05this the creative act for a book that
11:07I'm interested in and I can add a
11:09property so I'm going to go and add a
11:10tags property and this would be a book
11:12so if I put # book it will automatically
11:15move this note into the books folder now
11:17if I wanted to click on book and see a
11:19list of all the books it would pull them
11:21up in the side here so it provides a
11:23really easy way for you to search using
11:25tags to find the notes that contain the
11:28hashtag book the tag of books now the
11:31second way that I use tags is to
11:33indicate status so once I have the main
11:35category the main note type indicated as
11:37this is a book I could go in and I could
11:40add another note called hash unread then
11:42if I wanted to I could go through and
11:44find every book that I've tagged with
11:46the unread tag and after I finish the
11:48book I can go and create a new tag
11:50called red and then I would also be able
11:52to go through and find all of the books
11:53that I had read so you can use tags as
11:56an easy way to indicate the status of a
11:58note and finally the third way that you
12:00can use tags is what I call inline note
12:02types so the best example that I have of
12:04this would be in my daily note so I'll
12:06pull up my daily note here and you can
12:08see that I have a section called ideas
12:09for Solutions so what I do here is if I
12:11have a new idea I literally write in
12:14hash idea and then I write the idea here
12:16so now that I have this idea here if I
12:18click on the idea tag it pulls up a list
12:20on the side showing all of my different
12:22ideas and you can see here that if I
12:24click on this note it takes me to the
12:25specific section so the benefit of doing
12:28this is that by using an inline tag I'm
12:31able to jump not only to all of the
12:33sources that are listed but I'm able to
12:35jump to a specific section within the
12:38note that is related to the tag that I'm
12:40using so it's an easy way to use the
12:42search to jump to a specific section in
12:45my note the goal of using tags in my
12:47particular system in my personal
12:49Knowledge Management System is to create
12:51a structured system so that I don't have
12:53to think about the note organization or
12:55classification this is also what I talk
12:56more about in my automatic inboxes video
12:59but the idea here is that by having a
13:01predetermined list of tags that I can
13:03use which you can see here I can go and
13:05I can scroll through I've got a list of
13:07all the tags that I like to use on a
13:08regular basis I don't have to think
13:10about how I'm going to categorize or
13:12organize my notes I can just give it the
13:14tag on what it is by asking myself a
13:16question of is this an is a note a type
13:19of note this is a book this is a source
13:23this is a video and it becomes a very
13:25easy way for me to quickly organize my
13:27notes by giving it the tag that's
13:29relevant and then I can move on to
13:31continue taking the note and introduce
13:33topics which I'll get into in a moment
13:35so to give you an idea on my most common
13:36tags you can see the list on the side
13:38here so my most common tag is a daily
13:40note tag which I've used regularly every
13:42time I create a new daily note I have
13:44Source idea digital Garden I use the
13:47digital Garden to automatically move
13:49notes that are related to my digital
13:50Garden into the digital Garden folder
13:52which I then publish to my digital
13:54Garden at wander. XYZ so that's a really
13:56functional one that I tend to use then I
13:58have my next three which are atoms
14:00molecules and Alloys these are related
14:02to my particular zle cast and system
14:04which is called molecular note taking
14:06and I'll talk about that in the next
14:08video so I'm not going to dive into that
14:09at the moment I also use tags to
14:11indicate authors if I add a new person
14:12for example the creative act I wanted to
14:14add an author note I can add Rick Rubin
14:16as the author and if I go into Rick
14:18Rubin I use the hashtag author to
14:20indicate that this note type here is
14:22related to an author so that's one of my
14:24commonly used ones and then I also use
14:26tags to help organize my digital Garden
14:28where I have something like # creativity
14:30and knowledge work but if you see this
14:32here you can see there's a slash it's
14:34not just creativity it's creativity
14:36knowledge work so this gets into what
14:38are called nested tags I don't
14:40personally use nested tags all that much
14:42but it's very possible it's easy to do
14:44all you have to do is add a slash so for
14:46example I could do book slash fiction
14:49and that would create a nested tag of
14:51all of the books that I've included that
14:53have the subtag or the nested tag of
14:55fiction so in this situation I would
14:57probably create one called book /
