Advice for people getting started with Knowledge Management and Writing
Many people quickly become overwhelmed when they get started with note-taking and knowledge management. Here's how to avoid that.
Having used Obsidian for a few years extensively, creating products (e.g., the Obsidian Starter Kit), and coaching people about Knowledge Management, my recommendations would be:
- Avoid spending too much time researching the topic. The first step is to create the habit, get used to the tool, and WRITE. All the rest is just procrastination in disguise (really!)
- Start simple: Avoid complexity like the plague. Structure and plugins can come later, once you reach a critical mass of notes
- Prefer a dead simple folder structure (e.g., one folder for everything!), tag your notes, and choose good names
- Avoid long notes. Create "atomic" ones: short, focused on a single idea, and connected with other ones
- Create a journal in Obsidian, and use it as the entry point: add your notes to your daily notes, and create separate notes only afterward. That helps focusing on WRITING, instead of having to worry about organizing, tagging, etc. Again, organizing can come over time, as needed
- Don't consider your notes as final: they're forever drafts
- Don't give up. Knowledge Management has a "startup problem". It takes time to reach the return on investment
Again, ignore the theory for a while, it won't help you now. You can always explore PARA, Zettelkasten, Johnny Decimal, and other things later on.
If you really reach the point where you feel overwhelmed with your notes, then maybe take a look at something like my Obsidian Starter Kit. Hundreds of people are happy with it. It's a 1:1 copy of the system I use for myself. It's powerful, but simple, and it stays out of the way. Its goal is to let people focus on writing: https://obsidianstarterkit.com
You might also enjoy this video:
Useful resources
- Obsidian tutorial: https://www.dsebastien.net/the-ultimate-beginners-guide-to-obsidian/
- Note naming tips: https://www.dsebastien.net/the-art-of-note-naming-keys-to-effective-knowledge-management/
- Avoid long notes: https://www.dsebastien.net/how-to-split-long-notes-into-atomic-notes-a-comprehensive-guide/
- Atomic notes: https://www.dsebastien.net/the-value-of-atomic-notes/
- How to connect ideas: https://www.dsebastien.net/how-to-connect-ideas-together/
- How to tag: https://www.dsebastien.net/2022-05-17-why-and-how-to-tag-notes-in-your-pkm/
- Evergreen notes: https://www.dsebastien.net/continuous-note-taking/
- Gradual return of PKM: https://www.dsebastien.net/the-gradual-return-on-investment-of-pkm/
- How I use daily notes: https://www.dsebastien.net/how-i-use-daily-notes/
- How to structure daily notes in Obsidian: https://www.dsebastien.net/my-daily-note-template-in-obsidian//
- My public notes (thousands of examples): https://notes.dsebastien.net/
- My newsletter (I write about PKM all day long): https://www.dsebastien.net/tag/newsletter/
Go Further
Sébastien Dubois
Sébastien Dubois
Sébastien Dubois
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Sébastien Dubois
About Sébastien
I'm Sébastien Dubois, and I'm on a mission to help knowledge workers escape information overload. After 20+ years in IT and seeing too many brilliant minds drowning in digital chaos, I've decided to help people build systems that actually work. Through the Knowii Community, my courses, products & services and my Website/Newsletter, I share practical and battle-tested systems.
I write about Knowledge Work, Personal Knowledge Management, Note-taking, Lifelong Learning, Personal Organization, Productivity, and more. I also craft lovely digital products and tools.
If you want to follow my work, then become a member and join our community.
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