I was introduced to Obsidian about 6 months ago for building a second brain. I still feel very new to it's possibilities, but one feature I like is its ability to link notes together in any way I choose.
I use Obsidian as my second brain. Linking is awesome. I find a lot of value in the daily notes. It makes adding new thoughts easy and I can process it later when I've got more time.
I hadn’t tried it in a while but I also got this comment and question on LinkedIn, so I’m going to explore it again and share my findings. Like Bear, which I used for quite some time, Obsidian has a fantastic, integrated note linking system. I’ll report back on how it scales for my uses.
Yeah, I have that system, too, Michael! Although I lose track of draft articles after about 10 :). That said, I'm afraid to look at how many unfinished drafts I *actually* have!
Yes, I try to do the same thing. It's also why I like the paper journal and Morning Pages -- often, I'll pick an "old, incomplete" draft idea, read it, then just spend 10-20 minutes rewriting it with a new point of view to see what comes out.
The other idea that Substack promotes, as I'm sure you've noticed, is going through articles you've already published and re-publishing them; I like a variation of that -- going through articles you already published and REWRITING them; I usually find that something entirely new pops up!
Love the article Mark! I’m a huge fan of Luhman’s technique, the PARA System and plain old paper journals. I was wondering: how do you reconcile the physical notes you take and the digital?
I find it tricky or at least procrastinate on all the notecards of the slipbox to digitize.
I couldn’t agree more, it’s so hard to do this because it’s a lot of work. Here are a few ways that work for me.
1: the easiest: take a picture of the page, organize it in the digital journal.
2: When I’m writing an article draft with a “Morning Page,” (the flow-of-consciousness writing exercise with paper and pen), I use Siri to dictate it into the digital journal. That’s fast, easy, and when I re-read it, I usually generate more ideas.
3. I’m a heavy Canva user, which is such a fast and easy way to recreate tables, images, symbols — when I sketch an idea, I often simply hack it out into Canva, and screen grab it into my digital journal.
4. For imagery, I use Midjourney to take my scribbles and make cool versions. I use a trick I learned from Sean Adams called the Mixed Metaphor method. The idea is to take an idea you want to convey, like “California Extension School” and break it into 2 ideas, like “a Palm Tree” for California and “A tall extension ladder” for extension. Then prompt Midjourney to “/imagine a Palm Tree made of a ladder.” Mix the two metaphors together. I save that image.
But MOSTLY, I use my analog and digital journals differently. Analog for creative stuff — ideating, sketching, mind maps, mindfulness exercises, and digital for grabbing the stuff that’s doesn’t suck from that and saving it for later, plus note taking, reference materials, and project management.
I've tried various mind-mapping tools, but I usually give up on them quickly because they tend to be too flexible (complicated) or too simple (constraining). As a result, I use paper and, importantly for me, Frixion 4-color erasable pens. The Frixion pens are amazing and gives me both the flexibility to edit, change, move, but also to use color for branches of the map.
Then, I use various "types" of mind maps (there are great Design Thinking books that describe the various forms -- I can find them if you're interested). Maps like:
Concept Maps: For large-scale analysis of complicated ideas with free-flowing, interconnected concepts.
Structured Mind Maps: For organizing ideas for a talk, presentation, or article.
Project Planning Mind Maps: Timelines with branching.
Business Strategy Mind Maps: Grouping, for example, business execution vectors by business motion (marketing, sales, product, finance....)
Semantic Networks: Relationships between concepts (helpful for patent ideation, for example).
Another point: I like to intersperse sketches, icons, and symbols inside these maps (another place tools fall short for me).
Geez, this ^^^ might need another blog post :). It would be much better to explain these with pictures, naturally :)
I've been building my second brain since last fall, but filled with notes since 2021. It's been a rewarding experience. I've found that you should start with the simplest system possible and iterate only when necessary. Avoid premature optimization!
Indeed, good advice, to start small and simple. That’s why I, perhaps hastily, wrote my advice about starting small, notice, take note, and label / link. That small habit got me thinking small and eventually build the system that’s working today. That said, it will undoubtedly change tomorrow, I’m always tinkering.
Sharing this question I received on email, and my response:
QUESTION: "I have one question about the image in your post. The timeline on the left -- was it written before the day started or at the end of the day as a summary of what happened?"
MY RESPONSE: Such a good question about the timeline. Wow, I didn’t think anyone would actually read my journal page!
The timeline is a thing I do that I developed on my own, and I think it might be worth writing about. I have worked hard over the years to integrate meditation into my *entire* day. Yet, despite a regular routine in the morning, so often, I get to the end of the day, and it slipped away.
So, in part inspired by Sam Harris’ Waking Up app, I started to set a goal to pause 3 times a day. Then 6. Now, on most days, I pause 10+ more times a day, sometimes just for moments. When I do, I write it down.
So the things with the boxes are “to do” at the start of the day; each pause, at the left, is a mindfulness break (you can see the time of day for each).
NOTE: This topic has sparked me to write an entire post about this "micro meditation and journaling" technique. As I was responding to this email, I realized I've stumbled onto a system that might help others. Stay tuned!
Lots of discussion and comments on this one on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/markwpalmer_how-to-build-a-second-brain-activity-7168601799866703872-pltn?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
I was introduced to Obsidian about 6 months ago for building a second brain. I still feel very new to it's possibilities, but one feature I like is its ability to link notes together in any way I choose.
Have you tried it, what do you think?
I use Obsidian as my second brain. Linking is awesome. I find a lot of value in the daily notes. It makes adding new thoughts easy and I can process it later when I've got more time.
