Sébastien Dubois

DeveloPassion's Newsletter #157 - Knowledge Management for Beginners

Sebastien Dubois — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 09:14:23 GMT

Welcome

Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩

Whew! Yes, I'm alive!!

The Carnival of Binche is over. Actually it's been a week already, but it left me truly exhausted 😂

You can find a few pictures over there, but if you want to have an idea about what it's like, you should look at the following videos. The first one shows what it looks like on Sunday, and the other one on the Tuesday (which is the most important day). But those can barely make you feel how it's like to be there. So if you ever have the opportunity, come and enjoy it for real 🎉

After the Carnival, I needed some rest, but ended up with Covid. It's been over a week, and I'm still feeling super weak.

Anyway, I've missed you all, so here I am!

Alright, let's gooooo 🚀

The lab 🧪

I've received some bad news recently. I've lost my last consulting client. This means that my business is now default dead. If I don't manage to increase the revenue of my side projects (including this newsletter), my business will die within the next few months. This means that the pressure is on.

Here's a quick back-of-the-napkin calculation:

My projects currently generate between 1K and 1.5K per month
My business has fixed/variables costs of ~1K per month
I need to pay myself at least 500 per month to be able to pay for everything, knowing that I still work half-time as an employee, have 3 kids and a mortgage to repay
My business has ~10K in the bank

This just cannot work for long. And I'm quite scared/sad when I think about it. I've been working hard since 2019 to build useful things, but after my startup has failed, I haven't managed to build sustainable revenue. My dream remains to quit my job as an employee, but I'm far from being able to.

Unfortunately, the IT job market is more complicated these days. It's pretty tough to find part-time clients here in Belgium, and even more so to find clients that accept remote workers. So I'm not betting on that. Instead, I want to double down on creating digital products and serving customers around the world. I feel like I can have much more impact this way, and this is work that I really see myself doing for years to come.

This means that I need to accelerate the pace, produce more, and convince more people to support me. That's why I've launched a promotion for my paid newsletter yesterday. I'll be honest, I need all the support I can get 🙏

Moving forward, I've decided to work on a new product: Knowledge Management for Beginners.

This will be a video course teaching the basics about Knowledge Management in general, and Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) in particular. I feel like there's a gap in the market. Many people currently stumble upon PKM and feel puzzled or lost. They don't know why it's useful, how it works, how to approach it, and how they can benefit. And I intend to fix that! I want many more people to grasp the ideas, see the benefits more clearly, and to know how to get started, armed with the right knowledge.

I've prepared the course outline, the sales copy, and have started working on the content. To give a good example, I've decided to build the whole course within my own Personal Knowledge Management system in Obsidian, combining notes, slides, and the power of my Knowledge Graph.

I hope to start recording the course next week.

In my humble opinion, Personal Knowledge Management has tons of potential to help people across the world grow and thrive. And I want to be one of the few voices that make it clear and obvious to everyone.

Here's a rundown of the main benefits for my future customers:

Comprehensive understanding of Knowledge Management (KM) and Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)
Mastery of core PKM Practices
Hands-On Knowledge of PKM systems and tools
Enhanced Clarity and Focus
Overcoming Information Overload
Strategies for Deep and Critical Thinking
Building a Valuable Knowledge Base
Improved Knowledge Retention
Minimized Reliance on Memory
Utilizing Journaling for Growth
Efficient Information Organization
Integration of Learning into Daily Life

I'll tell you all about this course in the next editions of this newsletter ❤️

Next to that, I'm of course going to continue expanding the Knowledge Worker Kit. We are already 50 in the community, and the content keeps growing. There's a lot of work to be done, and I'm going to make sure to deliver as much value as I can to that community ❤️

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Who is this for?You are a Knowledge Worker or Lifelong LearnerYou feel disorganized, unproductive, or overwhelmedYou don’t know how to go to the next levelYou want to learn from someone who’s always on top of thingsI have a proven track record of delivering at work and with my side projects. I have worked as a software developer, team leader, project manager, IT architect, information management specialist, CTO, founder, coach, and solopreneur. I have also written and published 3 books, 300+ articles, courses, YouTube videos, digital products, manage communities, and more! And I did it all with a busy life and kids. My personal system works and helps me achieve my goals consistently.You want a solid system that scalesBeing a Knowledge Worker today is much more challenging than it ever was. Getting started ain’t easy, and there are many traps to fall into. Spare yourself some time and benefit from my experience and battle-tested system. I’ll share everything I know with you: my approach, my systems, my routines, templates, guidance, and more! My mission is to help you avoid the pitfalls of Knowledge Work and empower you through technology.After you finish exploring the guide, you’ll have:Clarity in your life and an obvious path forwardSolid habits, routines, and systemsClear ideas about how to “manage” your careerAn effective approach to learning new thingsSolid knowledge management and personal organization systemsKnowledge about how to organize, plan, control, and manage projects (large and small!)A toolkit to prioritize workA system to manage your tasks at scaleEffective means to focus your attention and manage your timeWork methods that will propel your career forwardWhat is this?I’ve been passionate about information, knowledge management, learning, personal organization, PKM, and productivity for more than 20 years. As an author, blogger, knowledge worker, entrepreneur, coach, and father of 3 kids, I needed effective solutions to be and stay organized, focused, and productive. The Knowledge Worker Kit includes everything I know about these topics, and more!What’s included?WARNING: The Knowledge Worker Kit is in BETA. The content will be added and expanded over time. If you buy access now, you’ll benefit from a lower price. The product is already available so that I can find early adopters and get as much feedback as possible in order to make it great for everyone.If you buy access to the Knowledge Worker Kit, you’ll get:The user guideAll the templates and guidanceLifetime access to the private community for support and knowledge sharingLifetime access to all community events (meetups, workshops, knowledge-sharing sessions, invited talks, etc)Ask Me Anything (AMA) Q&As with meIn addition, you’ll also get free access to all future updates. Over time, I’ll continue expanding the kit with new ideas, techniques, systems, templates, and more!What’s in the user guide?The user guide is a growing and evergreen knowledge base. It includes detailed explanations covering a wide range of topics that all Knowledge workers should explore:01. Clarity: values, behaviors, goals, non-goals, priorities, and intentions02. Habits, routines, systems, processes and methods03. Career Management and Anticipation04. Learning05. Projects Knowledge Management and Journaling06. Projects Organization07. Planning and Prioritization08. Task Management09. Focus, Attention, Time Management and Action10. Personal Development11. Control: periodic reviews, progress tracking, course-adjustment12. Personal Organization13. WorkThe user guide is a Notion space including tons of articles, how-to guides, guidance, and links to useful templates and resources.You will get to explore the content at your own pace, and to focus on what is useful to you right now, as each section is actionable on its own.Evergreen ContentThe Knowledge Worker Toolkit is going to expand over time. Day after day, week after week. Buy it once, and you will have access to all future updates.Overview of the main topics01. ClarityThis part explores key elements that help bring clarity to one’s life:NeedsValuesPrinciplesGoalsPrioritiesEach of those is important to know what matters, what has value, and what to focus on.02. Habits, routines, systems, processes and methodsThis part explores the base elements of productivity systems:Habits and routinesSystems, processes, and methodsThose are key to building an “effortless” life, requiring as little willpower/motivation as possible to make things happen.03. Career Management and AnticipationThis part focuses on career management: its importance, your responsibility, the mindset you need to acquire, and all the related ideas.04. LearningThis part shares ideas about how to…Learn how you best learnLearn more effectivelyExplore new topicsResearchFilter informationLeverage AI and LLMs…05. Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and JournalingThis part explores how to collect, organize, and link all your knowledge and information. It explores the main concepts of PKM, note-taking, note-making, tools of the trade, and structures/tips to help you keep everything useful, manageable, and maintainable as your knowledge base grows.It also introduces journaling and how to approach it to support your whole life.06. Projects OrganizationThis part focuses on how to organize projects and their information in a way that enables you and your teams to make focused progress.It shares ideas about how to organize project information, how to document projects, how to organize backlogs, etc.07. Planning and PrioritizationThis part focuses on how to plan projects and tasks, how to deal with deadlines, and how to prioritize work using various methods.08. Task ManagementThis part focuses on task management for personal and professional projects. It explores ways to keep tasks under control, how to organize personal work, and how to make the link between your different backlogs and your day-to-day life.09. Focus, Attention, Time Management and ActionThis part focuses on how to make things happen every single day, regardless of whatever is going on in your life. It’s all about techniques, tips & tricks, and tools to help you better manage your time, focus, and attention in order to ACT.10. Personal DevelopmentThis part explores important aspects of Personal Development that can make a big difference in a Knowledge Worker’s life. A sane mind in a sane body.11. ControlThis part is dedicated to control. How to control your progress, your trajectory, your projects, etc. And also, how to adjust course when things don’t go as expected.12. Personal OrganizationThis part helps better organize yourself and your information. It shares “zen” techniques you can use to remain organized, independently of how much information you have to juggle with.13. WorkThis part is all about WORK. How to do the work, how to improve your attitude, your results, and your recognition. It also dives into how to better collaborate with others to achieve your goals and those of your company/group.

Gumroad

We'll see how things go, but I'm not ready to give up. I'll do my best to keep going, no matter how hard it may be 🚀

If you want to support my work, then the best way is to become paid subscribers of this newsletter, as this generates recurring (i.e., stable) revenue for me, enabling me to continue working on this newsletter, to continue writing, and to continue adding value to the community:

New articles

I've published an article in which I defend the idea of using and relying on fewer tools. IMHO, fewer is better:

In defense of using fewer tools

How Fewer Tools Can Enhance Personal Organization, Productivity, and Knowledge Management

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

I have also published a deep dive into how to split long notes into atomic notes, as a means to enable creating more valuable Personal Knowledge Graphs:

How to Split Long Notes into Atomic Notes: A Comprehensive Guide

A comprehensive guide on splitting long notes into atomic notes within a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) system, highlighting the benefits, and practical steps

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

These pieces are also going to join the Knowledge Worker Kit.

Quotes of the week

Fear is only the beginning of courage
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst
It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan
Study not to know more, but to know better — Seneca

Thinking and learning

How to Use the Knowledge Graph (Or Why The Graph Ain’t Just Eye Candy) - MarkMcElroy.com

Used appropriately, the graph is a powerful creative tool.

MarkMcElroy.comMark McElroy

Complete Second Brain: COC Productivity Method

Capture. Organize. Check. Achieve Peace of Mind

TwosAppParker Klein ✌️

Customize your “New tab” screen in Obsidian with Beautilab

Beautilab is a simple Obsidian community plugin that allows you to customize your “New tab” screen.

Obsidian ObserverMarco Serafini

PKM Summit

5 Simple Methods For Growing Your Concept Notes In Obsidian

You have collected some information in your system.

MediumAidan Helfant

Ready to get to the next level?

If so, then check out the Knowledge Worker Kit, the Obsidian Starter Kit, the Obsidian Starter Course, the PKM Library, a PKM coaching session with me, my collection of books about software development and the IT Concepts Wall 🔥.

If you want to discuss, then don't hesitate to join the Personal Knowledge Management community or the Software Crafters community.

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

I'm an author, founder, and CTO. I write books and articles about software development & IT, personal knowledge management, personal organization, and productivity. I also craft lovely digital products 🚀

If you've enjoyed this article and want to read more like this, then become a member.

How to Split Long Notes into Atomic Notes: A Comprehensive Guide

Sebastien Dubois — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 08:30:37 GMT

In this article, I want to share ideas about how to split long notes into atomic ones. This practical guide should help you enhance your Knowledge Management practices.

Introduction

The concept of atomic notes deserves more attention from those seeking to create more valuable notes that optimize their information retention/retrieval processes and enable connecting ideas together (i.e., create valuable Knowledge Graphs).

How to connect ideas together

As you learn and grow, you’ll accumulate more and more knowledge. While each piece is important, the relationships between ideas is, at least, as important as the ideas themselves.

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

As we'll see, atomic notes are much more interesting than long and linerar ones.

The Downsides of Long Notes in Personal Knowledge Management Systems

While long notes are sometimes useful or unavoidable, their drawbacks in the context of Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) systems are clear. They hinder quick retrieval, contribute to cognitive overload, impede the creation of a connected knowledge network, limit the system's flexibility, and are less suitable for sharing.

PKM systems are designed to enhance the way we capture, organize, retrieve, and use knowledge. The ultimate goal is to create a dynamic ecosystem of information that supports learning, decision-making, and creativity. However, incorporating long notes into a PKM system can introduce several challenges that may compromise its usefulness, effectiveness and efficiency.

Here are some of those challenges:

1. Makes it harder to retrieve information

Long notes, by nature, tend to contain multiple ideas, insights, and pieces of information clustered together and intertwined. This density can make it difficult to quickly find specific pieces of information when they're needed.

2. Leads to Cognitive Overload

A core principle of effective PKM is minimizing cognitive overload by organizing information in a way that aligns with how our brains naturally process and retrieve data.

Long notes, with their complex and often convoluted structures, can quickly become overwhelming. They make it much harder to absorb and recall information. This is counterproductive to the learning and creative processes that PKM systems aim to support.

3. Impedes Linking and Connectivity

One of the strengths of a robust PKM system is the ability to create connections between different pieces of knowledge. Long notes make it challenging to establish these links because they blur the lines between distinct ideas, making it hard to see how they relate to other concepts within the system.

Atomic notes, on the other hand, facilitate creating a network of interconnected ideas, enhancing understanding and discovery.

4. Limits Flexibility and Adaptability

While long notes and documents are generally able to express complex ideas in a linear way, they're far from ideal.

PKM systems thrive on flexibility and the ability to evolve over time. Long notes are static and rigid. They don't easily allow for the addition, modification, or reorganization of information. This rigidity can stifle the growth of your knowledge base and limit its adaptability to new insights or changing needs.

