Productivity hack / apple notes vs obsidian
I recently mentioned that I use apple notes for keeping track of all of my writings. But also mentioned the idea of having mega notes where I can link up various other notes in a single note. This works well because I’ve been using it for a while. But one awkward thing is that the way you get a link for an apple note is you have to go to the share option and click on the Collaborate menu button to get a publicly shareable URL. This is workable but not really quick.
In the meantime, I was also dismissing obsidian and thinking of it as too complex. Something prompted me to check out obsidian once again — mainly because of my friend’s mentioning of the roam software. And then I discovered — perhaps I had known this all along — the idea of using wiki links type crosslinking and backlinking between notes. It is really convenient in the markdown format via double brackets. Having looked at this for a bit, I’m a bit envious now that Apple notes doesn’t implement such a simple procedure for connecting various notes because it would make all of my interactions must faster.
I’m not compelled to give up Apple notes yet because I use a lot of rich notes including scans from my phone for receipts, PDF documents that I need to review for journals and conferences, as well as handwritten notes that I might take in a meeting. (I prefer using my Apple pencil and not typing up – I find typing distracting when someone is speaking.) So Apple notes really is perfect for all of these different combinations of things. But then not having a neat option for backlinking and cross linking notes is a downside.
And, of course, the other big disadvantage with Apple notes is that it has poor export functions mainly because it is a rich note. Whereas with obsidian you get Markdown and plain text export. So it will last a lifetime.
The one final thought I have regarding journaling from the last few weeks is that jotting down every one of your thoughts is beneficial to some extent — a bit like how David Winer blogs — but then this can also become a distraction from being in the moment. And to be honest, you don’t need to write down every thought that comes to your mind. It’s good to let them come and go and then you process the kinds of things that have kept you occupied for a good chunk of time and write that down. After all, it is helpful to have more constructive and cohesive thoughts put together rather than jot down every crazy idea.
