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Second brain tool: Obsidian

The other day, I mentioned that I switched from Microsoft Todo to something else for my second brain.

That something else is Obsidian, a GUI app that sits on top of your markdown files. Today, I wanted to share how I have Obsidian setup.

Let’s dig in!

Keep it simple!

Obsidian can do a lot.

If you look online, you’ll see some really fancy setups. I had a bunch of people message me about various plugins I might like and robust, nuanced workflows I could use.

I don’t do any of that.

I mostly treat Obsidian like a digital notebook. My setup is completely stock, with the exception of two plugins that I’ll talk about in a minute.

ADHDers have a tendency to get so into tricking out their productivity tools (because it’s fun and new) that they never actually do the work. I deliberately avoid all that.

Simple bulleted lists are the only thing that’s worked reliably for me over the years. I’m sticking with it!

Plugins

I have just two plugins installed…

  1. Homepage, which opens up a specific file I use for capturing random thoughts throughout the day (more on that in just a bit).
  2. Tasks, which lets me drop todo items in any note and pull them all into one place later (like MS Todo offers with the My Day view).

I can’t stress this enough: skip the complicated setups. They’re fun at first but will make your life measurably worse in the long run.

The Core Four

I have four main notes that sit at the top level of my file system…

  1. Inbox ✏️. This is the digital version of that piece of scrap paper you use to jot down random ideas that come into your head. If I don’t write things down, they often disappear forever (thanks ADHD!). This is how I capture things I don’t want to forget.
  2. Goals 🎯. 3-5 big things I want to achieve this year. My list for 2023 included launching an updated/new workshop (done), taking a big road trip (done), and organizing the house (definitely not done). I revisit this throughout the year.
  3. All Todos ⭐️. A page that automatically compiles all of my todos from various notes into one spot.
  4. Today 🦄. The things I want to get done today. I pick 1-3 big items, and a handful of smaller ones.

I use emoji in the file names for these because it makes me happy.

Folders and all the notes

I also have a handful of context-specific folders: Work, Clients, Home, Travel, and so on.

These have collections of notes around specific topics in them. Every one of my clients has a note. I have notes for my daily emails, my workshops, and so on.

What I love about notes in Obsidian is that I can intermix todo items (literal checkboxes) with bulleted lists of thoughts, code snippets, URLs, and more.

If I take notes during a client meeting, I can toss a few todo items up at the top of the note, and they’ll automatically show up in my All Todos ⭐️ note where I know I won’t forget them.

It all fits really nicely with how my brain works.

Note automations with queries

Where Obsidian really wins for me is with the ability to embed queries into other notes with the Tasks plugin.

I use these to pull all of my incomplete todos in one spot, display todos flagged for today, show me high-priority items so I don’t forget them, and more.

I use tags to power most of this.

I use emoji for my tags, because they stand out and look fun. I tag important items with a star (⭐️), things I want to do today with a unicorn (🦄), and items that are pending someone or something else with an hourglass (⏳).

Here’s how I display important, incomplete todos from all of my notes in my All Todos ⭐️.md file…

```tasks
not done
filter by function !task.file.filename.includes("Goals 🎯.md")
filter by function !task.file.filename.includes("Today 🦄.md")
tag includes #⭐️  
```

This is specifically setup to exclude todos from the Goals 🎯.md and Today 🦄.md files. It also groups items by their filename for easier sorting.

Just in case it’s at all helpful, here are the different queries I use…

The All Todos ⭐️.md file

I have three different queries on this page…

  1. Important items (tagged with a star emoji - ⭐️)
  2. Pending items (tagged with an hourglass emoji - ⏳)
  3. All todos
## Important
```tasks
not done
filter by function !task.file.filename.includes("Goals 🎯.md")
filter by function !task.file.filename.includes("Today 🦄.md")
tag includes #⭐️  
```

## Pending
```tasks
not done
filter by function !task.file.filename.includes("Goals 🎯.md")
filter by function !task.file.filename.includes("Today 🦄.md")
tag includes #⏳ 
```

## Everything
```tasks
not done
filter by function !task.file.filename.includes("Goals 🎯.md")
filter by function !task.file.filename.includes("Today 🦄.md")
group by function task.file.filename
```

The Today 🦄.md file

On this note, I also use three different queries…

  1. Incomplete todos, tagged with the unicorn emoji (🦄)
  2. Pending today, tagged with the unicorn emoji (🦄) and hourglass emoji (⏳)
  3. Completed todos
```tasks
not done
tag includes #🦄 
tag does not include #⏳ 
(no due date) OR (due on or before today)
```

## Pending
```tasks
not done
tag includes #🦄 
tag includes #⏳ 
(no due date) OR (due today)
```

## Completed
```tasks
done
tag includes #🦄 
(no due date) OR (due today)
```

Syncing

I use iCloud to sync my markdown files from one device to another. You can use Google Files instead, and Obsidian also offers their own service.

When I make an update on one device, it shows up everywhere.

Don’t over-complicate things

Could I make this more sophisticated? Definitely.

But by keeping things relatively simple, I have a fast, easy-to-maintain system that lets me offload my brain and makes sure I don’t forget import stuff.

If that all seems interesting, checkout Obsidian for yourself.