PTPL #22: Taming Obsidian 1.0, and 3 Questions For People Who Recommend Books to You
Plus—Thinking this could be the last time, can profoundly change the way you do things
Welcome to the 22nd in a series of posts documenting my plain text, paper-less, Obsidian-flavoured journey — exploring productivity through a future-proof, plain text mindset, with a soft spot for the paper that counts.
Past Episodes live in my PTPL List.
Today I’ll be talking about —
- How realising this could be the last time you do something, can profoundly change the way you do it (inspired by Stephan Joppich)
- 3 questions to ask someone when they have a book recommendation for you (from Tiago Forte)
- Book summary services — Shortform and Readitforme
- How I’m coping with Obsidian version 1.0 (it’s been rough, but things are better now)
Productivity Inspiration
Reading ‘The Last Time:’ A Simple Idea to Savor Your Life, by Stephan Joppich, was 6 minutes well spent. It’s not a practical, procedural productivity tip, but it does present an idea that could change the foundation of how (and why) you organise your life.
If you knew you only had a few days to live, you would give everything to get one more experience — no matter how awful. To get one more taste of life. To relish the beauty of every single instance. Not necessarily because it’s so fun, but simply because you’re alive.
Because you’ve lived.
Remembering that everything you do could be the last time injects a little bit of magic into all your actions. Think about it — every moment (including this one) is a “last time” in itself. It will never come back. And even if this instance feels soul-wrenching, isn’t it poignant to realize that you’re lucky enough to experience it in the first place?
— Stephan Joppich
Remember this next time you’re sweating over project details that don’t really matter in the long run. As I often say, enjoy the process! As much as is in your power, spend your time on things that won’t lead to regret. When you mess up (and you will), make amends and do your utmost to get back on track.
Productivity Tips
Can you summarise that book you’re recommending?
From Tiago Forte this week, three helpful questions to ask anyone that recommends a book or article to you:
- Why are you recommending this to me?
- What did you want me to take away from it?
- Can you share a summary in case l don’t get around to it soon?
Tiago says most people have a ready answer for numbers 1 and 2, but struggle with 3.
Goal: get better at summarising! It will help me get better at writing atomic notes, and the busy people I share cool finds with will appreciate me honouring their time.
So, how do you get good at summarising books and ideas? You get better each time you do it. Do your best, then go back and cut the fluff. Stop when all that’s left is the main idea.
You can also use a book/article summary service to make sure you’ve covered all the salient points.
I’ve been digging around the Shortform site this past week, and oh, what a find it is! I’ll be writing more about Shortform in the coming weeks. Readitforme is another good book summary service if you only have 10 minutes to spare, but it’s more expensive than Shortform for less (written) content.
Free Student planner
I haven’t used the free Sigma Planner, but it looks worth checking out for students who want to track classes and tasks in a proprietary app.
Of course, you can use a combination of your regular digital calendar and task management app to do that, but Sigma looks like a good all-in-one app for people who’d like a tailor-made way to organise their studies.
Adventures in Obsidian
Version 1 has arrived!
This was an historic week for Obsidian, with it finally emerging from Beta. Version 1.0.0 is here, and it’s a big one!
You can read my knee-jerk reaction to it, here:
Tabs: I’m getting used to them. The whinging in that article was the protesting squawk of someone who jumped into a new vehicle without first reading the manual. Expecting it to work like the prototype is a biiiig mistake!
Hotkeys are essential, in my opinion, for driving the new Obsidian at full throttle. Since writing that piece, I’ve reduced the size of the file name with its apparently welded-on breadcrumb, and made it appear only when I hover over it. Style Settings > Minimal> Titles
Bible project update
If you haven’t been following along, I’m creating a Markdown Bible study resource that doesn’t rely on block references.
I’m delighted to have found this free download of the entire King James Bible, split into separate verses. It’s saved me a lot of time, and means I’ll likely have the whole project finished by the end of the year. It will be available as a free download on my Gumroad store, so you might want to subscribe over there if you’d like to know when it’s done.
Additions to the raw text:
- Pretty page layouts (my idea of pretty = good typography)
- A navigation system from chapter to verse to index
- Index files with a map of each chapter in a book, plus a section for writing notes and having them show as backlinks to individual verses
- Hope scriptures: a collection of Bible verses I love (you’ll be able to add your own), appearing on one page via embedded files
Click here for past Episodes of the Plain Text, Paper-Less Productivity Digest. Other things I’ve written about Obsidian live here. Download my free Obsidian Planner demo vault on my Gumroad store.