14:59fiction and non-fiction so that would
15:01create a subcategory within the book but
15:04again I use my tags more as a
15:05classification system so I don't tend to
15:07deal with nested tags instead I prefer
15:10to deal with something like a status
15:12where I'll use the main category of book
15:14and then a subcategory of red or unread
15:18and I'll just use that to indicate the
15:19status of the book and I'll change it
15:21rather than creating a whole subcategory
15:23within a nested tag but again that's
15:25just my preference so you can do
15:26whatever makes the most sense to you so
15:28just as a few more examples here you can
15:29see that all of these notes are an is a
15:32note this is a source this is a book it
15:34is an article it is an atom it is a
15:37topic and what's nice about this is you
15:39can also use the tags to organize in a
15:42different way using something like data
15:44view which is a plugin that enables you
15:46to query or pull specific information
15:49from your Vault so as an example if I go
15:51to my topic of creativity and knowledge
15:53work again I'll get into Topics in a
15:55moment you can see here that I have a
15:57data view query that's pulled in all of
15:59my notes related to the tag of
16:00creativity knowledge work so I can
16:03specifically use data view to pull from
16:05# creativity knowledge workor to create
16:07a list of all of the notes that are
16:09related to that particular hashtag so
16:11data view is a really great way to
16:13introduce indexes and inboxes again that
16:17I talk about more in my automatic
16:18inboxes video as a summary of tags you
16:21can use tags to structure and organize
16:23your system in a predetermined way in a
16:25top down manner where you have decided
16:28how each note will be structured within
16:30your second brain you can think of it
16:32like creating a filing cabinet where you
16:34have a different folder for each type of
16:35note and you slot each note in using a
16:38tag it's kind of like going to the
16:39library and seeing that there's a
16:41section for books and a section for
16:42magazines and a section for videos you
16:45can go to the specific type of resource
16:47that you're looking for and you can
16:49search within it to find it in a very
16:50easy way now let's take a look at topic
16:52notes okay so I hope that that gave you
16:54a good overview on what tags are and
16:56related to the note I just showed you
16:57actually creativity and knowledge work
16:59this one is a topic so let's get into
17:01setting up topic notes so you can see
17:03here that I gave this note uh the tag of
17:05topic which moves it into my vault which
17:07I have with the topic folder I can pull
17:09that up on the side here and all of
17:11these files here are actual notes so
17:13they're not a tag but they're actually a
17:15specific note that has been created to
17:17indicate that particular topic for
17:19example I can go to Ai and in contrast
17:22to a tag I'm actually able to write in
17:25here so I could write whatever I want I
17:27could put AI equals artificial elligence
17:29I can link to other notes perhaps I want
17:31to link to machine learning which is a
17:33subtopic of AI I could create a new note
17:35maybe something like emerging AI
17:37Behavior which is a subtopic of AI now
17:39this right here is what's called a ghost
17:41note and you can see the difference
17:43between machine learning which is a note
17:44that's been created and emerging AI
17:46Behavior which is a note that hasn't
17:47been created yet so this is a cool way
17:49that you can start to use topic notes to
17:51begin linking notes together without
17:54having to actually create the note you
17:55can use a ghost note to begin organizing
17:58notes that are related to one another
17:59connecting it so again if I go up to the
18:01side here and I show the backlinks in
18:03the document you can see all of the
18:05notes that contain the topic of AI so
18:07what's cool about that is I can pull up
18:10specific notes that all relate to that
18:13topic so topics are a way that you can
18:15make connections between notes rather
18:17than just trying to categorize them into
18:18a particular bucket as if it were a
18:21folder structure on the side here you
18:23can begin to use topics to connect notes
18:26together based on the relationship and
18:29as you can see here when I just added
18:30the AI section all of a sudden an
18:32entirely new cluster appeared so related
18:35to this note of topic notes with these
18:37three topics I can see the connections
18:39where this topic Note file relates to
18:42the different categories here of the
18:43different topics that I've included now
18:45in this one you can actually see that
18:46there's an overlap between the topic of
18:48AI and the topic of psychology so that's
18:51pretty interesting and this is a note
18:53that I might want to focus on because