Isn't there a way to take Smarter Notes?

At this point, we can probably agree that long notes and documents are far from ideal from a Knowledge Management perspective. Still, it's all we get taught. At school we're only taught the basics of linear note-taking, writing essays and summarizing information. It's no wonder that the default for most people is to reuse the same approaches throughout their lives...

But there really is a better way. Taking smart notes consists in going from linear notes that explore ideas in the form of chapters, sections, subsections and paragraphs to atomic/networked notes. Atomic are short and focused notes that each explore specific topics/ideas and are connected to each other. Atomic/networked notes form a network of notes, also known as a Knowledge Graph (KG).

Representation of a Knowledge Graph (KG). Image generated using DALL-E

You might be puzzled about how to create and navigate such a graph. Well, my goal is to help you better understand how to create yours, and how to leverage it.

By the way, Sönke Ahrens has written a fantastic book called How to Take Smart Notes, explaining these ideas, among others. I strongly recommend you to give it a read:

Amazon.com: How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking eBook : Ahrens, Sönke: Kindle Store

How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking - Kindle edition by Ahrens, Sönke. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking.

Sönke Ahrens

I just want to clarify one point before we continue: it's not because you create a Knowledge Graph that you can't also create and maintain linear "versions" of the information or notes dedicated to giving a more linear way of exploring it (e.g., Maps of Content).

Understanding Atomic Notes

Atomic notes are specific, concise, self-contained and context-independent pieces of information (i.e., notes).

Creating atomic notes is quite different from traditional linear note-taking. Before diving into the process of creating such notes, it's crucial to grasp their core characteristics:

Specificity: Each note should cover a single idea
Conciseness: Atomic notes should remain easily "digestible". When an atomic note becomes too long, you should consider splitting it up in smaller (i.e., more atomic) pieces
Independence: Notes should be understandable on their own, without needing to refer to other notes.
Linkability: Despite their independence, atomic notes intend to easily be connected to related notes in order to build a Knowledge Graph

To learn more, check out my previous article on this topic:

The value of atomic notes

Atomic notes are a key element of PKM success. Here’s why

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

How to Split Long Notes

Splitting long notes into atomic notes involves several steps. The first idea is that a long note is nothing more than a linear series of "LEGO blocks" that can be separated, rearranged, and connected to each other. Each part can become a separate note, linked to closely or loosely related ones.

1. Identify Core Ideas

Begin by reading through your long note to identify its core ideas or concepts.

Look for natural divisions in the content, such as different topics, subtopics, or themes. Highlight or underline these sections as potential candidates for atomic notes.

2. Create Individual Atomic Notes for Core Ideas

Start by creating atomic notes for each core idea you have identified. Those first notes will explain the ideas from first principles (i.e., complete independence), laying out a solid foundation for the next ones.

Now, repeat the process for all the other ideas. During this first pass, just focus in isolating the ideas and avoiding to cover multiple ideas within a single note.

The title of the notes you create should clearly reflect the specific idea or concept it describes. Be concise yet descriptive enough to understand the note's content at a glance. Think of the note title as a sentence or part of sentence that you might want to include somewhere else.

Check out my article about how to name your notes:

The Art of Note Naming: Keys to Effective Knowledge Management

Unlock the full potential of your Knowledge Management system by mastering the art of crafting clear, concise, and organized note names – the secret to transforming your chaotic digital world into a seamlessly searchable, highly efficient repository of wisdom

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

3. Refine for Clarity and Independence

Ensure each atomic note is written clearly and contains enough context to be understood independently. This may involve adding brief explanations or definitions that were implied in the original long note but not explicitly stated. If you can't add enough context to clarify, then you might need to further decompose the note, until you get to really specific ideas that you can more easily explain.

One of the powers of atomic notes lies in their interconnectivity. Use your note-taking tool's linking feature to connect related atomic notes. This network of notes not only facilitates navigation but also helps in understanding the relationships between different the different pieces of the puzzle.

Linking is more art than science, but the idea is straightforward: if you think that another note is related to the current one or is at least interesting to mention, then add a link to it.

5. Add Metadata

Take some time to add metadata to each new note you create. I personally use tags a lot. Those help me find what I need more easily, for instance by using combination of tags. Those also enable me to more easily create and maintain Maps of Content (MoCs).

Don't worry too much about the taxonomy you use at the beginning. Just try to reuse existing tags if possible. Some tools such as Obsidian facilitate this.

I've previously shared tips about how to tag your notes:

Why and how to tag notes in your PKM

Tags are a great way to categorize, describe and track your notes. This post will show you how to approach tagging the notes in your PKM

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

6. Review your notes

After splitting, organizing and adding metadata to your notes, take the time to review those for coherence, clarity, completeness, and redundancy. Make adjustments as needed to ensure each note stands on its own while still contributing to the broader knowledge base.

7. Consider creating a Map of Content (MoC)

Once you're done creating your Knowledge Graph, it may be useful to create a Map of Content to ease your (future self) way into the Knowledge you've just organized.

Maps of Content are useful because they provide yet another way to resurface useful notes in specific contexts. They're also useful tools to think about the "network" as a whole.

Check out my article about MoCs to learn more:

Maps of Content (MoCs) for better Knowledge Graphs

Understand what Maps of Content (MoCs) are in the PKM ecosystem. Discover why they are useful and how they can help strengthen your knowledge graph

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Concrete Example

Now that you have the "framework" to use, let's look at a more concrete example based on my own notes.

While reading the book called "Organize Your Mind Organize Your Life" by Paul Hammerness and Margaret Moore, I have created a summary of the things that resonated with me:

That is just the very first part. That note is actually very long. It covers all the chapters of the book. If you look closely at that note, you'll notice that it actually contains a lot of information that I have captured, but also that it includes many links to other notes (links in Obsidian are recognized by the brackets (i.e., "[" and "]") around. While that note is a really long one, it also serves as a Map of Content for the book in my knowledge graph. That's why I keep it around.

While I read books, I tend to create really long notes and then apply the process I've described in this article to extract the ideas that resonated with me into separate atomic notes that I connect to my Knowledge Graph. Once I'm done, the book summary becomes a map of the content I have extracted into a graph of atomic notes.

Let's look at one of the atomic notes that I have extracted from the initial document:

As you can see, I have created an atomic note that shortly discusses the Prefrontal cortex (PFC). That note includes the information I found in the book, and links to other notes in my knowledge graph. The ability to link that concept to others is really where atomic notes shine:

What my note about the Prefrontal cortex links to

Those are the outgoing links of that note. So, after reading that book and extracting atomic notes from my summary, I have connected it with other ideas. And over time, those connections will only increase.

This is just one example, but it should already give you an idea about how I go about it. Within the long note that I keep around, I don't mind duplicating information. I like the idea of the remaining long-form document to still be usable on its own, even though the most important part for me is feeding my Knowledge Graph:

The atomic notes I have extracted from that book's "summary"

As you can see, I've turned one long note into a useful graph of knowledge. And now, I get to connect all those separate pieces to other ideas I capture over time, further compounding the value of my personal knowledge base.

Going further

The example I've included in this article has been created using Obsidian and my Obsidian Starter Kit. The Obsidian Starter Kit serves as the perfect launching pad for your PKM journey, providing you with the organization system, tools, templates, and best practices to start managing your knowledge efficiently and effectively. It's designed to help you understand the core principles of PKM, how to structure your notes, and how to create a network of linked thoughts.

Obsidian Starter Kit

Jump straight to stress-free note-making with Obsidian

Obsidian Starter Kit

Note that I have also created an accompanying video course that covers everything from the basics of Obsidian to advanced Personal Knowledge Management practices:

Obsidian Starter Course

Who is this for?You are just getting started with note-taking or you’ve recently switched to ObsidianYou want to discover Obsidian and its key featuresYou wonder how to take smart notesYou want to know how to properly organize your notes and avoid creating an overwhelming messYou want a solid system that scalesYou wonder what Zettelkasten, the PARA method, and the Johnny decimal system areYou have bought the Obsidian Starter Kit and want a full video course to help you get startedGetting started with Obsidian is not the hardest thing in the world, but it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how to structure and organize your knowledge base. You have a busy life, and you don’t want to spend weeks or even months figuring out the “right” approach.What is this?The Obsidian Starter Course is a video course containing 2h20 of content. It’s a hands-on guide into the world of Obsidian, Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), and the Obsidian Starter Kit.Many of the explanations use the Obsidian Starter Kit’s vault/structure/plugins, but the explanations about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), Markdown, YAML and recommendations can be applied to many other tools. Moreover, if you’re using Obsidian but don’t yet have a copy of the Obsidian Starter Kit, then this course is still incredibly useful. It will show you how you can organize your knowledge base, how to take smart notes, and much more!What’s in the video course?The Obsidian Starter Course covers the following topics:Obsidian: installation, user interface, key features, plugins, automation, tips and tricks, etcThe Markdown syntaxYAML metadataPersonal Knowledge Management techniques and principles: the Johnny Decimal system, the PARA method (e.g., the Zettelkasten method, the LIFT principle, Atomic notes, Maps of Content, knowledge capture & extraction, etc)JournalingPeriodic reviewsTemplatesAutomationTask managementBest practices and recommendationsHands-on explanationsand more!Refunds policyIf you’re not 100% satisfied, then just let me know, and I’ll issue a full refund. I’ll only ask you a single question: How can I improve the product?If you think about asking for a refund, then consider reaching out to me with your issues, questions, and remarks. I’m always available and happy to help. My goal is to help you succeed.

Gumroad

For those of you looking to delve deeper into the realms of note-taking, PKM, personal organization, productivity, and knowledge work in general, the Knowledge Worker Kit acts as an advanced companion, offering insights, strategies, mental models, templates, guidance, and a private community to help you become future-proof knowledge workers and lifelong learners.

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

Investing time and effort into PKM, and utilizing resources like the Obsidian Starter Kit and the Knowledge Worker Kit, is an investment in yourself. It's about becoming more efficient, effective, and fulfilled in your personal and professional life. By embracing these tools, you're not just managing knowledge; you're setting the stage for continuous growth, innovation, and success.

Conclusion

The transition from long-form note-taking to creating and connecting atomic notes can significantly impact your efficiency and effectiveness in handling information. By breaking down complex or extensive notes into smaller, interconnected pieces, you not only improve the accessibility of your knowledge but also enhance your ability to think critically and make connections between ideas. Embracing the atomic notes approach is a step toward much more dynamic and flexible knowledge management, where insights are not buried under the weight of words but are instead readily available at your fingertips.

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

DeveloPassion's Newsletter #156 - Knowledge Workers Unite

Sebastien Dubois — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 17:08:21 GMT

Welcome

Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩

You might have noticed, but I have been publishing the newsletter on Wednesdays recently. I generally have more time to work on my projects later in the week. But I'm also thinking about knocking on your mailbox more often. I don't want to become a burden, but I feel like we're too distant friends ;-)

This week, I've continued working on the Knowledge Worker Kit and have welcomed new members. It's quite exciting to create and grow a product like this ❤️

Next week, I'm going to take some time off, because it's the Carnival of Binche! Time to celebrate and have fun with friends 🍻 😎

Alright, let's gooooo 🚀

The lab 🧪

I'm spending more and more time discussing with GPT-4, and exploring ways to leverage its potential. I use it to dissect ideas, explore contrarian views, generate article titles, summaries, engaging threads, and much more. There are countless ways in which I manage to improve my workflows and thinking. Actually, the more I use LLMs, the more I realize that I need to pursue my idea of cross-posting right from my Obsidian vault. The Smart Connections plugin is now central to my work, and the more content I centralize and keep there, the more leverage I'll be able to create. The impact compounds.

On other news, the Knowledge Worker Kit and its community keep growing. I don't have enough time to dedicate to it, but I do manage to add content on a regular basis, which feels great. I'm also putting more effort into generating compelling communications to grow interest and "lure people in".

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

The Knowledge Worker Kit feels like a safe and riskless bet. I enjoy growing it, and keep having ideas about where to go next. I want to continue expanding the text-based content first, but then I'll add videos and workshops to increase the overall value and accelerate the pace for newcomers. My goal is to provide our community members with the shortest path from being overwhelmed to being in control and having a clear vision of what to do.

New articles

As promised, I've published an article about the art of note naming:

The Art of Note Naming: Keys to Effective Knowledge Management

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

I also published another one in which I'm trying to convince people that using analog still makes sense, but that there's a ton of value in transitioning the information from analog to digital:

Unlocking Potential: The Value of Transitioning from Analog to Digital

Unlock the Power of Digital: Transition from analog to digital for endless possibilities! Convert paper notes to a digital Personal Knowledge Management system, connect ideas, and harness the future of knowledge

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Finally, I've published a list of my Top 10 articles about Personal Knowledge Management:

My top 10 articles about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

Discover my 10 most popular articles about note-taking and Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Quotes of the week

Worrying is like paying a debt you don't owe — Mark Twain
Never complain, never explain. Let your actions speak for themselves
If an action could have a major impact on your life...you must decide and not merely choose — Shane Parrish

Thinking and learning

OCR Automation Workflow: Handwriting to Markdowns (Second Brain)

A simple blog where I share my learnings for the public internet and for my own knowledge management.

Rafferty Uy

Graph Journal | MindOS

A 10 year project to create an Operating System for your mind

MindOSBinny V A

Available now at your favorite digital store!

Zettelkasten and the Art of Knowledge Management: Combine your learnings & meaningful life-events into a personal knowledge graph using Obsidian by Binny V A

Universal Book Links Help You Find Books at Your Favorite Store!AUTHORS

Obsidian Starter Kit

Jump straight to stress-free note-making with Obsidian

Obsidian Starter Kit

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Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

In defense of using fewer tools

Sebastien Dubois — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 10:52:25 GMT

Using fewer tools can enhance Personal Organization, Productivity, and Knowledge Management. Here's why (and how).

