Use these 10 Obsidian tips to level up your note taking productivity — Transcript

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1. 0:00hello everybody and welcome to another
2. 0:02video about obsidian content I'm Dan in
3. 0:05case you're new here I have this YouTube
4. 0:07channel and then I also have a website
5. 0:10danb.org I write about a bunch of stuff
6. 0:13including obsidian content and I've
7. 0:15shared several uh obsidian systems that
8. 0:17I have and kind of tutorials for how to
9. 0:19set those up and it's got me thinking a
10. 0:23bit about my overarching note-taking
11. 0:27philosophy and how that sort of applies
12. 0:29to what I've built and what I've been
13. 0:32doing in obsidian and so I sort of
14. 0:34wanted to distill that note-taking
15. 0:37philosophy into 10 tips for obsidian
16. 0:41note taking for beginners for advanced
17. 0:44beginners to hopefully help you take
18. 0:46better notes in your own systems so with
19. 0:49all that said let's just jump into it
20. 0:52there's a difference between working on
21. 0:54your note taking system and using your
22. 0:56note taking system to do real work
23. 0:59always know which you're doing with a
24. 1:00tool as advanced and capable as obsidian
25. 1:04it's very easy to spend all of your time
26. 1:07trying to set up perfect templates or
27. 1:10install these plugins and do these
28. 1:11Advanced kind of functionality and
29. 1:13that's all well and good but just know
30. 1:15that that's not actually doing real work
31. 1:18you're working on your notet taking
32. 1:20system rather than using your note
33. 1:21taking system so it's fine to do that
34. 1:24kind of thing but just be aware that
35. 1:26you're doing it and make sure that
36. 1:27you're not only doing that at and you
37. 1:30are spending actual time doing the work
38. 1:33that you actually want to be doing
39. 1:34obsidian is super powerful when you
40. 1:37start thinking in systems for me an
41. 1:40obsidian system contains three things
42. 1:43the first is anoc or a map of content
43. 1:46page that's kind of an index of
44. 1:49everything related to this system area
45. 1:52and then you have a template file so
46. 1:54it's very easy to create new notes of a
47. 1:56certain type in this enclosed system and
48. 1:59then on your
49. 2:00you'll have a data view table which is
50. 2:02just a way to link all of those pages
51. 2:05together to that centralized form and so
52. 2:07once you start thinking in these systems
53. 2:09you'll have a system for different
54. 2:11things like you have a daily note system
55. 2:12you have a meeting note system you have
56. 2:14a people note system all of these
57. 2:16different things are tiny enclosed
58. 2:18systems inside your larger obsidian life
59. 2:22and when you start thinking like that
60. 2:23and thinking okay what in my notes can
61. 2:26be created into a system then you have
62. 2:28really powerful note taking build
63. 2:31systems based on how you're working
64. 2:34don't create a system first and then try
65. 2:36to change your behavior to fit the
66. 2:37system the best way to build a new
67. 2:39system is to just start creating new
68. 2:41notes and just write and see how you're
69. 2:43using obsidian and then create a system
70. 2:46based on that so take a few notes build
71. 2:49a template based on those notes put anoc
72. 2:52and then make everything linked to theoc
73. 2:54and just do it based on how you're
74. 2:55actually working if you try to guess how
75. 2:58you're going to be working and set
76. 3:00things up in advance you're just not
77. 3:02going to use your system or there's so
78. 3:03many things that you're not going to use
79. 3:05it's just going to be a waste of time so
80. 3:06build your systems based on how you are
81. 3:09actually working taking notes is easy
82. 3:12actually using those notes is hard the
83. 3:16biggest challenge with a second brain or
84. 3:18a complex note taking system is actually
85. 3:21looking at notes again after You'
86. 3:23created them this is really hard you're
87. 3:25going to have to make a conscious effort
88. 3:27to actually do it and that means having
89. 3:31a weekly review using the random note
90. 3:33button whatever it is it's going to be a
91. 3:36different system that works for
92. 3:37everybody but make sure you're not just
93. 3:39taking notes you also have a process for
94. 3:42reviewing and using the notes that you
95. 3:45take productivity es and flows build
96. 3:48systems that support this I'm not sure
97. 3:51if you've heard of the Seinfeld strategy
98. 3:53but it's where he writes jokes every
99. 3:55single day and he wants to create this
100. 3:57chain that is never broken and that's
101. 3:59that's great if you can work like that
102. 4:01for me that is not how I work for me
103. 4:04productivity really es and flows and
104. 4:06I'll go through periods of being
105. 4:08productive and then periods of not being
106. 4:10productive and the secret is to build
107. 4:13systems and to create note taking a
108. 4:16world that you can fall out of when you
