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Publishing to Blot is so fast; I don’t even know how it’s possible. I click the “push” button in Obsidian and switch to my browser, refresh, and the latest post is already there. Less than 1 second. Quite impressive!
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I finished the “Design your system for creativity” webinar by Oliver Burkeman. I took my notes in Obsidian Canvas, resulting in a visual mind map.
I will try Canvas to map out the technical requirements of apps I design for my clients. Especially useful that each node can be a full page of notes.
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I’m about 90% complete with my “website” transition to Blot for hosting. The ONLY reason I’m moving my main blog from Micro.blog is because of the workflow I have set up with Obsidian and Git.
Micro.blog is still where I post status updates and will continue to be the “hub” from a social standpoint.
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I published a guide that consolidates my notes and bookmarks about Mastodon. It includes articles, tools for finding a server, people to follow, and client apps.
As I stumble across more resources, I’ll add them. I’m recently starting with Mastodon. Let me know what I’m missing!
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I published my first Craft documents for the public. Starting with recent book notes and my notes for Microsoft Power Apps.
Currently, it’s a copy of my existing notes, but I plan to expand on it quite a bit.
I also created a Notes page that will link the various documents.
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“The End of Organizing” by Dan Shipper argues that AI will be the best way to organize our notes in the future.
So you rarely go back to use your old notes. It’s too cognitively expensive and not rewarding enough. For an old note to be helpful it needs to be presented to Future You in a way that clicks into what you’re working on instantly—with as little processing as possible.
As you consume content and take generic notes, the AI can transform it into more meaningful text, autocomplete the thought, apply context, and organize it, making it easy to find again.
As you create content, AI could show your notes as you type. Imagine typing about a topic, and the AI presents the notes to you as you type, as it applies to the current context.
Many note and reading apps already incorporate AI, including Readwise, Mem, Mymind, Craft, and Notion. Some with plugins that add this, including Obsidian and Logseq. It should quickly evolve to the point envisioned in this essay.
This essay does not account for the act of writing as a way to help you think and learn. If we let AI do the lifting for us, does that make us smarter, or do we lose the ability to think for ourselves? There is a fine line.
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I played around with Obsidian’s Canvas feature (only in the Insider Build). I also played with Apple’s new Freeform app and think Obsidian canvas is better. Quite impressive for such a small dev team.
Here is a pass at my “PKM” system. This doesn’t do the app justice, though.
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The new Canvas feature in the Obsidian v1.1.0 (Insider Build) looks crazy brilliant. I can see how this would help brainstorm directly in Obsidian. I will be trying it out soon. Here is a short video from Danny Hatcher that shows precisely what the Canvas view can do.
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I’ve been cleaning up the apps on my phone. My main screen has a few widgets (photos, calendar, activity, airshow, Kindle) and this second screen has the main apps I use. Next, I’ll work on the iPad. :)
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I tried using an Outliner
I tried using Logseq to write in throughout the day. It’s a great application, but I can’t enjoy writing in an outliner. I had the same issues when I tried Roam Research back in the day. It’s okay when I’m just jotting things down, but I become frustrated whenever I try to write anything substantial, more than a couple of paragraphs.
I’ll stick with Obsidian because of the much better writing experience (for me).
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I started using Apple Notes for quick capture.
One way is from my iPad. I tap my Apple Pencil on the Lock Screen and start to write or sketch.
I have always enjoyed this process on paper, and now I can do it digitally.
It’s a great way to echo my thoughts. #mbnov
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I’m trying to figure out how to go from not taking consistent notes to creating a personal knowledge base.
I’m using Obsidian and publishing ~90% of my notes are published to my site rather than my blog.
Phase 1 is to consolidate my existing notes. I already see the benefits!
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If nothing else, my Micro.blog newsletter provides a nice overview of my past week. It’s a great way to reflect and share with others who have similar interests.
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I uninstalled all of the social apps from my phone (again), except Micro.blog.
I have trouble leaving Twitter because there is such a robust community I follow for news and updates pertaining to my work.
I’m experimenting with Mailbrew to provide a daily Twitter digest.
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My struggles with writing
Writing what’s on my mind is something I struggle with. I think the issue is not the writing itself; it’s the distractions and mind wandering. I have difficulty focusing for a long enough period to produce something worth reading.
Even when I get on track and start writing something, I lose focus and never finish what I started, or more often, I wrap it up early and hit publish. “Good enough.”. Maybe that’s why I enjoy Micro.blog so much since it quickly makes it easy to post something without giving it much thought.
I also get distracted by tools and apps. Changing my system will always fix the problem, right?
I enjoy writing and think it helps me clear my mind. It is one of the few things I do that forces me to focus. So, I don’t want to stop.
To help improve my writing, I will try a few obvious things.
- Block distractions as much as possible.
- Dedicate the same time every day to writing.
- Continue to post short thoughts (like this) on my blog.
- I’m tempted to create a new blog (maybe on Substack?) where I post long-form essays. The kind that requires a lot of time and research. This would be more of an exercise to create a routine and dedicate time to something I enjoy.
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I imported my Readwise collection into my Obsidian vault. The graph view looks like a mess, but I can start seeing where some knowledge is clustered together. I’m thinking the local graph will be more useful day-to-day.
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📚 What I’m Reading
I’ve been jumping between 3 books this week.
The first is Fairy Tale, by Stephen King. I’m about 3/4 of the way through and have to say it’s excellent. I highly recommend the audiobook.
The next is Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. Another book is about how the distractions from today’s technology are harming us.
The last is Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson. This book discusses how our mind makes connections that form ideas. This book may interest you if you’re interested in PKM and all the new apps like Roam Research, Obsidian, Tana, Scrintal, Napkin, etc.
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I have started using Obsidian to manage my work notes. I created a new vault for each client connected to source control using Git.
Obsidian allows me to work with local markdown files, which has been a great experience.
Also, Obsidian is free and secure!
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Announcing the all-new Substack Reader for web
Want to add a publication from outside Substack? No problem—just select “Add RSS feed” from the left sidebar.
I keep seeing on Twitter that Substack is finally going to replace what we lost in Google Reader all those years ago. What was special about Google Reader that has not already been replaced by Feedbin, Feedly, Inoreader, NetNewsWire, and the dozens of other RSS services out there?
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Hide specific folders from the navigation in your Obsidian Publish site
Using CSS, you can hide specific folders and files in the left navigation on your Obsidian Publish site.
Note: Hiding the folders or pages from the left navigation does not remove them from your site, and visitors can still access these files through links or even search.
You may want to do this if you wish to clean up your left navigation, you want to keep the search box, or you only want to hide specific folders or pages. Otherwise, you can toggle the navigation to be entirely off through your Obsidian Publish settings.
- Copy the following CSS to your publish.css file.
- Update the data-path value to include the name of the file or folder you want to hide. Make a copy of the line for each folder or file you want to add.
- Publish your updated publish.css file to the root of your Obsidian Publish site.