Introduction

The quest for the perfect organizational and productivity tools seems endless. Many seem to unconsciously believe that equipping themselves with a multitude of apps and systems is the key to managing their knowledge, tasks, and schedules effectively. However, this approach can often lead to the opposite effect.

This article explores the idea that a simpler, more streamlined toolkit can enhance personal organization, boost productivity, and improve knowledge management.

The Paradox of Choice in Productivity Tools

The paradox of choice, a concept popularized by psychologist Barry Schwartz, suggests that an overabundance of options can lead to decision fatigue, anxiety, and ultimately, lower satisfaction. In the context of productivity tools, this translates to wasted time and energy in choosing and switching between multiple apps and systems, rather than focusing on the tasks at hand. Studies in decision-making have shown that beyond a certain point, each additional option only adds complexity and indecision to our lives.

Learning to choose is hard. Learning to choose well is harder. And learning to choose well in a world of unlimited possibilities is harder still, perhaps too hard — Barry Schwartz

Image generated using DALL-E

Integration and Compatibility Issues

Using a plethora of tools often leads to integration nightmares. Data from one app might not sync well with another, leading to disjointed workflows and productivity bottlenecks. For instance, a task management app that doesn't integrate seamlessly with your calendar can double the effort of scheduling and tracking deadlines. Such technical hurdles can consume valuable time that could be better spent on actual work.

People spend a ton of time trying to integrate various tools and often rely on clunky workflows that break at every opportunity (thanks to Murphy's Law). This often leads to stress, time and energy waste.

Integration issues cause major headaches. Image generated using DALL-E

The Learning Curve and Its Impact

Every new tool comes with its own learning curve. While learning is beneficial, constantly adapting to new interfaces and functions can be counterproductive. It takes time to become proficient with a new system, and during this period, productivity often dips. This constant cycle of learning and adapting can hinder long-term productivity and detract from the work that matters.

The worst part is that you often wonder how to leverage the myriad of features that all your tools offer. This leads to analysis paralysis and, again, distraction from more valuable efforts.

Exploring tools and their features is often procrastination in disguise

Learning to use new tools is costly, both in terms of time and mental overhead. Image generated using DALL-E

The Overhead of using many tools

The more tools you use, the more updates and issues you have to deal with. That's just a fact. Apps change all the time for various reasons. Features get added, others get changed or deprecated. At the end of the day, the more tools you use, the more time you have to spend maintaining your overall toolkit, surrounding systems and workflows.

The biggest advantage of minimizing the digital tools you use is you have less to keep organized and up to date. You have fewer options about where something will go or what you will use to do a piece of work — Carl Pullein, Going Old-School

We are often influenced by the choices made by other people when it comes to tools. Unfortunately, given that there are as many opinions as people, it's very easy to be convinced that we are missing out when we're not using the latest and greatest. In reality, it's all just an illusion. Oftentimes, simpler tools get the job done, and adding more bells and whistles just adds needless overhead.

We have a tendency to look around at what others are doing and use them as a standard of comparison — Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Image generated using DALL-E

The Benefits of a Minimalist Approach

Embracing a minimalist approach when it comes to productivity and personal organization tools can have several benefits. It reduces cognitive load, allowing you to focus more on tasks rather than on managing multiple systems. A streamlined set of tools enhances efficiency and creates simpler and more focused workflows.

For example, a single, well-chosen tool for task management, which integrates well with your primary communication and data storage platforms, can cover most organizational needs without cluttering your digital workspace.

We are surrounded by modern, time-saving devices, but we never seem to have enough time — Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice

The Advantages of Consolidation: Simplifying Focus and Creating Leverage

In the quest for efficiency, the strategy of regrouping different functions into a single tool is actually a winning approach. Consolidation offers a streamlined path to productivity. It reduces the cognitive overhead that comes with juggling between platforms and tools (e.g., different locations, interfaces, organization systems, etc). Every time we switch between different apps or systems, we pay a "context-switch cost" in terms of time and mental energy. This fragments our attention, forces us to create a new mental context, and leads to a decrease in our efficiency.

50 Tabs means 50 Mental contexts and needless cognitive load

Close those tabs to regain mental resources and be more productive

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Using fewer tools leads to better user experience, more focus, and much less distraction. Removing the mental overhead associated with using many tools helps us remained focused on the task at hand and makes it easier for us to enter (and remain) in a state of flow, where our concentration is maximized, and our productivity is much higher.

Choose less and feel better — Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

In addition, consolidating tools simplifies workflows, and makes it easier to organize our information consistently. With everything stored in fewer locations, there's no need to integrate systems and cross-reference information. This saves time and ensures that the information remains coherent. It also helps to remove duplication. It also makes it easier to manage it all, and define clearer priorities.

I have personally decided to get rid of dedicated task management tools and to instead rely on the simple task management features offered by my note-taking tool of choice: Obsidian. One could think that this would be a constraint, but it's actually an enabler. Instead of worrying about how I can integrate tasks in my daily workflow, I simply maintain my lists and priorities next to my notes, and can seamlessly leverage both.

Simplicity is key when it comes to tools. Image generated using DALL-E

Regrouping different functions into a single tool is a testament to the value and power of simplicity in the digital age.

Your environment shapes who you are. The simpler your environment, the simpler your life.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Reduced decision fatigue: Fewer tools mean fewer decisions about what tool to use for each task.
Lower learning curve: You spend less time and energy mastering tools in your toolkit.
Improved integration: A smaller set of tools is easier to integrate, ensuring a smoother workflow.
More clarity: Less is more when it comes to tools. You don't have to spend as much time thinking about what goes where and why.
Lower cognitive load: Simplifying your toolkit can declutter your mental space
More focus: You spend less time switching contexts, and get more quality time to spend on what matters.
Increased proficiency: Using fewer tools allows for deeper familiarity, leading to more efficient use.
Less complexity: Fewer tools means fewer headaches.
Less procrastination: Fewer tools imply less time and energy spent choosing, integrating, and fixing things.
Easier collaboration: It's easier to collaborate with others when the ecosystem is simpler to grasp.
Lower costs: You get to spend less money on acquiring tools and associated subscriptions
Reduced your tech footprint: fewer tools is often better for the environment and your mental wellbeing.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Certainly true, but a single hammer can help you solve many issues nevertheless. Image generated using DALL-E

Cons

While there are many benefits, it's also important to acknowledge the cons:

Limited functionality: Fewer tools might mean missing out on some specialized features. In general, I consider that as a benefit, but in some cases it can be limiting.
Dependency risk: Over-reliance on a limited set of tools can be risky if those tools fail or become obsolete. That's why it's important to choose tools that use Open Data formats and let you export your data easily, maximizing the chances of being able to migrate your data more easily.
Initial adjustment: Transitioning to a simpler system might initially disrupt established workflows.
Slower innovation: When you're using fewer tools, those generally innovate less than many tools combined can.

In my opinion, the pros significantly outweigh the cons, especially when the goal is long-term productivity and efficiency. But I'm biased, of course.

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Practical Tips for Simplifying Your Toolkit

Audit your current tools: Make a list of all the tools you currently use and evaluate their necessity. Sometimes we use things because we've been using those for as long as we remember, but we don't really need to
Identify core functions: What are the main features you absolutely need. Determine the essential functions needed for your workflow and find tools that cover multiple needs.
Test and evaluate: Experiment with a reduced set of tools and note any changes in your productivity and stress levels. Oftentimes, you'll realize that you didn't need all those bells and whistles.
Seek integration: Opt for tools that integrate well with each other to create a seamless workflow.
Pay attention to data portability: The ability to export and migrate your data somewhere else is really important. Don't overlook this! Moreover, avoid vendor lock-in if whenever possible.
Find satisfaction in using less: Using less simplifies your workflows and life. Be satisfied with less!

To satisfice is to settle for something that is good enough and not worry about the possibility that there might be something better — Barry Schwartz, The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less

Conclusion

While it's tempting to chase the latest app or system in the pursuit of productivity, often, less is more. By reducing the number of tools in your personal organization and knowledge management systems, you can streamline your workflows, decrease stress, and increase productivity. It's time to embrace the power of simplicity and focus on what truly matters!

That's it for today ✨

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About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

My top 10 articles about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

Sebastien Dubois — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 15:18:05 GMT

In this article, I want to showcase my most popular articles about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). Whether you're just getting started or not, these can help you improve your own system.

The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Obsidian

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Obsidian

Discover Obsidian with this ultimate guide for beginners. Don’t waste time, and learn what really matters.

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article is a comprehensive tutorial for newcomers to Obsidian, a popular note-taking and personal knowledge management tool. This guide covers the fundamental concepts of Obsidian, including how to set up and organize notes, utilize Markdown for note creation, and the significance of features like vaults and plugins. It is designed to help beginners quickly grasp the essential aspects of using Obsidian efficiently.

Note that I have also created the Obsidian Starter Course, which is a deep dive course:

Obsidian Starter Course

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The Must-Have Obsidian plugins

An overview of the best Obsidian plugins. Make sure to read this and try these out!

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article offers an extensive overview of various essential plugins for the Obsidian note-taking application. It introduces readers to a range of plugins, detailing their functions and benefits. These plugins enhance the functionality of Obsidian, addressing different aspects such as task management, note organization, data visualization, and more. The post is designed to help users navigate the extensive library of available Obsidian plugins and select those that best suit their personal knowledge management needs.

Ten Personal Knowledge Management Practices to Explore and Master

Ten practices that you should explore to improve your Personal Knowledge Management skills

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article outlines essential practices for effective Personal Knowledge Management.

Note-taking vs Note-making

Taking notes and making notes are different but complementary. Learn about the difference and why you should care

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article distinguishes between these two different practices. On one end capturing external information (often condensed), and on the other, expressing thoughts and ideas, fostering self-expression and creativity.

The Value of Atomic Notes

The value of atomic notes

Atomic notes are a key element of PKM success. Here’s why

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article discusses the benefits of creating concise, and focused notes in Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). Atomic notes, limited to a single idea or concept, enhance linkability, tagging accuracy, and ease of search within a knowledge base. This approach aids in better understanding, recall, and exploration of ideas, making atomic notes valuable for efficient learning and knowledge accumulation.

The PARA Method

The PARA method

The PARA method is a great way to organize your digital information. Here’s a quick introduction

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article covers the PARA method, a system for organizing digital information. It stands for Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives, each storing specific types of information. This method helps to categorize and prioritize tasks and information, streamlining the organization process for enhanced productivity and clarity.

The Johnny Decimal System

The Johnny Decimal system

Discover the Johnny Decimal system and organize anything with grace

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article explores a popular method for organizing digital information. It describes how to organize any kind of information efficiently. The Johnny Decimal is a versatile tool adaptable across various platforms and tools, enhancing personal knowledge management practices.

Maps of Content (MoCs)

Maps of Content (MoCs) for better Knowledge Graphs

Understand what Maps of Content (MoCs) are in the PKM ecosystem. Discover why they are useful and how they can help strengthen your knowledge graph

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article dives into the concept of Map of Content (MoC). It explains how MoCs act as meta notes, linking to other notes and serving as a dynamic index on various topics. The article highlights the benefits of MoCs in organizing and connecting ideas, enhancing the navigability and scalability of a knowledge base. It also touches on the idea of creating a "MoC of MoCs" to further structure and relate various topics.

How I use Daily Notes

How I use daily notes

An overview of how I use daily notes and how I extract knowledge from those.

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article explores my own journaling approach. It outlines my process for capturing ideas, and later organizing those during weekly reviews.

My Daily Note template in Obsidian

My daily note template in Obsidian

In this article, I want to share the template I use in Obsidian for my daily notes. Introduction As journaling is part of my habits, I use my daily note template every single day. That’s why I like to keep it simple and usable. My daily note template Let me

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This article provides an insightful look into how he uses Obsidian for daily journaling and note-taking. In it, I share the Daily Note template I currently use. I also explain its structure and components. The article emphasizes how this structured approach aids in productivity, learning, and personal development.

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About Sébastien

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Unlocking Potential: The Value of Transitioning from Analog to Digital

Sebastien Dubois — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 12:25:54 GMT

In this article, I want to discuss the reasons why going from analog to digital is valuable. While analog has various advantages "in the moment", it limits the ways in which you can leverage your knowledge, especially when considering notes and Personal Knowledge Management.

Introduction

Digital transformation often leaves us lost and overwhelmed. But while it creates tension and creates new issues we need to deal with, it also enables many use cases and creates avenues to manage information and improve workflows.

As much as I enjoy analog means to discover, learn and explore ideas, I consider my analog information to be transient. I don't keep old notebooks around. I transition everything I want to keep to digital, and I get rid of the analog content as soon as I can.

We'll start by looking at the benefits of using analog "tools", then we'll discuss the advantages of going digital, and what they enable. Finally, we'll look at workflows you can use to go from analog to digital, and how to think about the transition.

The benefits of starting analog

Embracing analog methods, such as using pen and paper, before transitioning to a digital environment offers unique benefits. While the digital realm offers a multitude of advantages that we're going to discuss, there are also compelling reasons to begin your journey with analog tools:

Enhanced cognitive engagement: Writing by hand creates a deeper cognitive connection with the material. Physically forming letters and shapes engages your brain in a way that typing on a keyboard does not. This deeper engagement can lead to better comprehension and knowledge retention
Freedom from distractions: Analog tools are inherently distraction-free. When you're using pen and paper, you're much less tempted by notifications, emails, or other digital distractions. This undivided attention can lead to more focused and creative thinking
Flexibility and creativity: Paper allows for unlimited creativity. You can sketch, doodle, create diagrams, and take non-linear notes freely. This flexibility can be especially valuable if you want to explore ideas
Tangible record: Analog methods provide a tangible and tactile record of your work. You can physically flip through pages, underline key points, and annotate text. This physicality can make your notes more memorable and accessible
Mindful reflection: Writing by hand encourages mindfulness and deliberate thought. It provides an opportunity to reflect deeply on your ideas, which can lead to more thoughtful and meaningful insights
Low entry barrier: Analog tools are readily available and require minimal setup. All you need is a pen and some paper. This makes analog methods accessible to everyone, everywhere, regardless to tech-savviness
No battery dependence: Unlike digital devices, pen and paper never run out of battery. This reliability ensures that you can take notes or sketch ideas anytime, anywhere, without worrying about power sources. That being said, hybrid tools such as the ReMarkable paper tablet provide a good alternative. I've been using one for a while, and never had issues with the battery

Despite the advantages of the digital realm that we're going to discuss, beginning with analog methods like pen and paper can be a valuable stepping stone. Analog tools offer a strong foundation for your transition into the digital world.