18:54it's related to two topics that has this
18:57connection point so not only are we
18:59using topics to make connections between
19:01notes but by making those connections
19:03between notes you begin to see emergent
19:05Behavior you begin to notice clusters of
19:08information which give you insights as
19:10to the relationship between your notes
19:12and that might spark one of those aha
19:14moments where you have an idea on how
19:16one topic relates to another perhaps how
19:18AI relates to psychology and I can look
19:21visually at the graph here and see
19:23specifically that AI relates to
19:25psychology through this note here which
19:27you can't see from the cursor but it's
19:28the note blank so if I open that up you
19:30can see that this is the genre of
19:32psychology and I also included somewhere
19:34within this note the reference to AI so
19:37by making those connections I'm
19:38facilitating emergent behavior that
19:40allows me to follow trains of thought
19:42that I have and make new connections
19:44across different disciplines so this is
19:46personally why I prefer using topic
19:48notes rather than tags for the concepts
19:50themselves and what the notes are
19:52actually about in a substantive form
19:54rather than the type of note or the type
19:56of information that I'm pulling in so if
19:58go back to the AI section you can see
20:00here that there's a lot more notes that
20:01are all interconnected with AI I could
20:04reduce the depth and see everything
20:05that's related to This One Singular note
20:07or I can expand it and begin seeing the
20:10patterns that emerged for example
20:11there's another cluster over here and I
20:13could follow the train of thought
20:14between different notes to try and
20:16identify the different connections
20:18between the concepts and try to make
20:20those insights that cross disciplines if
20:23I go back to my digital Garden
20:24explanation of this you can see that
20:25there's the properties section at the
20:26top here I also have a section in the
20:29yaml in the front matter that's called
20:31topics I can include multiple topics
20:33within a single note and then that'll
20:35give me an idea on how these different
20:37concepts relate to one another so to
20:39give a couple more examples of topics I
20:41could include flow I could include
20:43epistemology which is the study of
20:45knowledge I could include a location
20:47like Canada you see that's a ghost note
20:50topics allow for an emergent structure
20:52they allow for semantic organization
20:54within your second brain using specific
20:57topic notes to help you identify pockets
20:59of insight where you can Bridge Concepts
21:01across different mediums it's like
21:04connecting a book to a video to a
21:05magazine to a podcast and using a
21:08structure that enables you to move
21:10between them seamlessly it's a great way
21:12for you to follow intuition between
21:14different types of notes as you're
21:15probably starting to notice there's a
21:17lot of similarities between tags and
21:18topics both can be used in most
21:21situations I could have a tag for
21:22psychology and Link notes using that tag
21:25or I could use a topic note for
21:26psychology and Link notes with that
21:28topic note the main reason that I prefer
21:30to use topics for about notes and tags
21:33for types of notes is because topic
21:36notes can contain information they can
21:38be leveled up into what's called a map
21:40of content where the more information
21:42related to a particular topic or
21:44subtopics the easier it becomes for me
21:46to structure that topic note in a map
21:48that helps me surface more insights and
21:51saves me a lot of time and energy as I'm
21:53working through my second brain let's
21:55take a look at maps of content over time
21:57a topic itself might SE to get a little
21:59bit crowded you can create what's called
22:01a map of content this is where you take
22:03a note such as a topic note like Ai and
22:05you can actually convert a topic into a
22:08map now you can see on the side here
22:09that I have all of these topics all of
22:11these are Concepts that I've created
22:14notes that involve an about property
22:17they're related to something substantive
22:20something about the note contents
22:21themselves rather than the type of note
22:23but for example with AI I might have a
22:26ton of different related sub subtopics
22:29maps of content help with creating
22:32subtopics and keeping track of those
22:34subtopics over time so if I go back to
22:36AI again one of the benefits here of
22:38using AI as a topic rather than a tag is
22:41that I can write in this note so I can
22:43expand on my thoughts that are related
22:45to the topic of artificial intelligence
22:47as my thoughts emerge over time as more
22:50and more Concepts come in here for
22:51example like automation augmenting maybe
22:54an AI personal assistant Maybe agentic
