You're not stupid: How to learn difficult things with Obsidian

In all these apps I feel like I'm gonna waste too much time organizing, connecting and beautifying notes, giving me a false sense of productivity, so I avoid them.

I discovered Obsidian literally a month ago by myself and I found it exactly what I need. Private. No cloud. No server. No complex storage/container format - you can read files with notepad if you do not have Obsidian installed. Perfectly fit for my work notes. And with combination with my private SVN it is amazingly works!

When something is as flexible and adaptable as Obsidian, with every user having their own workflow and preferences and list of extensions they think is best(and hundreds of them making videos about it,) "just start using it" is a message worth saying in its own right.

I discovered Obsidian too. While I am sold on the idea behind it, which this video demonstrates beautifully, learning new tools like this is overwhelming. Instead, this is what I am doing to at least get started on the process of building my web of knowledge. When I am reading, I make sure to have post-its, then when I come across something worth capturing, I make sure to write it down so that the essence is captured in one post-it note. The idea is to dedicate some time on weekends to turn the post-its into notes on Obsidian. For now, I think this will work for me. I suggest that you also start today and try not to be distracted/overwhelmed by how amazing these online productive gurus are doing.

As a long-time obsidian user, this is one of the best short videos on Obsidian. Great job.

i also appreciate that it is an offline tool and that syncing is optional

I got Make It Stick on your recommendation maybe 2 months ago. Finished reading it about 2 weeks ago. Excellent read and it changed how I approach learning. I'm teaching myself infinite sequences and series and have adapted my techniques based on the reading. Whether you're a teacher, a life long learner, or a student at university you will definitely get a lot of reading Make It Stick.

This is the best introduction i've seen on Obsidian. Actually made me want to use it and to read Make It Stick which i've had for ages in my bookshelf to read and never got to it.

Thanks for the recommendations. I have been wanting to learn the Zettlekasten method for a while and actually own How to Take Smart Notes, so I pulled it off of my shelf and am going to start reading it today!

Key to getting started with note taking in a productive way is just simply start taking notes in Obsidian without caring about the endless features. In the course of time you’ll learn it step-by-step.

I've been using Obsidian for about two years, but I have to admit, I just like it for the file organization. I don't think I have a single note linking to another one, but perhaps I'm leaving some useful functionality on the table.

I'll try to get my hands on "make it stick" and try obsidian. I've always loved to learn things, but after pausing my masters and starting to work as a software developer, I noticed that my old system did no longer work, because of all the stress and so little time. Turns out my method required a lot of time and did not work at all when not investing a lot of time.. I hope better methods can help me to keep learning again, and never stop. These videos give me hope, thanks :)

Fantastic video. I've been skeptical about note taking apps that promise to revolutionize your learning or workflow or whatever. You've provided a compelling reason to actually try out Obsidian.

OMG, this is just going to take me down even more rabbit holes with my lack of self discipline and easily off-on-a-tangent-level-distractibility - I'm in!! 😄

Thank you! I've been wanting so badly to make & keep useful notes on books & youtube videos & podcasts, & didn't know how to do so in a way that [stuff, or, the vast amount of information that I am capable of learning & then forgetting] wouldn't get lost in ever so many notebooks.

For people who are thinking obsidian will magically change your life. Note that there is NO single app which will transform your life. Its just a app, finally its you who have to do all the study and practice.

Very good review, thank you very much for taking the tme and putting in the effort to both make it & share it with us. I had just started looking at Obsidian and didn't immediately see the power of it until iw atched your piece here. I will be a dedicated user from now on. Thanks again. Please keep up your good work.

Ive looked at obsidian and dabbled ( for my phd research) . Question ill get this amazing diagram but then so what? Why is this pretty web going to be better than carefully structured notes

I use Obsidian for documenting software development using highlighted code blocks. I also use it for all my life notes, study notes, and anything that I want to document. Great video. Note that the community continues to add new features such as the new simplified tables. Notes can have markdown text, images, videos, and just about anything you want to save.

This is useful for learning since most teachers, books, and essays already have organized all the info. But, from a longtime beginner user. I use Obsidian for everyday notes, nothing fancy. Don't work for the graphic. I mean, don't do your notes thinking "This will look awesome in the graphic". Instead, focus on doing your notes, focus on writing. The graphic will come organically.