Why going digital is valuable

Starting analog doesn't mean abandoning digital altogether. It's not an either-or proposition. In my humble opinion, analog and digital are complementary. That being said, transitioning to digital does provide important benefits over keeping your analog information around.

Analog information is mostly isolated, and rarely gets reused and "connected", even though there are methods to connect analog ideas. As we'll see, these are two important drawbacks, even though there are others to consider.

Here are the main benefits of transitioning to digital:

Persistence and permanence: One of the most significant advantages of going digital is the persistence of information. Unlike physical documents that can degrade over time, get lost or destroyed, digital data can be stored indefinitely without deteriorating (assuming you have proper backups in place). This ensures that your valuable information remains accessible and intact for years to come
Ability to rework and improve: Digital information allows for easy editing and revising. Whether you're refining a document, fine-tuning a design, or enhancing a piece of content, digital tools provide the flexibility to rework and improve your work without losing the original. Using analog means, reworking a piece often means re-creating it
Unified knowledge repository: Going digital allows you to consolidate information from various analog sources into a single, unified knowledge repository. Instead of juggling physical notebooks, loose papers, disparate and disconnected systems, your knowledge becomes accessible from a centralized digital platform
Connect Ideas and Concepts: Digital platforms enable you to connect ideas and concepts effortlessly. Through hyperlinks, tags, and interconnected documents, you can create a web of knowledge that facilitates understanding and fosters creativity Cross-referencing ideas, knowledge and information helps turn "dry" Knowledge Bases into much more valuable webs of knowledge, also known as Knowledge Graphs. And the value of a Knowledge Graph compounds over time
Efficient search and retrieval: With digital documents, finding and retrieving specific information is a breeze. Advanced search features, metadata, and categorization options make it easy to locate what you need within seconds. Assuming you know how to connect ideas, you have many different paths to find what you need when you need it
Improved accessibility: Knowledge centralization through digital transition enhances accessibility. You can access your information from any device with an internet connections, and sometimes even without one. This increases flexibility, and productivity, whether you're at the office, home, or on the go
Enable versioning: Digital information simplify version control. Using digital tools and platforms, you can easily create many variants of a document/note, track changes and compare different versions
Automate workflows: Digital systems are designed to streamline workflows. You can automate repetitive tasks, set reminders, and use software to manage processes efficiently. This frees up time for more strategic and creative thinking, but also enables powerful usages of your knowledge
Collaboration and sharing: Digital tools and platforms foster collaboration, allowing individuals and teams to work together in real-time, regardless of their physical location
Streamlined organization: Transitioning to digital allows you to implement a structured organizational system for your knowledge. You can use folders, tags, categories, and metadata to keep everything neatly organized, reducing clutter and confusion. With analog data, this is also doable, but much more challenging
Scalability and growth: As your knowledge base/graph expands, digital platforms can scale to accommodate your growing repository of knowledge. This is much harder to achieve with analog information
Data analysis and insights: Digital information can easily be analyzed to extract valuable insights. For instance, tools such as Obsidian make it a breeze to get statistics about your Knowledge Graph, to visualize it, query different pieces of the puzzle, etc. Also, you can go further an leverage tools such as Large Language Models (LLMs) to further leverage your knowledge. This enables variouns use cases, such as asking questions to your knowledge base (e.g., using the Smart Connections plugin for Obsidian, or using Notion AI)
Cost savings: Going digital often leads to significant cost savings. It eliminates the need for physical storage, reduces paper and printing expenses
Digital-physical hybrid: Starting analog doesn't mean abandoning digital altogether. You can integrate the best of both worlds by using analog tools for initial brainstorming/thinking and then transitioning to digital platforms for organization, connection and sharing
Backup and disaster recovery: Digital assets can be easily backed up and secured in multiple locations. This redundancy minimizes the risk of data loss due to hardware failures, disasters, or accidents. Your information remains safe and recoverable. With analog information, this is much harder to achieve
Data migration and portability: Transitioning from analog to digital doesn't mean leaving your old information behind. Digital tools often provide means to migrate and digitize your existing data, ensuring a seamless transition and preserving your historical records. Moreover, once information is digital, it's much easier to move it around and, assuming you are using Open Data formats, to use your data with different tools and migrate over time, as needed

The transition from analog to digital is not merely a shift in technology, but a way to empower individuals and organizations to leverage their information in many ways, and lead to more creativity and productivity. It paves the way for knowledge centralization, connecting ideas, and creating valuable Knowledge Graphs.

Image generated using DALL-E

Analog information should be transient

Given all the benefits of going digital, it feels obvious to me that analog information should be considered transient. That is, even though capturing information using analog means (e.g., pen and paper) comes with various benefits, the long term gains of going digital are too important to be ignored.

That's why I always recommend people to include the transition from analog to digital as part of their information and knowledge management systems. This may sound complicated, but it really isn't. For instance, by using the ReMarkable paper tablet, my information is immediately stored in digital form. I can easily get a PDF or image version of my notes, and later convert those to other data formats (e.g., Markdown). But the same is true for paper notes. You can take a picture, and use digital tools to convert those pictures into other data formats (e.g., using GPT 4).

So, please do consider analog information as transient. Consider the transition from analog to digital as a crucial step toward a more efficient and future-proof knowledge management strategy. This will empower you and your teams to harness the full potential of your information.

Image generated using DALL-E

Transitioning from analog to digital: A pratical guide

Transitioning from analog to digital may seem like a daunting task, but with a structured approach, it becomes accessible and highly rewarding.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to make this transition, with a focus on converting paper notes to a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) system:

Step 1: Assess your analog materials

First off, create an inventory of your existing analog materials. Find your physical notebooks, paper-based notes, and any other analog sources of information that you want to digitize.

Second, categorize your analog information based on their specific transition requirements. For instance, converting paper notes and notebooks to digital might require one approach, while book highlights might require another.

Also, prioritize the information that will most benefit from transitioning to digital. In order to create more leverage, you need to know which information will add most value to your digital knowledge base.

Step 2: Choose your digital platforms

For each "category" of analog information you have, you need to identify where in your digital world it should transition to. The advice I generally give is to use as few tools/platforms as possible. For instance, I mostly rely on the following "repositories" to store my digital information:

Google Drive: private and business documents, excel sheets, invoices, video projects, etc
NAS: pictures, videos, private data, etc
Gmail: e-mails
Google Calendar: events, reminders, time blocking, anniversaries, etc
Obsidian: ALL my notes, journal, project plans, tasks, and more!
Notion: Shared documents
Figma: visuals
GitHub: source code and software development project tasks

Of course I use many more digital tools, but information and knowledge-wise, those are my main repositories. The benefit of using fewer tools is that you increase the possibility of reusing and connecting content/ideas. Moreover, it's simpler to grasp, easier to file new information and to find what you need.

Research and select your digital platforms and tools. Also, please do consider introducing a Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) system in your life if you don't have one already. PKM encompasses way more than personal notes, but starting with a modern note-taking tool can greatly help (e.g, Obsidian combined with the Obsidian Starter Kit).

Obsidian Starter Kit and community

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Don't worry too much about feature sets. It's just procrastination in disguide. For my documents, I care about accessibility, versioning, backup and recovery. For my notes, I care about privacy, portability and the ability to connect ideas. For tasks, I just want lists and checkboxes. Simplicity is a feature!

You need to be clear about what should go where, so that you can file newly transitioned information without thinking too much.

Step 3: Define an organization system for your digital information

Assuming you have chosen your digital "weapons", you need to organize those. You don't need to spend days and days to do this, but you do need a minimal organization system.

Ideally, your organization system should be homogeneous across tools. That is, you should be able to easily find your way in each. This means:

Knowing where to store new information
Knowing where to find what you need

I generally recommend the PARA method and the Johnny Decimal system. Those are simple to understand and use. Also, they can easily be combined to accomodate specific needs. More importantly, they scale really well.

With that in place, you'll be able to organize your data and avoid creating a digital mess for yourself.

Step 4: Make sure you have backup/restore and disaster recovery processes in place

For each tool and platform you use, you need to make sure that you know how to:

Backup the information: Ideally, this should be automated in some way so that you don't have to think about it
Restore the information: Ideally piece by piece. If you lose a file, then you should be able to restore that single file, independently of other ones. You don't want all your data to go back in time if you lose a single piece
Prepare for and recover from a disaster: Your information management strategy needs to take disasters into account. What happens if your Google account gets compromised or banned for some reason? Will you still have access to your data? You need to think about this, find solutions to ensure that you'll never lose anything important and know what to do when the worst happens (i.e., hope for the best, prepare for the worst)
Migrate your data elsewhere: Assuming you have chosen tools that care about data portability (note that this is a core part of the GDPR), there should be a way for you to migrate your information from one system or platform to another. Even if it's mandated by international laws, it's important for you to know how to migrate so that you're not stuck with a specific vendor forever (i.e., avoid vendor lock-in). So do take some time to prepare for future migrations. Make sure you know how to export your information

Step 5: Digitize your analog information

Depending on the type of information, there are different approaches to digitize it. Here's what I generally do:

For paper documents (e.g., bills, invoices, official documents, etc), I simply scan the papers to PDFs or images, and store those in Google Drive or my NAS
For pictures (e.g., old family photographs), I also scan to images, and import those into my Lightroom database
For book notes and book highlights, I generally take notes using my ReMarkable, so those follow the same steps I'll describe below
For paper notes, I take pictures, get those on my computer, and use OpenAI GPT to convert the images into Markdown. Then I import the Markdown into Obsidian and add relevant metadata. If the process fails for some reason, I simply transcribe the notes manually into Obsidian
If my paper notes contain schemas, diagrams or freeform drawings, I take some time to recreate those using Obsidian canvas (when valuable/still relevant)

Step 6: Organize, categorize, and add metadata

As you digitize your analog information, you need to organize it systematically within your chosen digital platforms and tools. While you're doing so, make sure you add relevant categories, tags, and metadata. This will add more value to your digital information, and will enable you to better leverage it later on.

Consistently doing this ensures that related ideas can be easily connected later, and that it'll be easy for you to find what you need at all times.

Step 7: Include the transition to digital in your workflows

The transition from analog to digital is not a one-time thing. It's an ongoing process. You'll continue to take notes using pen and paper, you'll continue receiving paper documents (at least for years to come 🤣), and thus you'll regularly need to go from analog to digital.

For this reason, you need to include the transition from analog to digital as part of your personal and/or professional workflows. I personally transition my analog content to digital at the following occasions:

During my periodic reviews (mainly during weekly and monthly reviews)
During tax season
After I capture pictures and videos of important events
Randomly (e.g., when I can't focus and don't feel like working)

At each of those occasions, I go through my papers, identify what matters, prioritize, digitize and get rid of what I don't need anymore.

Step 8: Leverage digital features

Now it's time to benefit. Explore the features offered by your chosen digital platforms and tools.

Specifically for your notes, learn about ways to connect ideas and to leverage tags and metadata. Also learn more about how to search for specific pieces of the puzzle. Improve your "information-finding-fu", and leverage modern AI tools such as Large Language Models (e.g., ChatGPT, Mistral, Ollama, Bard, etc). Explore connections and patterns, and leverage your digital knowledge graph to empower yourself.

Image generated using DALL-Ekn

Going further

As you evolve your workflows and make better use of digital tools and platforms, you'll create more and more leverage. The more you progress, the more your Knowledge Graph and digital information will empower you. Use it all while you explore ideas, learn and create new things.

Transitioning to a digital knowledge environment is an ongoing process. Embrace the opportunities for continuous learning and iteration. Experiment with new features, improve your organization system, and refine your note-taking and linking techniques over time. Take time to evolve your Knowledge Management practices, and become a future-proof Knowledge Worker and Lifelong Learner. If you're curious about this, then subscribe to my newsletter and check out the Knowledge Worker Kit.

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Conclusion

Going from analog to digital has a lot of value. Don't let your valuable insights get lost in a pile of paper. Take every opportunity to connect ideas and create leverage. Your future self will thank you!

That's it for today! ✨

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About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

The Art of Note Naming: Keys to Effective Knowledge Management

Sebastien Dubois — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 12:22:17 GMT

In this article, I want to explore the fundamentals of note naming. I will also share strategies you can use to enhance your Knowledge Management practices.

Introduction

A Personal Knowledge Management system can be very useful, but its value can only compound if you organize your knowledge intelligently. One of the most important but often-overlooked aspect of effective Knowledge Management is choosing good names for your notes. Choosing good names is more art than science, but there are certain tips and tricks you can apply to achieve better results.

As we'll see shortly, choosing good names for your notes has many benefits. Whether you're maintaining a personal archive of insights or working with a team, naming your notes thoughtfully can significantly impact your ability to recognize, understand, reuse, and prevent duplication of valuable information.