109. 4:20want to and then jump back in when
110. 4:22you're feeling ready to jump back in So
111. 4:24Building Systems that is easy to get
112. 4:27back into after a break you kind of
113. 4:29write notes to your future self to help
114. 4:31you on board and just make things super
115. 4:33easy to get back into it's going to be
116. 4:36much better if you actually have one of
117. 4:38those periods where you're not as
118. 4:39productive and the cost of getting back
119. 4:43into things is going to be much less
120. 4:45which is going to be better for your
121. 4:47future
122. 4:48self your notes are a living knowledge
123. 4:50base not an
124. 4:52archive sometimes when I'm reading old
125. 4:54notes I get this urge to just not touch
126. 4:56it it's like some sort of archive of a
127. 4:59past period in time and I don't want to
128. 5:01actually edit the note at all I know
129. 5:04that I need to get over this I don't
130. 5:05know if anybody else feels this way but
131. 5:07your notes are a living knowledge base
132. 5:10you want to constantly be improving them
133. 5:12using the knowledge changing the format
134. 5:14rewriting things so make sure you don't
135. 5:17treat your past notes as an archive but
136. 5:19treat them as a living knowledge base
137. 5:21that you can use and modify and edit and
138. 5:24improve new ideas come from the
139. 5:27intersection of existing ideas if you're
140. 5:30taking notes and you take them on two
141. 5:32separate articles each of those notes
142. 5:34are going to contain the ideas of the
143. 5:36people that wrote those original
144. 5:38articles if you then try to figure out
145. 5:41how those ideas intersect that's going
146. 5:43to be new knowledge that's new work that
147. 5:45you came up with so if you're trying to
148. 5:48come up with new knowledge try to think
149. 5:50about where two existing ideas that you
150. 5:53have from other people
151. 5:55intersect writing is
152. 5:58thinking most most people believe that
153. 6:00writing is something you do after you
154. 6:02come up with new ideas it's very much
155. 6:04not the case writing things down is how
156. 6:07you process your thoughts it is a form
157. 6:10of thinking so default to writing as
158. 6:13early as possible and you're going to
159. 6:14learn where you have gaps and knowledge
160. 6:17you're going to learn where you need to
161. 6:19research and learn more and that is
162. 6:21going to be the best way to think up new
163. 6:24ideas and to do your actual work publish
164. 6:28even if no one is watching
165. 6:30you should be publishing your writing
166. 6:31you should create a website you should
167. 6:33put together articles based on what
168. 6:35you're learning and you should publish
169. 6:37them even if nobody is reading your blog
170. 6:39publishing forces you to create a
171. 6:41finished product it forces you to think
172. 6:44things through and eventually you're
173. 6:46going to get some visibility it just
174. 6:48inevitably happens if you keep creating
175. 6:49content and it's just super valuable for
176. 6:52you as an individual for thinking out
177. 6:54loud for your personal presence all of
178. 6:56these sorts of things and if you're
179. 6:58working in a note taking system you're
180. 7:00already 90% of the way there so just do
181. 7:02the extra 10% and publish your writing
182. 7:06mimicry is a shortcut to
183. 7:08success whenever you're starting a new
184. 7:10project or learning a new skill the
185. 7:12secret is to look at the Masters in the
186. 7:14space the people that are already doing
187. 7:17what you want to be doing and then see
188. 7:19what you can learn from them in terms of
189. 7:21how they are working in terms of how
190. 7:23they present themselves and then try to
191. 7:26mimic that as much as possible don't
192. 7:28copy EX what they're doing obviously but
193. 7:31look at what they are already doing like
194. 7:34the methods that they're using the
195. 7:36reason being is the Masters in the space
196. 7:38have spent a lot of time and energy
197. 7:41figuring out why they do things the way
198. 7:44that they do and if you just copy the
199. 7:46end result kind of what they're doing
200. 7:48you are gaining the benefit of all that
201. 7:50knowledge without actually having to get
202. 7:52that knowledge yourself and that
203. 7:54knowledge will come that comes with
204. 7:55experience that comes from doing it but
205. 7:57the way to shortcut your work is is to
206. 7:59look at the Masters in the space see how
207. 8:02they're doing things and try your best
208. 8:04to hold yourself to that level of
209. 8:06quality and that level of
210. 8:08professionalism and when you do that
211. 8:10it's just a shortcut to success and
212. 8:13that's my 10 obsidian tips if you've
213. 8:15like this please like this video
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215. 8:19my website I'm brand new to YouTube so
216. 8:21if you're enjoying these please let me
217. 8:23know because it encourages me to keep
218. 8:24going and with that said have a great
219. 8:28day
220. 8:40that