22:58AI a lot of related topics that begin to
23:01get complicated over time as you can see
23:03on the side here because I can write in
23:05this note I Can Begin organizing so
23:07perhaps maybe I want to have something
23:08like AI training and within AI training
23:11that includes machine learning and then
23:14maybe I instead of having emergent AI
23:16Behavior here I want to add it under a
23:18personal assistant and maybe a gentic AI
23:21also fits under personal assistant and
23:23so does automation I'm working through
23:25and creating subcategories subtopics
23:27within the AI system each of these
23:30subtopics creates a jumping off point
23:32and that's the the real purpose of using
23:34a map of content if I wanted to come
23:36into for example AI because I know that
23:39I'm going to be writing a paper or
23:40creating a YouTube video rather than
23:42just having the tag of hashtag AI which
23:45doesn't really provide a jumping off
23:47point for me to continue my research I
23:48can instead go into my AI map of content
23:51and I can think oh maybe I want to write
23:53on machine learning or maybe I want to
23:55write about emergent AI Behavior because
23:57as this is coming into my head I've got
23:59this topic here so I can go and I can
24:01add a property add file property and I
24:04can give it the tag of topic and I can
24:07then move this file to another folder
24:09and move it to my topic folder which you
24:11can see just modified the graph over
24:12here and perhaps with this emergent AI
24:14behavior I'm reminded of the Hinton
24:16lectures which is a lecture series that
24:19I just went to and it was talking a lot
24:21about emerging AI Behavior which is
24:23something that I'm interested in because
24:25I think that emergence has a lot of
24:26value because it's very hard to predict
24:30but provides a ton of value when it
24:31happens if we can let it happen so now
24:34if I go back to my AI note and I'm
24:35reminded that I wanted to write
24:37something about emergent Behavior I can
24:38click into emergent Behavior which takes
24:40me to The Hinton lectures and if I zoom
24:42in I can see now that there's a link
24:44between the Hinton lectures emergent
24:46behavior and artificial intelligence so
24:48I begin to follow a train of thought a
24:49Chain of Thought as you can see here is
24:51actually linked to The Hinton lectures
24:53and it allows me to come up with ideas
24:56and expand on those ideas as I follow my
24:58train of thought literally through my
25:00second brain in a way you can think of a
25:02map of content oroc as a leveled up
25:06topic note it's a place that helps
25:07organize my topics and subtopics so that
25:11I have a jumping off point I have an
25:12entry point to research so that whenever
25:15I want to continue thinking or looking
25:17into a particular topic I can go back
25:19and I can see what most interested me in
25:22the past in a sense it's kind of like an
25:23index or a table of contents for that
25:27particular topic as another example
25:29let's look up epistemology so you can
25:31see here epistemology the study of
25:33knowledge so I've got a definition at
25:34top and then I also have the subtopic of
25:37epistemology called personal Knowledge
25:38Management and within personal Knowledge
25:40Management I have concepts of second
25:42brain and smart note taking and each of
25:45these point me to a specific Source a
25:48particular reference that I can go to to
25:49continue that train of thought if I
25:51wanted to go into the expression of
25:52knowledge through digital Gardens I have
25:54my public personal Knowledge Management
25:55System so I can go through and be like
25:57oh yeah this is what I was interested in
25:59researching more right I wanted to
26:01explain zle Casten in my next YouTube
26:03video so I can continue going through
26:05and I can follow my trains of thought
26:07from topic to topic using the map of
26:09content as that entry point into my
26:11second brain and as a piece of advice
26:13it's best as with most things in
26:15obsidian and with personal Knowledge
26:17Management to let maps of content emerge
26:20over time it's not something that you
26:21can just create off the bat because when
26:24you first create a topic note like AI
26:26you're not going to have any subtopics
26:27because it might be your first note that
26:29you've included in your obsidian Vault
26:30but over time as you start to notice how
26:32one topic relates to another then you
26:34can start to create maps of content of
26:36your favorite types and if I wanted to
26:38for example I could go through and now
26:40that this is not just AI a topic though
26:43I do have the topic tag it's also a map
26:45of content so I can give it a map of
26:47content tag then I can pull up the side
26:49here and I can find all of the topics
26:51that have been converted into maps of
26:53content the notes that have more