Benefits of choosing good names for your notes

To me, the main benefits of choosing good names for your notes are:

Eases Retrieval: Quickly find the information you need when searching for specific notes.
Saves Time: Spend less time searching and more time using your knowledge effectively.
Minimizes Frustration: Prevent the frustration of not finding what you're looking for.
Prevents Duplication: Clearly named notes reduce the risk of creating duplicate content.
Promotes Reusability: Easily identify and reuse valuable content.
Helps break down complex Concepts: Break down complex ideas into interconnected, digestible notes.
Facilitates Learning: Well-named notes assist in retaining and applying new knowledge.
Reduces Cognitive Load: Clear note names reduce mental effort required to understand content.
Enables Contextual Understanding: Quickly understand how notes are related just from their names. Good names provide context.
Enhances Cross-Referencing: Seamlessly refer to and cross-link relevant notes.
Enables Thematic Grouping: Organize notes thematically, creating logical groupings.
Improves Navigation: Easier access to related notes.

In essence, "correct" and thoughtful note naming is a foundational element of effective knowledge management, offering a multitude of benefits that extend to organization, reuse, link, search, and productivity.

Image generated with Stable Diffusion

The Fundamentals of Effective Note Naming

Clarity is Key

Your note names should be crystal clear and concise, leaving no room for ambiguity. Avoid vague or overly cryptic names that require mental gymnastics to decipher. Instead, opt for descriptive names that convey the note's content at a glance. For example, "2024-01-24 - Marketing Meeting Minutes - Q1 Strategy" is far more informative than "MM_0323.".

Descriptive note names serve as a valuable aid to understanding the content of a note. They allow you to quickly discern a note's purpose or context without opening it. Cryptic or abbreviated names, on the other hand, may save a few seconds during the naming process but can lead to confusion later. Strive for a balance between brevity and informativeness in your note names. Choose clarity over conciseness whenever possible.

Use descriptive words

Include relevant keywords that capture the note's content. Your note names should reflect the notes content. That way, you'll easily know if the note contains what you're looking for.

Naming Conventions are essential

Consistency is the cornerstone of effective note naming. Consider establishing naming conventions that suit your needs and stick to them religiously. These conventions can include guidelines for capitalization, punctuation, and special characters. Document your conventions so that you can maintain consistency over time.

Below, I'll share the naming conventions I rely on to keep my system organized and consistent.

Recommended naming conventions for note names

General naming conventions

Try to use whole sentences as note names (e.g., The history of Jean-Paul Sartre). Don't worry too much about length. When notes are stored as file on your file system, there may be limitations, but only worry about those when you hit them
Prioritize key information: start with the most important details
Always start note names with an uppercase letter
Separate words with spaces
Avoid uppercase letters in the rest of the name (e.g., Don't Do This All The Time)
Avoid using special characters: stick to letters, numbers and basic punctuation (e.g., ',', '-', ''', etc). Avoid emojis and other symbols if possible. Stick to text
Use abbreviations sparingly: only abbreviate when it's widely recognized
Spell out acronyms: clarify acronyms within the note name
Use uppercase letters for acronyms (e.g., The PARA method (Projects Areas Resources Archives))
Avoid prefixing note names with their current location: the location can change, and your note names might become invalid
Avoid prefixing note names with their category: use tags instead
Avoid generic names. use names that reflect the content (e.g., avoid Untitled, Note 1, Temp, etc)
Don't repeat information in the note name
Include terms you're likely to search for
Don't include irrelevant details or unnecessary words in the name
Use lowercase for prepositions: keep prepositions like "in," "on," and "with" in lowercase
Avoid pronouns: replace pronouns like "it" or "this" with descriptive words
Be mindful of privacy: avoid including sensitive information in note names

Naming conventions for chronological organization

Include dates and time when you need your notes to be organized chronologically (e.g., periodic notes, meeting notes)
Always use the same date and time formats
Use the ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss...): for instance 2024-01-29

For example, I use the following conventions for periodic notes:

Daily notes: YYYY-MM-DD, and I organize those under "Journal/Daily Notes/YYYY/WW (e.g., Journal/Daily Notes/2024/01/2024-01-01)
Weekly notes: YYYY-Wxy and I organize those under "Journal/Weekly Notes/YYYY" (e.g., Journal/Weekly Notes/2024/2024-W01)
Monthly notes: YYYY-MM and I organize those under "Journal/Monthly Notes/YYYY" (e.g., Journal/Monthly Notes/2024/2024-01)
Quarterly Notes: YYYY-Qxy and I organize those under "Journal/Quarterly Notes/YYYY" (e.g., Journal/Quarterly Notes/2024/2024-Q1)
Yearly Notes: YYYY and I organize those under "Journal/Yearly Notes" (e.g., Journal/Yearly Notes/2024)

I use a similar convention for meeting notes: YYYY-MM-DD - Topic, which I file under "Areas/Meeting Notes/YYYY" (e.g., Areas/Meeting Notes/2024-02-01 - Status meeting with the board).

Naming conventions for quotes

Name the note with the quote (e.g., "The past is the past. What's done is done" for the quote "The past is the past. What's done is done")

Naming convention for people

When I write things down about certain people or characters, I create a name using the following convention: GivenName FamilyName (e.g., Don Camillo) and I store those under "People" or "Contacts", depending on whether I know them personally or not.

Thanks to those notes I can:

Capture information about people I know or don't
Link to specific people in other notes (e.g., meeting notes)

Hierarchical structures and note name prefixes

Naming hierarchical structures can greatly help organize your notes. As I've mentioned, I do this for periodic notes and meeting notes. Those fall under specific locations in my PKM so that it stays neatly organized.

Sometimes, it's useful to include contextual information in note names. For instance, I do this with project-related notes. I store those under "Projects/Project Name" and prefix those notes with "Project Name - ". That way, it's easy for me to recognize notes related to a certain project, and I can use the same "specific name" in different places. For instance, I often create a few notes such as "Overview", "Links", etc for my projects, and with the prefix, it works across projects. For instance:

Projects/Knowledge Worker Kit/Knowledge Worker Kit - Links
Projects/Knowledge Worker Kit/Knowledge Worker Kit - Overview
Projects/Newsletter/Newsletter - Links
Projects/Newsletter/Newsletter - Overview

The structure keeps everything organized, while the name prefix helps with disembiguation. This is one of the rare cases where I recommend using prefixes for note names.

Tagging and Metadata

I heavily recommend supplementing your note naming strategy with tags, metadata, links and backlinks. Those add a lot of context to your notes, and help connect ideas in different ways. It's a topic that I have discussed in a previous article:

How to connect ideas together

As you learn and grow, you’ll accumulate more and more knowledge. While each piece is important, the relationships between ideas is, at least, as important as the ideas themselves.

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Tags add another layer of categorization, which helps regardless of the location of the notes. Also, when used consistently, tagging makes searching and retrieving the right notes at the right time a breeze.

For instance, I tag all my periodic notes and meeting notes using the following tags:

meeting_notes
meeting_notes_YYYY
daily_notes
daily_notes_YYYY
...

Thanks to those tags, I can easily find or query specific types of notes, and even do so for a specific time period.

Examples of Good Note Names

Let's look at a few practical examples that (hopefully 😂) demonstrate the principles we've discussed:

Simple notes

The advantage of descriptive names is that they're easy to recognize, understand, and reuse. I can easily insert a link to another note within a sentence:

Periodic Notes

As you can see, thanks to the common structure and date format, those notes are neatly organized. More importantly, they're also easy to find when needed, either using the file explorer or using the search functionality!

Project Notes

In this example, each project note has a prefix. If order matters, then adding a sequence would help (e.g., DeveloPassion - 01 - Overview). If you use a sequence, always pad it with enough zeroes to keep a neat-looking structure over time.

Meeting Minutes

Again, the prefix and common date format helps a lot.

Quotes

As you can see, I don't hesitate to use long names for my notes

Notes about people

Going further

If you're curious to learn more, then check out my other projects:

The Obsidian Starter Kit is a pre-configured Obsidian vault accompanied by a detailed user guide. It includes many plugins, templates, an organization system, automation rules, and more!

Obsidian Starter Kit

Jump straight to stress-free note-making with Obsidian

Obsidian Starter Kit

The Obsidian Starter Course teaches Personal Knowledge Management and Obsidian.

Obsidian Starter Course

Gumroad

Finally, the Knowledge Worker Kit includes a whole part dedicated to Personal Knowledge Management, but also explores everything that revolves around Personal Organization, Project Management and (Zen) Productivity. Importantly, it's also a private community of like-minded people, always keen to learn new things:

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

Conclusion

Effective note naming is a skill that enhances knowledge management, allowing you to harness the full potential of your digital archive. By prioritizing clarity, embracing organizational frameworks, maintaining naming conventions, and using tools wisely, you can create a robust system that empowers you to recognize, understand, reuse, and safeguard your knowledge. Remember that note naming is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor; tailor your approach to your specific needs and enjoy the benefits of efficient knowledge management.

Don't underestimate the power of a well-chosen note name. It's the key to unlocking the wealth of information you've gathered, making your knowledge readily accessible and actionable.

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

DeveloPassion's Newsletter #155 - Personal Knowledge Management in Practice

Sebastien Dubois — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 10:13:44 GMT

Welcome

Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩

This week, I've continued working on the Knowledge Worker Kit's part about Personal Knowledge Management. That part is so important to me that I really want to nail it. First, it needs to really be convincing. It needs to highlight its value for personal and professional development as well as its compounding effects. Second, it needs to be practical enough so that people who are not familiar with the topic understand what it means and how it works, so that they can get started without feeling lost.

The interesting aspect of explaining PKM from the ground up is that it forces me to go step by step and chain the topics in a thoughtful way. As such, it creates a mini-course on the topic, that should be valuable to the community, but also potentially to others. For instance, I could repurpose that content to create a free 7-day e-mail course (anyone interested??).

Alright, let's gooooo 🚀

The lab 🧪

As I've mentioned, I've continued working on the Knowledge Worker Kit. I've added the following articles recently:

There's still quite a lot to cover, but this is already quite useful for our community members.

I feel far behind on the marketing side. I've lost my momentum on X, and don't publish nearly enough. It's a real grind, and it feels so tiresome sometimes. Meh! I wish more readers would help me share the word about what I'm spending so much time and efforts on 😂

Why I chose Obsidian

Obsidian is my favorite note-taking and Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) tool.

I like it because:

It stores everything locally in an Open Data format (Markdown), meaning that the data will always remain mine, and in a format that I will always be able to edit and maintain. This is great for vendor independence, privacy, security, etc
It is very performant compared to Web-based alternatives. It starts quickly, and all operations are lightning-fast
It has been audited by an independent security firm, meaning that it is secure and safe to use. It also means that they truly care about security
It has awesome built-in features such as local and global graphs, note metadata, canvas (diagrams), browser-like tabs, powerful search capabilities, bookmarks, support for links and backlinks, tags, theming, and much more
It has a huge and very welcoming community
It has a large collection of plugins (1000+). I listed my favorite ones a while ago
It is free

There are more reasons, but those are the most important ones for me.

Curious about Obsidian? Then check out my beginner's guide.

The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Obsidian

Discover Obsidian with this ultimate guide for beginners. Don’t waste time, and learn what really matters.

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

And if you want to take the fast lane, then check out the Obsidian Starter Kit. I've been working on it for the last two years, and it made hundreds of customers happy:

Obsidian Starter Kit

Jump straight to stress-free note-making with Obsidian

Obsidian Starter Kit

New articles

No new articles this week, but I'm preparing a guide about how to name notes thoughtfully.

Quotes of the week

You don't have to be brilliant, only a little bit wiser than the other guys, on average, for a long, long time — Charlie Munger
The formula for failure is a few small errors consistently repeated — Shane Parrish

Thinking and learning

Long-term Attention Mechanisms in Personal Knowledge Management

The Power of Visual Meta-Notes

Extended_BrainExtended_Brain

Gems from Polanyi’s Personal Knowledge and Tacit Dimension

A Selection of Quotes

Extended_BrainExtended_Brain

What Are The 7 Different Learning Styles And Do They Work? | Avado

There’s a theory that human beings can be split into 7 different types of learners, so we decided to try and teach people about them in 7 different ways!

AvadoAvado

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

How I put my whole life into a single database · Felix Krause

Obsidian Daily Note Implementation v2 – AgileAdam.com

AgileAdam.comadam

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

DeveloPassion's Newsletter #154 - Knowledge Management Matters

Sebastien Dubois — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 13:20:32 GMT

Welcome

Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩

This week, I've worked on the Knowledge Worker Kit, and added many sections about Personal Knowledge Management. The cool part is that it not only increases the value of the offering, but also helps me publish more content. Double win 🎉

I've also continued reading How We Learn by Stanislas Dehaene. It's a great read, and I'm capturing tons of cool insights. I especially enjoy all the parallels he draws between Deep Learning techniques and how the brain actually works. It's definitely a book I will recommend!

If you enjoy this newsletter, then please subscribe to support me and share the link around! ❤️

Alright, let's gooooo 🚀

The lab 🧪

My focus is almost solely on the Knowledge Worker Kit. So far, I've sold 45 copies ($1.6K), and I'm hoping to sell a lot more. The content is valuable, the feedback has been great so far, so this is really motivating. I can really see myself working on this for a few years! There's so much I want to share ❤️

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

Other than that, I didn't progress much on my other ongoing ideas. YouTube is still on hold at the moment, but I'm going to record and publish new things soon!

New articles

I've published an article covering how to connect ideas together. If links, backlinks, tags, organization systems, or Knowledge Graphs are unfamiliar, then go check it out!

How to connect ideas together

As you learn and grow, you’ll accumulate more and more knowledge. While each piece is important, the relationships between ideas is, at least, as important as the ideas themselves.

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

I've also published an introduction to Personal Organization. It discusses key elements of Personal Organization systems:

Personal Organization 101

Do you feel disorganized? Overwhelmed? Lost? Drowned in a mess? Do you regularly forget tasks? Do you miss your deadlines? Do you lose your files? If any of those ring a bell, then you may need to read this!