I hadn’t tried it in a while but I also got this comment and question on LinkedIn, so I’m going to explore it again and share my findings. Like Bear, which I used for quite some time, Obsidian has a fantastic, integrated note linking system. I’ll report back on how it scales for my uses.
Mine is about 97 substack drafts, 50+ digital sticky notes on my desktop and about 150 open browser tabs.
Yeah, I have that system, too, Michael! Although I lose track of draft articles after about 10 :). That said, I'm afraid to look at how many unfinished drafts I *actually* have!
I try to go through once a month and I'm like..... oh I like that one! And suddenly it comes to the surface again.
Yes, I try to do the same thing. It's also why I like the paper journal and Morning Pages -- often, I'll pick an "old, incomplete" draft idea, read it, then just spend 10-20 minutes rewriting it with a new point of view to see what comes out.
The other idea that Substack promotes, as I'm sure you've noticed, is going through articles you've already published and re-publishing them; I like a variation of that -- going through articles you already published and REWRITING them; I usually find that something entirely new pops up!
Love the article Mark! I’m a huge fan of Luhman’s technique, the PARA System and plain old paper journals. I was wondering: how do you reconcile the physical notes you take and the digital?
I find it tricky or at least procrastinate on all the notecards of the slipbox to digitize.
Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter!
I couldn’t agree more, it’s so hard to do this because it’s a lot of work. Here are a few ways that work for me.
1: the easiest: take a picture of the page, organize it in the digital journal.
2: When I’m writing an article draft with a “Morning Page,” (the flow-of-consciousness writing exercise with paper and pen), I use Siri to dictate it into the digital journal. That’s fast, easy, and when I re-read it, I usually generate more ideas.
3. I’m a heavy Canva user, which is such a fast and easy way to recreate tables, images, symbols — when I sketch an idea, I often simply hack it out into Canva, and screen grab it into my digital journal.
4. For imagery, I use Midjourney to take my scribbles and make cool versions. I use a trick I learned from Sean Adams called the Mixed Metaphor method. The idea is to take an idea you want to convey, like “California Extension School” and break it into 2 ideas, like “a Palm Tree” for California and “A tall extension ladder” for extension. Then prompt Midjourney to “/imagine a Palm Tree made of a ladder.” Mix the two metaphors together. I save that image.
But MOSTLY, I use my analog and digital journals differently. Analog for creative stuff — ideating, sketching, mind maps, mindfulness exercises, and digital for grabbing the stuff that’s doesn’t suck from that and saving it for later, plus note taking, reference materials, and project management.
Hope that helps !
It definitely does! What do you use for your mindmapping or how do you do it?
FYI: Here are the erasable 4-color Frixion pens that I use: https://www.jetpens.com/Pilot-FriXion-Ball-4-4-Color-Gel-Multi-Pen-0.5-mm-White/pd/12536?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAopuvBhBCEiwAm8jaMevIsal6joQKiLJpVPUuFE7lkYZrb20JMktgRottq_ZBgNRik_toARoCrWMQAvD_BwE
I've tried various mind-mapping tools, but I usually give up on them quickly because they tend to be too flexible (complicated) or too simple (constraining). As a result, I use paper and, importantly for me, Frixion 4-color erasable pens. The Frixion pens are amazing and gives me both the flexibility to edit, change, move, but also to use color for branches of the map.
Then, I use various "types" of mind maps (there are great Design Thinking books that describe the various forms -- I can find them if you're interested). Maps like:
Concept Maps: For large-scale analysis of complicated ideas with free-flowing, interconnected concepts.
Structured Mind Maps: For organizing ideas for a talk, presentation, or article.
Project Planning Mind Maps: Timelines with branching.
Business Strategy Mind Maps: Grouping, for example, business execution vectors by business motion (marketing, sales, product, finance....)
Semantic Networks: Relationships between concepts (helpful for patent ideation, for example).
Another point: I like to intersperse sketches, icons, and symbols inside these maps (another place tools fall short for me).
Geez, this ^^^ might need another blog post :). It would be much better to explain these with pictures, naturally :)
I've been building my second brain since last fall, but filled with notes since 2021. It's been a rewarding experience. I've found that you should start with the simplest system possible and iterate only when necessary. Avoid premature optimization!
Indeed, good advice, to start small and simple. That’s why I, perhaps hastily, wrote my advice about starting small, notice, take note, and label / link. That small habit got me thinking small and eventually build the system that’s working today. That said, it will undoubtedly change tomorrow, I’m always tinkering.
Sharing this question I received on email, and my response:
QUESTION: "I have one question about the image in your post. The timeline on the left -- was it written before the day started or at the end of the day as a summary of what happened?"
MY RESPONSE: Such a good question about the timeline. Wow, I didn’t think anyone would actually read my journal page!
The timeline is a thing I do that I developed on my own, and I think it might be worth writing about. I have worked hard over the years to integrate meditation into my *entire* day. Yet, despite a regular routine in the morning, so often, I get to the end of the day, and it slipped away.
So, in part inspired by Sam Harris’ Waking Up app, I started to set a goal to pause 3 times a day. Then 6. Now, on most days, I pause 10+ more times a day, sometimes just for moments. When I do, I write it down.
So the things with the boxes are “to do” at the start of the day; each pause, at the left, is a mindfulness break (you can see the time of day for each).
NOTE: This topic has sparked me to write an entire post about this "micro meditation and journaling" technique. As I was responding to this email, I realized I've stumbled onto a system that might help others. Stay tuned!