26:54information to them again information
26:57that I was able to add because I'm not
26:59using a tag I'm using a topic to sort
27:01the information itself and when you're
27:03first starting out it might seem like a
27:05lot of this thinking is overkill and it
27:07might be but if your graph looks like
27:09this it's not that big of a deal to go
27:10through and sort through your
27:11information but if we take a look at my
27:13full second brain there are thousands of
27:15notes in here it starts to become really
27:17difficult to notice the patterns in
27:19these notes over time this is the global
27:21graph view but if instead I want to
27:23limit by a specific topic for example
27:25like AI I can search Ai and I can find
27:27all of the notes that relate to Ai and
27:30related to this graph view you can also
27:31pull up tags specifically which are
27:33these green ones here so you can use
27:35tags as a way to indicate where these
27:38files are organized how they're related
27:40to one another with all of these tags in
27:42the middle like this one here is my
27:43daily note tag that shows how this tag
27:45relates to all of the other noes which
27:47is the same as if I went into and
27:49searched on the side here tag daily note
27:52it would pull up all of the notes
27:54related to the tag of daily note so you
27:57can do this visually or you can do this
27:58through search on the side but again
28:00this is not a very helpful view aside
28:02from showing a somewhat pretty view of
28:05all of my thoughts and ideas my second
28:07brain which is why I tend to find the
28:08local view more powerful and the local
28:11view is really augmented by using
28:13something like topics specifically
28:15because I can go through and I can
28:17finesse that massive Vault the massive
28:19Knowledge Graph that you just saw into
28:21the topics that are specifically related
28:23to what I'm trying to research in the
28:25moment so I personally find that a lot
28:27more valuable you you can see now why I
28:29would be interested in using topic notes
28:31for about Concepts rather than tags
28:34because tags cannot contain information
28:36whereas topic notes can you can level up
28:39your topic notes into a map of content
28:41where you can introduce a hierarchy of
28:43topics and subtopics and provide jumping
28:46off points or entry points into your
28:48second brain based on the paths that you
28:50tend to walk through most often okay so
28:52now that I've gone through and explained
28:54how you can set up tags topics and maps
28:56of content thought I would give a quick
28:58summary on the characteristics of tags
29:00and topic notes to hopefully help you
29:02figure out how you want to use them the
29:04biggest one to me is the structure and
29:07with tags you've predetermined the
29:09structure what that means is you've gone
29:10through and you've selected for example
29:12I want hashtag Source hasht book #
29:16country and you've gone through and
29:17you've selected how you would like to
29:19have some form of structured
29:21organization of your digital mind or
29:24your second brain you don't want to have
29:25too many tags predetermined because that
29:27removes moves the ability to have the
29:29emergent nature exist and that's where
29:31topic notes come in the structure of
29:33topic notes is that as you add new
29:35sources as you add new information you
29:37come up with topic notes that best
29:39relate to that particular piece of
29:41information that you're adding to your
29:42knowledge graph to your second brain as
29:44an analogy the organization of tags is
29:47like a folder where you've taken the
29:49time to specifically sort a note that is
29:51a book into the book folder now that's
29:54different than a topic note because for
29:56example with tags if you had # book
29:59you're not going to give it the tag #
30:01video or # article because it's not that
30:04it's a book so you can kind of think of
30:06this like being at the library where
30:08you've filed all the books in the
30:10bookshelves but you keep the videos and
30:12you keep the magazines in separate
30:13sections so you don't really have a lot
30:15of overlap between the different types
30:17of notes of where you're getting your
30:19information with tags it's like putting
30:20it into a filing cabinet in contrast
30:23with topic notes you can have a
30:25particular note bridged between
30:27different typ of notes for example I
30:29could have a book that's related to
30:30psychology I could have a YouTube video
30:32or a movie related to psychology and I
30:35could use the topic note of psychology
30:37to bridge between the different note
30:39types and produce a cluster of
30:41information that all center around that
30:43concept of psychology effectively what
30:45this is doing is that with the growth in
30:47tags you've predetermined that top- down
30:49structure you've selected how you want