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

That content will also be part of the Knowledge Worker Kit 🚀

Quotes of the week

Be studious in your profession, and you will be learned. Be industrious and frugal and you will be rich. Be sober and temperate and you will be healthy. Be in general virtuous and you will be happy — Benjamin Franklin
All knowledge is personal, and all personal knowledge is passionate — Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge
Man is a knowing animal — Michael Polanyi

Thinking and learning

This week I've listened to a mind-blowing podcast episode in which Lex Fridman interviews Matthew Cox, a con-man who once was one of the most wanted criminals in the US. The episode lasts almost 6 hours, but I couldn't stop listening. Matthew Cox has a gift for telling entertaining stories, and his own is quite something! It's amazing how far people can go when they're arrogant.

While we're discussing podcasts, I've also listened to a series of interviews about ChatGPT by Dan Shipper of Every:

It shares cool ideas and tips about how to better use LLMs.

Tiago Forte has interviewed Nick Milo about Obsidian. Well worth a watch if you're on the fence about Obsidian:

Gareth Stretton, one of the members of our PKM community has published a cool article explaining how to do time tracking in Obsidian. He shares his method, but also sells a template vault so that you can use his approach in the blink of an eye:

Obsidian: Time Tracking

In this article I share how Obsidian can be used to summarize your activities. The simple dashboard lists the major task and time spent…

MediumGareth Stretton

Marco Serafini has published an interesting video explaining how to create cool data visualizations in Obsidian using the Obsidian Charts plugin:

Obsidian Starter Kit

Jump straight to stress-free note-making with Obsidian

Obsidian Starter Kit

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

Personal Organization 101

Sebastien Dubois — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 08:19:36 GMT

In this article, I want to discuss the core elements of Personal Organization.

Introduction

I have already discussed the reasons why you need a Personal Organization system. Here, I will focus on the key things that you need to be at least somewhat organized. Personal Organization is a skill, and like most skills, it can be learned. It's not about nature vs nurture. It may be more natural for some people, but it can be learned. Of course, learning always requires curiosity, practice, trial and error.

Why you need a Personal Organization System

The need for Personal Organization becomes clear once you start feeling overwhelmed. It may happen for many reasons. Let’s explore some of those.

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

This post is NOT about productivity per se, and it's not about knowing what matters to you (i.e., having clarity of intent and/or purpose). I just want to focus on what you need to be organized.

That tools are secondary in all this. Yes, they can help, but they’re just means to an end. Moreover, in general, most of what matters works across a variety of tools. Focusing on tooling and thinking that you’re making progress is misguided (at best). There’s a lot of procrastination in disguise around Personal Organization and Productivity systems.

Note that this content will be part of the Knowledge Worker Kit, in which we explore Personal Organization, Productivity, Personal Knowledge Management, and much more!

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

What are the core elements of a Personal Organization system?

This first part is based on a previous edition of my newsletter, When thinking about Personal Organization, there are different dimensions you can consider:

Habits, routines, systems, processes and methods: everything you can rely on to stay organized and productive
Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and Journaling: organizing ideas, thoughts, knowledge, inspiration, research and notes, realizations, gratitude, etc
Projects Organization: organizing your projects and their related information and data
Planning and Prioritization: surfacing and keeping track of plans and priorities in order to know what to focus on
Task Management: organizing tasks, decomposing work into manageable units and decluttering your mind
Focus, Attention, Time Management and Action: organizing your time, and removing barriers to progress
Control: tracking progress and adjusting course if needed
Work: organizing your work and being amazing collaborators
Information and Data Management: organizing, structuring and managing tons of data and information

It's all of that, intertwined, and then some more. I feel very strongly that all Knowledge Workers should invest some time in designing their own Personal Organization system. It doesn't need to be (actually shouldn't be!) very complex, but it should exist, and it should include elements from all those dimensions:

Without habits, routines and systems, you can't be consistent and efficient
Without PKM and journaling, you don't manage your knowledge and forget tons of things all the time. You also forget to celebrate your wins
Without projects organization, you quickly get lost and fail to communicate important information to relevant stakeholders
Without planning and prioritization, you're like a beheaded chicken running around
Without proper task management, you just work on whatever you think about, which may be a good or bad thing...
Without ways to focus your attention, manage your time and act, you get distracted, and waste time. You don't make meaningful progress on a regular basis
Without control systems, you don't really know where you stand, lack clarity and confidence about your progress
Without effective and "modern" work methods and techniques, you're like a dinosaur trying to use LLMs without understanding their purpose
Without Information and Data Management techniques and systems, you crawl under the weight of information overload, and you're bound to remain overwhelmed

What is the minimum set of tools you need to organize yourself

While tools are secondary, there is a vital or "minimum viable" set you need to organize yourself. The choice itself isn't that important, though. What matters is choosing those that work for you. Use as few tools as possible, and only consider adding new ones to your toolbox if you can't avoid it. You probably need fewer features than you imagine.

So what is the "minimum viable" set of tools you need?

An email inbox
A calendar to plan meetings, appointments, book time slots, and set reminders
A task management tool to keep track of everything
A knowledge management tool to think, journal, capture, and organize all your thoughts, ideas, inspiration, and knowledge
A storage system to organize your files
(optionally) a system to keep track of the groceries you need

Those tools are the bare minimum to allow yourself to forget things:

When I add an appointment to my calendar, I know I'll get notifications about it, so I can forget about it until the time comes
When I add a task to my daily note, I know it'll resurface later on, and I'll know what I need to get done
When I record what I did during a particular day in my daily note, I know it'll stay there forever
When I write a note about something on my mind, I know it'll stay there forever
When I put a file in my storage system, I know it'll stay there forever

In all cases it's the same story. And that's the key point: those tools are much more reliable than my flawed brain will ever be, whether I perfectly organize everything or not. I can rely on those tools, and let go. I can forget and free my mind for other things.

I personally use:

Email: GMail
Calendar: Google Calendar
Task Management: Obsidian
Knowledge Management: Obsidian with the Obsidian Starter Kit and Notion for content I share with others
Storage system: Google Drive

I use few tools by design, and I try to keep it that way. For instance, I previously used Trello for task management, but realized that I didn't care about all the bells and whistles it offered. All I needed was basic task management, that I could easily achieve using Obsidian, my daily notes and the Kanban plugin.

Personal Organization 101

Assuming that you have your baseline of tools, what should you do? The basics are pretty straightforward:

If you think about something you need to do, add it to your task management system. The basic organization can be as simple as a few columns:
- Today
- This Week
- This Month
- This Year
- Backlog
- With that, you can already organize a LOT of tasks
If a task should take less than two minutes, do it right away (Getting Things Done method of David Allen)
If you must go somewhere or do something at a certain date/time, add it to your calendar, and make sure to add reminders and enable notifications on your computer/smartphone
If there are recurring events, create those in your calendars (e.g., birthdays, reminders to send invoices, etc)
During the day, keep a daily note open to keep track of
- What you want to do
- What you have accomplished
- What you have in mind, your ideas
- What you have learned, found interesting, etc

What you feel grateful for
...
Check out my daily note template or the Obsidian Starter Kit if you want a good starting point (although you can do the same with most apps out there)

If you're on the go, then try to take something you can use to take notes. If you can't or won't, use your phone and send yourself a mail with the information.
Whenever possible, convert anything analog into digital. And make sure to clean up your mailbox
Put a basic organization system in place, and try to reuse the same structure across tools. It doesn't have to be complicated (e.g., Family, Work, Project A, etc). In most cases, the PARA method works great and scales really well
Regroup as many of your files as you can in a single storage system
If you receive or create important files you need to keep for more than a day, store those in your system
Take some time once in a while to clean up your mess. All your systems should remain organized (not perfectly!)
- For E-mail, this means leaning towards inbox zero
- For Calendars, it means cleaning up bogus events/reminders/tasks
- For Task Management, it means removing done/outdated tasks
- For Knowledge Management it means creating atomic notes, connecting ideas together, tagging notes, managing knowledge through time, updating Maps of Content, etc
- For storage systems it means making sure all your files are where they belong, that your "Downloads" and "My Documents" folders are not messy, etc
- To perform this regularly, you can include a dedicated task as part of your periodic reviews

The central theme in all the above is defining one place for everything and storing everything in its place (i.e., organizing a minimum), and allowing yourself to forget. The more you can forget, the better.

And that's about it. Seriously! This is not as hard as it may sound. And it all starts with basic systems. No need to overengineer and automate everything from the get go. Of course there are more advanced ideas, techniques and methods. Many things can be automated, improved with AI, LLMs and such. But ignore all that for now. Start small and keep things simple for as long as you can. Once you get to the point where it all feels unmanageable, then maybe it'll be time to invest a bit more time to better define and improve your Personal Organization system.

The one thing I recommend to explore in the beginning is Personal Knowledge Management. You wouldn't believe how impactful it can be in one's life. Read some of my articles on the topic to better understand the underlying ideas. Also, do consider journaling, performing periodic reviews, and designing your own systems:

There’s a lot more to journaling than what most people think

There’s a lot more to journaling than what most people think... I’ve been journaling for a number of years, and it has helped me tremendously! Here’s why…

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Periodic reviews for a happier and more productive life

Discover how to leverage periodic reviews to achieve your goals and get more out of your life

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Systems for health, intention, productivity, learning, knowledge, information management and control

How systems thinking can change your life

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

How to connect ideas together

Sebastien Dubois — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 15:04:22 GMT

As you learn and grow, you'll accumulate more and more knowledge. While each piece is important, the relationships between ideas is, at least, as important as the ideas themselves.

In this post, I want to discuss various ways in which you can connect ideas together.

Introduction

Knowledge does not exist in isolation. It exists at the interconnection between ideas. Recognizing this fact is the first step toward better learning and understanding.

From there, it is obvious that building a knowledge base where each idea lives alone in its corner doesn't make much sense. Such a knowledge base is dry and provides little value. But what do good knowledge bases look like? Let's find out!

What solid knowledge bases have in common

A solid knowledge base is one where information is easy to Locate and to Identify (i.e., the L and I of the LIFT Principle). But that's just the tip of the iceberg...

Beyond organization and good naming, another fundamental element that differentiates good and great knowledge bases is the presence of links and backlinks between the different pieces. Links transform dry knowledge bases into valuable Knowledge Graphs (KGs). It's true for personal knowledge, but also for teams and organizations. Why? For different reasons...

In addition, solid knowledge bases have a categorization system that goes beyond containers (e.g., folders) and files/notes. Surfacing knowledge is key in a knowledge base. When you categorize the information it contains, you enable others (and your future self) to explore the content in different ways. This helps in many ways. For instance, it helps to discover topics and concepts that you may not have stumbled upon otherwise. Categorization is always imperfect (and unstable!), but it is still valuable. In a similar vein, Maps of Content (e.g., indexes) provide yet additional means to explore the content.

Links and backlinks enable navigating between ideas and concepts. Links and backlinks can directly link ideas together, but they can also do so indirectly (i.e., through other pieces). Direct links make connections obvious, but indirect links can also be very useful, as they can not only connect loosely coupled ideas together, but also provide additional information and/or context. This helps to build up knowledge about a specific domain and/or related ones. When you dive into a solid knowledge graph, you basically dive into a different mind, hopefully containing more information than yours has. In my previous team, I wrote more than 800 pages of documentation about various systems, their usefulness, usage, configuration, dependencies, links and underlying concepts. There was compounding value in creating that knowledge graph. It helped newcomers and experts alike, and still proves very valuable today.

Categories (e.g., tags), Maps of Content, Links and Backlinks all increase the "explorability" of the content. It's not only about increasing the connectedness of the graph through different layers of connections, but also about enabling serendipity, the "luck" factor, while exploring the ideas.

The ability to search for specific content in a knowledge base is also very useful, as it enables quickly finding what you're looking for. As a side benefit, related search results can also uncover useful and interesting content that you might not have stumbled upon otherwise.

Last but not least, the novel ability to discuss with a knowledge base (e.g., thanks to Large Language Models) brings even more power to knowledge base users. For instance, using the Smart Connections plugin for Obsidian, I am now able to discuss with all my notes, which helps me dive even deeper into the wealth of knowledge I have accumulated over the years. By the way, the same plugin also finds potential connections between notes (hence its name!) by looking at their similarity (I share an example later in this article).

Overview of the different ways to connect ideas

In the previous section, I've described different elements that transform knowledge bases into valuable knowledge graphs. Let's visualize these elements:

This diagram covers different ways of connecting ideas together

In the diagram above, there are two main ideas represented by notes in a Knowledge Base: A and B. A has a direct link to B (e.g., a Markdown link from A to B). That link makes it easy to navigate from A to B. Assuming that the system has support for backlinks, the link from A to B inherently creates a backlink that you can use to navigate from B to A.

In addition to the direct link, A and B are also connected by a third note, which might provide additional information (or context) about the link between A and B. That note is also part of the whole system.

There is also a Map of Content (MoC) that provides links to various notes that are somewhat related. In this example, it points to both A and B.

Both A and B also include the same Tag T, which provides yet another way to find those elements of the graph.

Moreover, all the notes are part of the same "organization system". They're all stored together in some form. Thanks to this, those notes can all be found by using the search capability of the system, which can usually find elements by their name or title, their contents, their location, their tags, etc.

Last but not least, modern systems also enable "discussing with" the contents of the Knowledge Graph. This adds yet another dimension to leverage the knowledge you've accumulated.

Each link, backlink, tag and MoC in your Knowledge Graph creates and/or strengthens a layer of interconnected notes. Each of those increases the value of the overall graph.

And there's more. For instance, using tools such as Obsidian, you can create powerful visualizations, which provide yet another avenue to connect ideas. For instance, all the notes in the following canvas could point to different notes and help understand the links between their ideas:

A Canvas I have created with Obsidian to explain IT networking basics to my son

Knowledge Graph Example

Let's turn the diagram of the previous section into a concrete example. I'm creating this with Obsidian, as it is my favorite Personal Knowledge Management tool.

