Back to Obsidian
Since the beginning of my PKM journey, I´ve migrated my main note-taking app more often than I want to admit. Don´t mention the amount of information I´ve lost somewhere during this process:
- Evernote: summer 2017 till summer 2019 (the beginning of my PKM journey)
- Notion: Summer 2019 till late 2021 (shiny new app syndrome)
- Obsidian: early 2022 till July 2022 (shiny nerdy app syndrome)
- Evernote: July 2022 till late March 2023 (thanks to the Build your second brain book)
- Amplenote: late March 2023 till late July 2023 (Evernote kept crashing)
- Obsidian: July 2023 till… I don´t know (Amplenote was too unreliable and unflexible)
I don´t regret the migrations I did due to technical difficulties, but the back and forth between 2017 and July 2022 had been more or less due to a lack of awareness of what I want or need and the “shiny new” syndrome. This period highlights the majority of my PKM journey. Not to mention the to-list or calendar apps which I´ve experimented with and failed after just a few weeks through all these years.
I also regret that I didn´t hold on longer at Obsidian last year, as the update that would change everything for me was just a few months away… But you know… I had a lot of spare time on my hands, as I was unemployed, so I was pretty wasteful with my time and my mental resources. Back then my mindset was more of a “shiny new project” and not “Is this worth my time and energy?”.
These days I love Obsidian again for its ability to make connections, the plugins, and especially the canvas feature. I love that this feature could replace apps like Milanote almost entirely. I am still learning to use Obsidian more effectively, as I purchased the Obsidian Flight School a few days ago I want to learn a lot this month.
To clarify concerning my overall system: I have my Google calendar for everything related to scheduling and repetitive tasks, but every digital note I have is in Obsidian.
I still have my paper bullet journal for different reasons, but every page worth keeping in the long run, ends up in Obsidian as a photo with a designated headline.
Sure, Obsidian still has its problems, like tables are still painful to use, which should change with the next update. There is the slow performance of the app, where I am unsure if my five-year-old smartphone might be the problem or if the settings are more of a problem. Or maybe both…
I try to see this slow performance as a filter and a challenge, in order not to dump every random information I found online into the app when I´m on the go, which helps me to stay calm when it takes like 10s until I can jot down my arrival time at work in my daily note…
Another disadvantage: on mobile, the majority of the community plugins I am using aren´t working properly or at all. To be honest: with my current lifestyle it bothers me like one or two times a month, so I´ve decided that I don´t care.
Over the last months, I´ve simplified my folder structure more and more, as I´ve learned to notice my tendency to overorganize for nothing. Just 15ish folders in total are enough for me these days and I feel calmer than ever, especially as I´ve stopped seeing the total amount of notes, which usually makes me feel anxious.
I often use the search function and barely have trouble finding anything. Inviting Readwise, their Reader and their official plugin has automated the majority of my note-taking process which I love, as it enables me to make more time for sense-making, connecting ideas, and actually using my system.
As my life and my PKM are always evolving, I am diving more into MOCs and project management within my PKM these days… I´ll see where the next step of my ever-evolving system will lead me.