30:51to have the information get slotted
30:53through the system in a way that's
30:55somewhat rigid in contrast with topic
30:57notes you add new topic notes as you go
31:00so if you come across psychology or
31:01Neuroscience or creativity whatever the
31:04concept is that you've decided that you
31:06want to write a note about and that you
31:07want to slot into your topics you just
31:09add a new one and over time it grows
31:11from the ground up so when I'm deciding
31:13if I want to use a tag or a topic I
31:15first ask myself is this a note type is
31:17this a status is this a folder type
31:20structure and if it is then it's
31:22something that I will probably give a
31:23tag to however if instead it's not a
31:26type of something but is a about
31:28something it's about a concept I'll give
31:30it a topic note and especially if it's
31:32something that I know is going to become
31:34a bigger part of my research over time
31:36eventually I may turn a topic note into
31:37a map of content so if it's something
31:39that I think I want to provide some form
31:41of organization for myself something to
31:44go back through like an index then I
31:46will use a topic node instead because I
31:48can always convert that into a map of
31:50content later in terms of how I want to
31:51actually use these tags versus topics
31:54the locating method is important with
31:56tags I tend to search I want to take a
31:58look and find all of the books so I will
32:00search for # book whereas with a topic
32:03instead I'm trying to make connections
32:04between notes again I want to bridge
32:06those different mediums I want to go
32:08from a book to a video to an article to
32:10a podcast and I want to relate all of
32:12those together by creating backlinks
32:14connections between the notes then it's
32:16probably something that I will use a
32:17topic for in my opinion tags are far
32:20less versatile they're more of a rigid
32:21structure where I've gone through and
32:23I've predetermined the main note types I
32:25want to have the main structure that I
32:28want to introduce to my system then I
32:29let the topic nodes grow over time and
32:31emerge and they're much more flexible
32:33because I can create many subtopics and
32:36I can create maps of content that
32:37connect topics and it's just a far
32:39better way for allowing emergent
32:41structure of ideas to form inside your
32:43second brain whereas tags help remove a
32:46lot of the thinking I know that if I'm
32:48taking notes and it's a source I give it
32:50the tag hashtag Source if that source is
32:53a book I give it the tag hashtag book so
32:55I don't have to think about how I'm
32:56going to be classifying these these
32:58notes because I already have a
32:59predetermined system so it's it's rigid
33:02but that rigidity that constraint
33:04actually opens up the flexibility for
33:06topic notes so these two work really
33:08well together to augment my second brain
33:11and finally as I mentioned a couple
33:12times tags can't contain information in
33:14and of themselves whereas topic notes
33:16can this is how you turn topic notes
33:18into maps of content so if it's
33:20something that you think you're going to
33:21want to add information to in the long
33:23run then you probably want to use a
33:25topic note rather than a tag but there's
33:27nothing say that you can't have both I
33:29could have a topic note that's related
33:30to books and then I could create an
33:32index that show all the books in My
33:34Vault based on the tag # book which I've
33:37actually done in my digital Garden here
33:39if I go to Source books and articles
33:41this is a note in obsidian and I've
33:43created a data view table that pulls in
33:45everything that has the tag hashtag book
33:48so this is a way where I can effectively
33:50have the topic of books in articles and
33:52I can use the tag book to pull all of
33:55the data from my obsidian Vault that
33:57show the notes that have the hashtag
33:59book that's just a way that you can
34:00create an index inside of a topic note
34:03that's related to a tag that you've
34:04created so again I hope that you're
34:06starting to realize that there is no
34:07right or wrong way to do this what
34:09matters is that it works for you there's
34:11a reason that this is called personal
34:13Knowledge Management because you want it
34:15to be personal if you find that there's
34:16some hybrid connection some way that you
34:18like to operate in a Best of Both World
34:20scenario which is how I operate I like
34:22to have both tags and topics then go for
34:25it follow your intuition because you're
34:27trying to build build a system here that
34:28will establish your ability to follow
34:31your own intuition in the future so you
34:32should use your intuition when setting
34:34it up okay so let's create a new example
34:36here okay so let's take a look at the
34:37Canada note I'm working on a video with