Here's Idea A, stored in a file called "Idea A.md" within some folder:

---
tags:
- t
---

# Idea A
I point to [[Idea B]]

As you can see, the note has the tag and contains a link to Idea B.

Here's Idea B, stored in a file called "Idea B.md" within the same or a different folder:

---
tags:
- t
---

# Idea B
I am idea B

Idea B has the same tag, thus both can be found by searching for that tag, but Idea B does not have a forward link to Idea A. Instead, it has a backlink, which can be uncovered by using a knowledge management tool such as Obsidian:

In my case, a daily note also links to idea B. It's an idea that I have explored in another article:

Knowledge Through Time

Knowledge and time are closely related. What is the relationship between those and what does it imply for lifelong learners and knowledge management? Let’s find out!

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Thanks to this, I can navigate from Idea B to Idea A easily. If another note mentions "Idea B" without linking to it, it would also appear beneath the "Unlinked mentions" section, which is also valuable.

The note about A and B is stored in a file called Note about A and B.md:

---
tags:
- ...
---
# Note about A and B
This note explains the relationship between [[Idea A]] and [[Idea B]]...

This enables providing more context and even linking to other elements of the Knowledge Graph.

Finally, the Map of Content is stored in a file called "MoC about T":

---
tags:
- type/moc
---

# MoC about T
This Map of Content discusses #t.

Useful notes in this context:
- [[Idea A]]
- [[Idea B]]

It provides links to various notes related to the topic "T" (i.e., the tag t).

Using the Smart Connections plugin in Obsidian, I can quickly notice the relationship between Idea A and Idea B, but also with other ideas in my knowledge base:

And this is just a toy example. The overall value of a Knowledge Graph compounds.

Here's a screenshot of my current Personal Knowledge Graph in Obsidian:

My Personal Knowledge Graph

It's not practical to explore it this way, but I can easily visualize the relationships between ideas:

What's currently on the top of my mind

Moreover, by linking knowledge with time, I can also quickly visualize what has evolved over time:

What I've added/changed in 2023

What deserved to be linked?

The rule is straightforward. If you think "if I re-read this, then this other note might also be useful at that point", then it's a good enough reason to link those together. It's not about purity or perfection. Think about the usefulness. That's it. It's all a matter of taking the notes that will be useful to you, and linking those that will make the value compound.

Don't overthink it. It's often better to have more links and more ways to re-discover information than fewer.

Going further

If you're curious to learn more, then check out the Obsidian Starter Kit, the Obsidian Starter Course, and the Knowledge Worker Kit.

Obsidian Starter Kit

Jump straight to stress-free note-making with Obsidian

Obsidian Starter Kit

Obsidian Starter Course

Gumroad

The Starter Kit and Course give you a head start to better manage your knowledge, while the Knowledge Worker Kit helps you become a top knowledge worker.

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

Conclusion

In this article, I've covered different means you can use to connect ideas and create valuable Knowledge Graphs for yourself and your teams. These concepts apply to Personal Knowledge Management and Enterprise Knowledge Management alike.

Connecting ideas is transformative. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas about how to increase the value of the Knowledge you capture and share.

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

Attention is a currency. Why does it matter, and how to leverage that fact?

Sebastien Dubois — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 09:19:12 GMT

This article delves into why attention is so valuable, explores the pitfalls to avoid, highlights the benefits, and shares strategies to leverage this idea for enhanced learning and productivity.

Attention is a prized currency. Basically, every company around you is trying to grab your attention to generate revenue. What does it mean for Lifelong Learners and Knowledge Workers? What are the pitfalls to avoid and ways to leverage that to learn better and be more productive?

Introduction

Nowadays, attention is a very valuable commodity. It fuels the engine of the attention economy. As we wander online platforms and social media, our attention is a prey that is constantly under attack.

One of the worst diseases of our time

Understanding that your attention is a real currency and that it needs to be protected is essential for lifelong learners and knowledge workers. When you are not protective of your attention, you actually become less able to learn, and can't be as productive. Your time disappears like grains of sand, little by little, and so do your productivity and progress.

Why attention matters

Attention is the currency of the digital age because it directly translates into economic and social capital. In a world where information is abundant and constantly competing for our focus, those who can capture and maintain attention gain a significant advantage. Social media platforms, news outlets, and businesses all benefit from getting a share of your attention because they convert it into actual revenue, and influence. In a way, they even shape our perceptions of reality.

In the realms of learning and productivity, attention basically determines the level of success you reach. Being unable to protect and control one's attention is the number one reason why many people don't achieve anything meaningful in life. Attention has a deep impact on cognitive processes, skill acquisition, and task completion, all of which are crucial for learning and being productive.

When you are not focused, and when your attention wanders around or gets taken away, you can't learn effectively. Learning requires engaging deeply with the subject to understand/absorb new knowledge, form solid mental models and connect the dots. This just can't be achieved if you are not 100% there. Without your full attention, your learning can only be superficial. Moreover, you need to channel your attention toward relevant and high-quality content.

The quality of your attention directly correlates with your cognitive engagement. Deep and sustained attention enables critical thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills. It enables you to connect ideas, draw insights and engage in meaningful reflection. In contrast, fragmented attention, often exacerbated by multitasking and constant distractions, diminishes your engagement and compromises the depth of your understanding.

Similarly, mastering new skills/talents or honing your existing abilities also requires sustained attention. Deliberate and focused practice also require sustained attention.

Productivity-wise, attention is one of the main driving forces behind task completion. Without focus and attention, there's no way to achieve anything meaningful, and no way to be efficient or to generate quality results. Tasks completed with your full attention are more likely to be thorough, accurate, and delivered in a timely manner. Attention is also a conduit for motivation. When you are deeply engaged in a task, your attention propels you toward your goals. Properly controlling and "managing" your attention helps you achieve your goals and persist in the face of challenges.

Last but not least, attention is crucial for emotional regulation (which of course also influences learning and productivity!). Being able to direct your attention away from stressors (e.g., the news), anxiety-inducing thoughts, or unproductive emotions contributes to a more positive mindset. In turn, it creates a better mental state for learning and performing tasks.

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Attention pitfalls to avoid

When you don't control your attention, you tend to expose yourself to procrastination, noise and disinformation. The constant influx can lead to overwhelm and information overload. It can also induce anxiety and be detrimental to your mental health.

Over time, this can prevent you from thinking deeply, reduce your attention span, and make you less patient. I can observe it every day with my kids. The more screen time they have, and the more bite-sized content they consume, the more impatient they become. They can't wait for two minutes before becoming bored or wanting to continue scrolling. And when they have to study, it's a real challenge to have them focused for more than ten minutes. A constant flow of information can really be detrimental to mental health and productivity. That's why I'm so angry at TikTok and the like. Yes, they can be fun, but they're also really dangerous for well-being, and not only for kids!

Kids are the main victims of the attention economy, as it completely changes their life trajectory

You should also be wary about anything that grabs your attention easily. Always consider that the information you're being presented with may have been carefully designed to catch your attention. Clickbait content tends to easily grab our attention, but often have very limited value, when it's not downright misinformation. Refuse to give your attention away for free!

The benefits of considering attention as a currency

While everything in the world craves for your attention, you remain in control. You can choose where to direct your attention, and what information you expose yourself to. Considering attention as a currency is a great way to be more careful about how you use/spend it. As soon as you equate attention with money, you become more aware. In turn, awareness enables better decision-making.

The equation is simple. Time is money, and if your attention gets stolen away, your time is also stolen

The noise in our lives is a poison for our minds

When you don't want your attention stolen away, you can start identifying everything that tries to steal it, and you can devise strategies to avoid or eliminate the offenders. You also start setting the bar higher while curating information. You pick higher quality sources with a better signal-to-noise ratio.

When your start thinking like that, you really realize that social media is basically cancer and that games cost a whole lot more than their price tag. Their opportunity cost is HUGE.

Focus is the key to success

Treating attention as a currency helps optimizing the choices you make about where and how to spend it. The more protective your become of your attention, the more time you can dedicate to what really matters to you, the better you can learn, the wiser you can get, and the more productive you can be (i.e., increasing your chances of achieving a state of flow). In turn, this increases your chances of creating more leverage, more luck, more success and better life experiences. It also improves your mental well-being by enabling you to allocate more time for rest, relaxation and self-care.

Fundamentally, controlling and channeling your attention is about feeling, thinking, and doing what YOU want versus what others want

Briefly put, considering attention as a currency helps be more mindful about where and how you invest this valuable asset. As a result, you get to make much better decisions at all levels (time investments, social interactions, relationships, professional networking, personal well-being and boundaries, etc). In the attention economy, treating attention as a currency is a competitive edge. Those who can control theirs attention are more likely to succeed that those who can't or won't.

Strategies to leverage attention for learning and productivity

To leverage your attention for learning and productivity, you can:

Manage your attention mindfully. You can limit distractions (e.g., disable notifications, uninstall "noisy" applications, control the times when you explore "noisy" sources, etc), or even practice meditation to improve your concentration
Curate better information sources. Choose quality over quantity when it comes to information consumption. Carefully curate and follow reliable information sources
Use knowledge management tools to channel your attention. Improve the way you learn by building yourself a second brain and use dedicated tools to create a space where you can really focus, thinking, and learn. Check out the Obsidian Starter Kit and the Obsidian Starter Course if you don't know where to start
Bring clarity into your life. The clearer your goals, the more motivation you'll have to control your attention and spend it wisely. When you know where you're headed, your much less likely to waste your precious attention and time. Check out the Knowledge Worker Kit to learn more
Leverage online learning platforms. Online learning platforms often provide structured and engaging content that can hold your attention while facilitating learning. I spend an incredible amount of time on platforms such as Coursera
Prioritize interactive learning. Engage in interactive and participatory learning experiences. Discussions, group projects, and hands-on activities capture your attention more effectively than passive learning. This also reduces the chances of wasting your time consuming low-quality "information"
Share what you know. Whenever you share your knowledge, you have to channel your attention. Using approaches such as the Feynman Technique, you can also uncover the gaps in your knowledge and opportunities to learn more. As an added benefit, you help others grow, and can be proud about it
Schedule breaks. Recognize the importance of taking breaks to avoid burnout and to reduce the attractiveness of attention-grabbing time-wasters

Last but not least, consider that attention is not only about what you focus on but also about what you choose to ignore. In a world filled with notifications, messages, and constant stimuli, effective attention management involves skillful navigation through potential distractions. If you manage to shield your attention from irrelevant and disruptive elements, you'll be much more resilient, and you'll be less likely to suffer from information overload.

Going further

Attention management is but one of the many topics that we explore in the Knowledge Worker Kit. Join our community and explore our knowledge base if you want to better control your attention, your time, be more productive and become a better version of yourself, both personally and professionally.

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

Conclusion

The attention economy is a reality, and you are the prey. Treating attention as currency will empower you to use it intentionally and with purpose. By recognizing the value of attention and being strategic about its allocation, you can unlock many benefits, from increased productivity and learning outcomes to more meaningful relationships and a competitive edge. This goes far beyond mere time management.

So, did I catch your attention until the very end? ❤️

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

DeveloPassion's Newsletter #153 - Being There

Sebastien Dubois — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 14:41:10 GMT

Welcome

Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩

This will be a short one because I'm exhausted (sorry :p)

This week, I've gone through my notes for the past few weeks. And woah, I wrote so little recently! I'm now spending a lot more time in traffic than I did last year. Since I moved, I have a 30-minute drive every time I bring the kids to and back from school, plus one more hour to get to work. It takes a lot of time and is quite tiresome. I try my best to read and write while I'm on the train, but with short days and little light, I often end up falling asleep 😂

As you know, I strongly believe in Zen Productivity principles, so I try not to worry too much. Energy comes and goes, and motivation/inspiration isn't always there, even though I do have clarity of mind about where I'm headed. It's all right. That being said, I do want to produce and publish more. So I think I need to find ways to free up more time to focus.

Alright, let's gooooo 🚀

The lab 🧪

I've published a few more articles for the Knowledge Worker Kit, but that's about it. I've been thinking about offering a discount on my PKM products for Knowledge Worker Kit members too. I think that it'll improve the overall value of that offering.

From now on, I'll have more time during the week to work on my projects, since I've pretty much lost my last consulting client (oops). We'll see how much progress we can make!

New articles

No new articles this week.

Quotes of the week

We’re kept from our goal not by obstacles but by a clear path to lesser goals — Robert Brault
Be stubborn on vision but flexible on the details — Jeff Bezos

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

DeveloPassion's Newsletter #152 - Obsidian Starter Kit 2

Sebastien Dubois — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 16:09:55 GMT

Welcome

Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩

This week, after a long and refreshing winter break, I've resumed working on my projects. It feels so good to be able to come back to motivating work.

During the break, I've played a lot of VR games on the PlayStation 5. I've received a PS VR 2 for Christmas, and it's quite epic. It's fun to dive into the actual game environment, and to notice how my 30+ years of gaming experience help me beat the shit out of virtual enemies 😂.

Appreciating Beauty

The beauty of those virtual environments also got me thinking again about what Dr Feynman said about beauty and the ability to appreciate it "fully". Some people play those games, and while they're amazed by the immersion, they fail to appreciate the graphical details, the complexity of the whole, the beauty of the artists creations, of the 3D models, of the music, of the sound effects, of the maths behind it all, etc. One thing I love about life is that the more you live, the more you experience, and the more you learn, the more forms and facets of beauty you become able to appreciate ❤️

Alright, let's gooooo 🚀

The lab 🧪

This week, I've reached inbox zero again, which has contributed to even more backlog for the Knowledge Worker Kit, as I'm regularly collecting useful resources to take inspiration from as I work on the guide. I'm still diving into the Personal Knowledge Management part.

