This is a series of blog posts showcasing how I have my personal knowledge management (PKM) system set up, the changes I have made over the years, and best practices I’ve come to learn.
My preferred note-taking app is Obsidian. I use it primarily to journal, take notes on active projects, create presentation slides, plan, organize, and write research papers, blog posts, and longform essays. I also use it as a space to offload thoughts (“brain diarrhea,” as I call it).
Now, I could give a detailed breakdown of what Obsidian is and how it works, but there are better beginner-friendly guides out there. Obsidian is just one of many tools.
Although I manage everything in a single vault, I sometimes create new vaults for fun. And since I use the app so much, I built somewhat of a system and rules around its usage. We’ll call these my Obsidian best practices.
Essential Tweaks#
Obsidian is highly functional and gorgeous as is, but some things itch my skin still; So I customize the settings, removing features I don’t need, and adding those I do need.
- disable unused core plugins (backlinks, bookmarks, daily notes, and more.)
- create folders (assets, inbox, templates, etc.) and set paths for new notes and attachments
- change interface font and theme.
- set custom keybindings.
Just me being pithy. 🙂