34:39Taylor my partner where we are creating
34:42travel videos about Canada so for myself
34:45yes I could use hasht Canada and I could
34:48flag every note that I write about that
34:50has the tag Canada but to me I know that
34:52I'm going to be wanting to include
34:54things like the province in Canada and I
34:56know that I'm going to create sub
34:57categories subtopics related to Canada
35:00and if I just had the Canada tag well
35:02that just pulls up a list of notes that
35:04contain the tag of Canada it doesn't
35:06necessarily allow me to structure and
35:08create a map a literal map of content of
35:10Canada so you could think of this in the
35:12same way for the United States I could
35:15put # USA but that's not going to be as
35:17helpful to me because I know that I'm
35:19going to want to talk about Hawaii or
35:21California and I'm not going to want to
35:23create a new hashtag that I can go
35:26through here and then have to fill
35:27filter through the tags instead I'm
35:29probably going to have notes that relate
35:31to each of these different concepts for
35:32example like when I went to New York
35:34last year for NF NYC I have journals
35:36related to New York so I know that New
35:38York is going to be a note that's filled
35:40with other entries so instead what I
35:42might do is introduce the tag and then
35:45introduce country because I might want
35:47to go through and find all of the notes
35:49that are related to a specific country
35:51and you can see here as I add more tags
35:53more countries appear on the side so
35:55this just becomes a really easy way for
35:56me to sort all of my my notes that have
35:58the particular tag of country and then
36:00once I found the note that's related to
36:02the main topic Canada that has the
36:05country tag I can go into that note and
36:07start adding the subtopics or the subn
36:09notes related to that topic so now if we
36:11go back to my Neuroscience example a
36:13tags well this is a topic note and this
36:15is a concept it's not an is a
36:18relationship because if I'm reading a
36:20book or watching a YouTube video on
36:21Neuroscience it is a video it is a book
36:24it isn't a neuroscience so I would use
36:27neuroscience as an example of a topic
36:29because I know that I'm going to want to
36:30go through and write information and
36:32over time I'll create something that has
36:34a whole map of content related to all of
36:37these Concepts so I can go through and
36:39add the topics that I find most
36:41interesting and drop them in here and
36:43then I can begin organizing them over
36:45time creating a map there's a lot of
36:46similarity between using tags or topics
36:49that's why there is no right way to do
36:51this the best way to do this is in a way
36:53that makes sense to you perhaps my with
36:55my example with the countries on the
36:56side here you would have preferred to
36:59have the United States as a tag and then
37:01you would rather have Hawaii have the
37:03tag of USA as an indication for country
37:06rather than using the country tag that
37:08would be completely fine it's totally up
37:10to you but again for myself I like
37:12having that rigid structure up front I
37:14like using the tag note as a is a
37:17relationship and for the topic notes
37:20it's an about relationship for me that
37:22allows me to have this clear rule
37:24established upfront so that I don't have
37:26to overthink my structure I always
37:28create notes for anything related to
37:29topics and I always use the same few
37:32tags to automatically organize my system
37:35with that top down approach by having a
37:37mix of a top down approach by creating
37:39the scaffolding the framework of how I
37:41use tags along with the emerging
37:43structure of using topic notes that
37:46appear as needed I have this nice
37:48balance between rigidity and flexibility
37:51that really helps me use my system in a
37:53much more effortless way now that you
37:54have a better understanding on tags
37:56versus topics of structure versus
37:58emergence I thought that I would walk
38:00through some tips and best practices
38:01that I personally find helpful for
38:03deciding when to use tags versus topics
38:05in my obsidian Vault my first tip is
38:07that you want to keep things as simple
38:09as possible it can be really easy
38:11upfront to start trying to organize
38:13absolutely everything inside of your
38:14obsidian Vault inside of your second
38:16brain but that just leads to decision
38:18fatigue and Analysis paralysis or
38:20organizational paralysis and you end up
38:22spending more time on the organization
38:24of your Vault than you do actually
38:26surfacing insights and generating ideas
38:28the second tip is to create a very
38:30simple decision tree for deciding when
38:32you want to use a tag and when you want
38:34to use a topic for example my decision
38:36tree is for tags I have a is a note type