Knowledge Worker Kit and community (BETA)

Gumroad

I've also released version 2.0 of the Obsidian Starter Kit. It includes multiple new plugins and cool features. I have included the possibility to list tasks due today, display GitHub-like heat maps to track progress on different things, etc. The new plugins also contribute to improving the overall user experience.

Obsidian Starter Kit

Jump straight to stress-free note-making with Obsidian

Obsidian Starter Kit

Here's a short overview of the plugins I have decided to add:

It's hard to find the right balance between adding useful features and slowing everything down. In the next release, I'm going to focus on boosting the startup performance to counterbalance the impact of this release.

I've also updated the user guide to cover the new plugins and explain how to create/customize heat maps:

And there's a ton more coming. The more people become interested in the starter kit, the more energy I can pour into it without feeling like I'm just procrastinating. It adds value to my own knowledge base and serves spares time for my customers. Win-win! 🎉

I'm also thinking about launching a bundle with some of my Knowledge Management products, now that Gumroad has added support for those. Shoot me a mail if you want me to notify on launch!

New articles

I've published an article discussing the relationship between knowledge and time, as well as the implications for learning and knowledge management:

Knowledge Through Time

Knowledge and time are closely related. What is the relationship between those and what does it imply for lifelong learners and knowledge management? Let’s find out!

Sébastien DuboisSebastien Dubois

Quotes of the week

The most courageous decision that you can make each day is to be in a good mood — Voltaire
People should think things out fresh and not just accept conventional terms and the conventional way of doing things — Buckminster Fuller

Thinking and learning

Become More Comfortable Making Bold Decisions

Leaps of faith make great scenes in a movie, but in real life they fill us with stress and uncertainty, two emotions that are not comfortable for the human brain. To face down our discomfort, we can take advantage of a revealing data set that we often ignore: our past decisions. Looking back at our decision-making history allows us to see patterns that we might not otherwise notice, thus providing a crucial perspective for understanding (and solving!) complex and unique current and future problems.

Harvard Business ReviewCheryl Strauss Einhorn

Use Strategic Thinking to Create the Life You Want

In corporate strategy projects, executive leadership teams work through a series of questions to determine how their businesses can succeed. Individuals can use a similar process to figure out how to live a meaningful life. It starts with defining what makes a great life for you and then outlining your purpose and vision. You must also look at your current “portfolio” — the areas in which you spend your time and energy — to see if you’re investing the best of yourself in the activities most important to you. You should consider what research says about how people tend to find meaning and joy in life. Finally, you’ll want to identify areas where you need to make changes, and then ensure you follow through with objectives and key results. This program, Strategize Your Life, has been tested with more than 500 people around the world. With a few hours of work, you can develop a personal life strategy and summarize it on a single page.

Harvard Business ReviewRainer Strack,

You Need “Beautiful Tortures” to Be Successful in Life — And Escape the Hell of Normalcy

We associate torture with pain and darkness. We think it’s a bad thing that should be avoided at all costs. But when I discovered the sanctuary of the gym more than a decade ago, it changed me in…

ILLUMINATION-CuratedTim Denning

The Johnny.Decimal Workbook [D41.00.00]

A guide to setting up a single-project system and working the Decimal way.In this step-by-step workbook, I’ll guide you through the entire process of setting up your own Johnny.Decimal system.This 130+ page PDF has been distilled from more than a decade’s experience developing Johnny.Decimal: organising my home life since 2011, and at a variety of jobs; from independent dance productions, through small consultancy firms, to large government departments.Lucy and I have spent hundreds of hours putting it together. We’re really proud of it.Each workbook area contains the following sections:Overview: I explain what we’re about to do.Before you start: any background that you need so that you understand what you’re about to do, and why.The process: the steps that you need to take.As you complete this process: any other tips ‘n tricks that I’ve learned over the years that will help you succeed.Area complete: each area is accompanied by a video where I recap the area’s tasks and demonstrate any of the tricker concepts.Testimonial“It’s amazing and transformative. I’m very thankful for having found this.”osau, on the forumIt walks you through the process of capturing all of the information you need, and then building your system.Lucy and I have spent hundreds of hours putting it together. We’re really proud of it.I guarantee your success using this workbook: if you get stuck, every section has a dedicated help post on the forum. You can contact me directly. And if your system still isn’t working, you can have your money back.Testimonial“The document is so precise, so content focused. Absolutely brilliant work!”Zsolt, by emailFAQWhy isn’t the workbook free?Because neither is my rent. :-)I quit my job to focus on Johnny.Decimal. If I hadn’t done that, this document wouldn’t exist.Johnny.Decimal is just me and my parter Lucy. We’re not some giant corporation. Your purchase of this workbook literally pays our rent and allows me to keep developing this system. Thank you.What do I get?The PDF is 130+ pages, 20,000+ words, a bunch of images, and blank worksheets for you to track your progress.It contains links to YouTube summaries of each of the areas, which is over two and a half hours of video.Each area has a link to a dedicated post on the forum where you can get help if you’re stuck.Is it meant for home, or work?Both. The concept is the same whatever you’re organising, and we’ve included a range of examples from home and work.Testimonial“I can only advise you to purchase the Johnny.Decimal Workbook ... and to respect its approach. You won’t regret it.”Mentat, on the forumIs there a coupon code? Holiday discount?I hate the lies that are told in order to persuade you to buy a thing.The pretence that this PDF is worth $199! but is somehow reduced to $37!It’s all bullshit, and we all know it.So you’ll find no ‘coupon codes’ here, no made-up ‘value’ propositions: just a package that I believe is worth $37 that I’m selling for $37.I can’t afford $37Click here.Is it accessible?Yes. Your purchase includes a text-only (Markdown) version. This version references the workbook images, which are included as a separate PDF: each image on its own page, with descriptive text.All of the review videos are subtitled, and have been meticulously checked and corrected by Lucy.johnnydecimal.comImportantThis PDF will be updated from time to time. If you think you’ll be sad if you miss the news that there’s a new version to download:Use a valid email during check out And/or follow this Gumroad pageAnd/or join the mailing listAnd/or join the forumAnd keep your receipt (it has your unique download link):-)

Gumroad

Embeddings: What they are and why they matter

Embeddings are a really neat trick that often come wrapped in a pile of intimidating jargon. If you can make it through that jargon, they unlock powerful and exciting techniques …

The Little Book of Deep Learning

Demystifying Obsidian’s Outlining Superpowers

An Obsidian Guide for the Outliner

Obsidian ObserverTfTHacker

TfT #13 / The Power of Structures in Tana

In this article we’ll explore one of the most important elements of Tana: the custom structures. Let’s go! Why structures are important? Key dialectics in knowledge work (and probably in the Universe): Entropy vs Information If we try to simplify these concepts: * Information defines order * Entropy defines disorder You locally

Andrew AltshulerAndrew Altshuler

Ready to get to the next level?

About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

Knowledge Through Time

Sebastien Dubois — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 14:27:55 GMT

In this article, I want to discuss the relationship between learning, knowledge and time.

Introduction

Whatever you decide to learn increases your knowledge about the world. Properly "managed", that knowledge can prove a valuable asset over time. But what do I mean by managed? And what is the relationship between knowledge and time? Let's explore those questions one by one.

How not to manage your knowledge?

The main thing that schools teach students is to memorize as much as possible. Memorization is supposed to be the "holy grail" of learning. That would be great if our brains were more reliable. Unfortunately, human memory works in mysterious ways. Storing new information requires a lot of effort. Even with advanced techniques such as Spaced Repetition, retaining a lot of information is tough, and retrieval remains pretty random over time.

Not only that, but the information you manage to retrieve is often far from its original/purest form. Memory adds subjectivity, a lot of randomness/noise, and requires interpretation and assumptions.

If you only count on your memory to manage your knowledge, then you're missing out. You will always be limited by your brain's capacity to retain and retrieve information at the right time and in the right "state".

So what should you do instead?

To manage your knowledge, start by storing it properly

When you take or make notes, you take information/knowledge out of your head and into a way more reliable storage system. If you write on paper, then it's easy to make copies of that paper, to put it in a safe place, etc. Retrieval will "just" be a matter of going through your notes. Assuming those were safe from harm, you will be able to retrieve the information in the exact state you stored it.

And if you take digital notes, then there are a ton more ways to save/backup information/knowledge and efficiently retrieve what you need when you need it.

The main drawback of taking and making notes (whether analog or digital) is that the information is not in your head anymore. At least not all of it. But the mere act of taking or making notes actually helps a ton with memorization. In practice though, most of the time, all you need to keep in your head are cues towards the information you need (i.e., I know how and where I can find what I need) and mental models. For instance, I know quite a lot about software development, but I never try to memorize what I learn. I only focus on capturing the information that matters in my Personal Knowledge Management, and building better mental models. And I use the same approach for whatever I learn.

I prefer digital to analog for various reasons, and use as few applications as I can for storing my knowledge. Currently, my note-taking application of choice is Obsidian. To help me use it as best as I can, I've created the Obsidian Starter Kit. It's basically a 1:1 copy of the system I use for myself.

By properly storing, organizing and tagging my knowledge, I get to create a valuable Knowledge Base. Over time, its value is compounding. Among other things, the relationships between the concepts, ideas and thoughts I store in my so-called Second Brain are highly valuable. Each link I create helps me strengthen my understanding, build better mental models and uncover more creative solutions to the problems I face. I strongly believe that the links between my notes are as valuable as the notes themselves. Knowledge graphs have emergent properties.

That's also why I'm now working on the Knowledge Worker Kit, a knowledge base about Personal Organization, Personal Knowledge Management and productivity. In it, and with the associated community, we explore how Knowledge Workers can improve the way they learn, think and work. And there's still a ton to explore 🚀

What is the relationship between knowledge and time?

Whatever you learn only represents a partial snapshot of what some people currently think or believe about something. By definition, existing knowledge is incomplete and transient. There will always be new discoveries, improvements, and changes that invalidate previous knowledge. We live in a world of incomplete information and knowledge, and it will always be that way. And that's great. But what does it mean for lifelong learners? Mainly, that knowledge is transient and that its value decays over time. Everything you learn and store or memorize is bound to become more and more distant from what the world as a whole knows and thinks. This has a deep impact on how you should learn, as well as how you should manage your knowledge.

Knowledge is thus tightly coupled with time. The things you know (or think you know) and the notes you take need to be reviewed, revisited and updated regularly. Not doing so de facto leads to incomplete, inaccurate and outdated knowledge.

For instance, what I learned about software development during my studies is now almost entirely bogus. The world has changed a lot. New technologies, techniques and tools have emerged. Those have changed the way we work and think. And it keeps happening. Not only it keeps happening, but it also happens faster and faster.

How to manage your knowledge through time

Whenever I take or make notes, I keep track of when I learned and captured new information. This enables me to consider how outdated my understanding may be. In turn, this enables me to revisit ideas and update those to reflect the current "state" of the world. This helps me unlearn outdated things, improve my knowledge and create more accurate mental models.

IMHO, managing knowledge through time can only be done if you properly manage your knowledge. Memory is way too weak. It does not comprehend the idea of knowledge versioning, whereas versioning analog or digital information is much easier. If I create a note about software development at T1, its very easy for me to create an updated version at T2, while keeping T1 around for reference. Knowledge versioning is a different topic, but it's very relevant for managing knowledge over time. I mentioned earlier that links are at least as valuable as the notes themselves. To that, I need to add that previous versions of notes and links are also valuable. It's always interesting to observe and reflect on how ideas about a certain topic evolve over time. This can help uncover trends, possible improvements, and so on.

Conclusion

This article barely touches the surface of the relationship between knowledge and time. I hope this piece will get you thinking, and that it will also encourage you to think more seriously about Knowledge Management ❤️

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About Sébastien

Hello everyone! I'm Sébastien Dubois (you can follow me on Twitter 🐦).

Sébastien Dubois

DeveloPassion's Newsletter #157 - Knowledge Management for Beginners

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How to Split Long Notes into Atomic Notes: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

The Downsides of Long Notes in Personal Knowledge Management Systems

1. Makes it harder to retrieve information

2. Leads to Cognitive Overload

3. Impedes Linking and Connectivity

4. Limits Flexibility and Adaptability

Isn't there a way to take Smarter Notes?

Understanding Atomic Notes

How to Split Long Notes

1. Identify Core Ideas

2. Create Individual Atomic Notes for Core Ideas

3. Refine for Clarity and Independence

4. Link Related Notes

5. Add Metadata

6. Review your notes

7. Consider creating a Map of Content (MoC)

Concrete Example

Going further

Conclusion

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DeveloPassion's Newsletter #156 - Knowledge Workers Unite

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In defense of using fewer tools

Introduction

The Paradox of Choice in Productivity Tools

Integration and Compatibility Issues

The Learning Curve and Its Impact

The Overhead of using many tools

The Benefits of a Minimalist Approach

The Advantages of Consolidation: Simplifying Focus and Creating Leverage

Pros and Cons

Pros

Cons

Practical Tips for Simplifying Your Toolkit

Conclusion

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My top 10 articles about Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Obsidian

The Must-Have Obsidian plugins

Ten Personal Knowledge Management Practices to Explore and Master

Note-taking vs Note-making

The Value of Atomic Notes

The PARA Method

The Johnny Decimal System

Maps of Content (MoCs)

How I use Daily Notes

My Daily Note template in Obsidian

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Unlocking Potential: The Value of Transitioning from Analog to Digital

Introduction

The benefits of starting analog

Why going digital is valuable

Analog information should be transient

Transitioning from analog to digital: A pratical guide

Step 1: Assess your analog materials

Step 2: Choose your digital platforms

Step 3: Define an organization system for your digital information

Step 4: Make sure you have backup/restore and disaster recovery processes in place