38:40this is a book this is a video this is a
38:43source and that makes it very easy for
38:45me to identify which notes should
38:47involve a tag in contrast if the note is
38:50about something if it's about psychology
38:52it's about Neuroscience it's about
38:54personal Knowledge Management then I'll
38:56use a topic note tip number three is to
38:58experiment with your Vault to
39:00recalibrate your system as you go by
39:02keeping it simple at the start you'll
39:04start to realize where you need to add
39:06more complexity to help solve the
39:07problems as they arise you can begin to
39:09introduce maps of contents when your
39:11topics start to get too complicated
39:13these maps of content can then provide
39:15an Ever emerging system that helps you
39:18organize your topics so that you have
39:20that jumping off point the entry point
39:21into your digital Garden or your second
39:23brain rather than changing your entire
39:25system every single time you make an up
39:27dat introduce changes gradually let the
39:30change emerge as you come across notes
39:32that need that update this will end up
39:34saving you a ton of time and energy
39:36because if you go back and try and
39:37change your entire system from the
39:39ground up you'll probably be spending
39:40attention changing notes that you might
39:42never have touch again in the future by
39:45making the change as you go then you can
39:47have your system emerge and grow and
39:49recalibrate over time tip number four is
39:51to leverage visuals obsidian has a
39:54really powerful graph view feature that
39:56helps you to visualize clusters and
39:58emerging insights in your second brain
40:00by using local graphs or filter graphs
40:02you can begin to identify those insights
40:04which is one of the main powers of using
40:06an emergent structure like this and
40:08finally the fifth tip is to have fun the
40:10whole point of using a second brain like
40:12obsidian is that you're able to generate
40:14these emerging insights over time you
40:16can begin to follow your own trains of
40:18thought as you introduce more
40:19information and convert it to knowledge
40:21within your second brain the goal here
40:24is to actually use the notes that you're
40:26taking to actively take smart notes
40:29rather than just copying information
40:30into a dumb system that you're never
40:32going to look at Again by working with
40:34your knowledge and your information and
40:36making those connections with topic
40:38notes you can really begin to get an
40:40exponential increase in value with your
40:42own note taking and your own knowledge I
40:44hope that this video helps you
40:46understand how you can organize obsidian
40:47in a way that lets you leverage both
40:49structure and emergence through tags and
40:51topics if you found this video helpful I
40:53would love if you would please consider
40:54subscribing and sharing with a friend
40:56Word of Mouth is by far the best way for
40:58me to grow my channel so I appreciate it
41:00a lot I've also recently turned on
41:02YouTube memberships which is a lowcost
41:05way that you can support me on a monthly
41:06basis if you're getting value out of
41:08these videos and would like to show that
41:09support the more people that join my
41:12membership the more time I can spend
41:13making these videos so I really
41:15appreciate it a lot if you found this
41:16video interesting you might also find
41:18some of my other videos interesting I
41:19have a video that goes specifically in
41:22much more depth on automatic inboxes and
41:24indexes in obsidian which is a great way
41:26to augment use of tags to generate
41:28automatic organization if you'd like to
41:30learn more about the different features
41:31that obsidian has to offer I also have a
41:33video here that goes into depth on all
41:35of the major features throughout
41:37obsidian and a lot of people have told
41:38me that it's by far the best obsidian
41:40tutorial they've ever seen so I
41:42recommend checking it out if you'd like
41:43to learn more I also have a video that
41:45walks through notebook LM Google's AI
41:47system that allows you to work
41:49seamlessly with your obsidian notes to
41:51add an AI element to your personal
41:53Knowledge Management System augmenting
41:55your personal Knowledge Management
41:57Google Google themselves actually found
41:58it helpful so that was pretty cool my
42:00next video is going to involve what's
42:01called molecular zetel casting which is
42:03a notetaking system that a lot of people
42:05find kind of confusing so I'm going to
42:07walk through my entire process on how I
42:10use my zle Casten system to take notes
42:12inside of obsidian so if you're
42:13interested in that I recommend
42:15subscribing to be notified when this
42:16video is ready thanks again for watching
42:18and I will see you in the next video

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