The mention of second brain seems like something out of science-fiction movie but what we’re really describing is note-taking, the same kind where you write notes on a notebook to organize your life. Whether you take the second brain concept seriously is a different story. There is just too much happening and keeping this volume of information, from things to do to details of projects, long-term goals, etc. Keeping track of this actively at the back of your mind can be more stressful than putting the efforts towards the tasks on the list.
There are many ways of taking notes into this second brain. It could be a piece of paper, a notebook and using a pencil or pen. However, as projects and their details increase, the time taken to write down everything, not to mention the hurdles of moving text around, grouping, reordering items, is close to impossible on paper. Going digital is the way, but there are many apps that let you organise yourself. One of the upcoming, free and popular tools is called Obsidian. You can use a software like this, whether you’re a student, a working professional, even just a tool to make a schedule.
Before we begin, it’s a good idea to jot down all the ideas into Obsidian first on a PC or laptop, then sync it to your mobile as needed. You can download the mobile app for iPhones and Android devices as well, but we will be first focusing our efforts on the PC version, which can be downloaded from https://obsidian.md. There are paid tiers for Obsidian but that’s more relevant if you are a corporate user with large teams, as a way to support the developers.
Obsidian’s interface is quite simple. At the center, is the writing area, and on either side lie sidebars. The one on the left will be most relevant since most of the navigation and operations happen. Both sidebars can be opened using the Expand button on either top corner of the window.
Obsidian is like any other note taker, except it stores notes as a hierarchy of folders and files. Every note you take is written as a file and if you want to group tasks and notes up for a project, you can create folders within Obsidian. This is typically done by clicking the left sidebar and then the New Note button (Ctrl + N). You can also create a new folder using the New Folder button.
Using Markdown to take notes
One of the first things that will be evident is that there are no toolbars to format, or any checkboxes or graphical elements to add items to your list. Obsidian depends on note taking in Markdown, which is a language for writing content, adding visual elements to text, such as bullet points, general formatting, checkboxes, images, videos and anything you can imagine. There are plenty of resources online that are worth reading up on how to write Markdown. Here is a gist of what Markdown looks like.
# is used to add headings # is the largest heading, followed by multiple # till 6 levels, in a descending order ###### Smallest heading. Text placed between * * show up as bold and text placed between _ _ show up as Italics.
Adding links to notes
The great thing about Obsidian is that you can interlink notes, much like web pages are interlinked on web sites. Links can be added by adding text within [[ ]]. This creates a holder to insert a new link. Clicking on the link creates new notes, and you can have these placed within new folder or in the root location along with all the notes.
Graph view to get a bird’s eye view of your notes
Obsidian does a great job of converting notes and links between them into visualisations that are easy to make sense of. For example, you don’t need to store all your notes as a single file, rather break them into several smaller pieces. The Graph view lets you quickly visualise all the notes and how they are interconnected to each other. Pressing the Ctrl + G shortcuts one way to see this view. You can also press the Graph view button on the left top of the Obsidian window.
Using command palette to navigate Obsidian
Obsidian has a ton of features and finding each one of them using shortcuts can be a daunting task. One of the simplest ways to access features is using the command palette (Ctrl + P). You can browse through the most popular commands but also search for nearly every function available on Obsidian.
Templates help standardized, and simplifying note taking
The power of Obsidian is being able to create templates. Templates are what the sound like – creating standard forms and designs. This depends from one subject to another. A shopping list for example, can be as simple as a list of items separated by bullet points. A packing list maybe slightly different, with grouping like clothes, electronics, gifts, etc. A student who needs to take notes in class, could create a template for the different kinds of information. Creating templates can be done like creating notes, and you can choose to insert a template into your notes by clicking the Insert template button on the left panel.
Daily notes feature as a journal
Obsidian can be used as a journaling tool as well, rather than just notes for projects. This can be done by clicking the Open Today’s Daily Note button on the left panel. This creates a note with the day’s timestamp. You can then navigate the notes by the days on a calendar. This feature is handy also for making time-tied task lists.
Using Canvas to create visual mind maps
Canvas is one of the newest features to arrive on Obsidian. It lets you create visual maps and workflows for your notes. You can create a canvas using items you create now or using pre-existing notes and folders to make a map and link them together. A Canvas can be created using the Create new canvas button on the left panel. You can add colours to blocks, even link them together. This can be handy for workflows or making mind maps.
Customising the interface with themes
There are plenty of note taking apps but few that look as good as Obsidian. There are plenty of themes available to make Obsidian more comfortable. To change themes, simply click on the Settings button on the left bottom of the screen. Click on Appearance and you can choose from dark and light modes here under the Base Color Scheme option. You can also tweak the accent colour but more importantly, you can download more themes by clicking on the Manage button.
Adding functionality using plugins
Obsidian is a platform can be augmented using themes but also plugins that extend its functionality. Clicking on Settings > Core plugins give you access to plugins installed, some of which maybe disabled by default. The true magic of Obsidian comes to life when you explore the community plugins, where you can find plugins that start from customising the Obsidian interface, to enabling functional improvements that could range from syncing information online to calendar support, auto-formatting, and more. Just remember to disable the Restrict mode at the start of the Settings menu under Community Plugins.
Syncing to mobile phone
Obsidian while a free software has a paid syncing feature for moving your notes between devices. It’s called Obsidian Sync. Although, all of Obsidian’s notes are saved as text files, and you could use any free data syncing tool such as Syncthing to sync your notes to other devices or use a cloud storage drive location to store all your notes. It’s a good idea to install Obsidian to your smartphone since it’s available as free apps for the iPhone and Android devices.
We hope you give Obsidian a try, and it could change the way you take notes, plan things, and maintain to-do lists. We only scratched the surface, and there are a ton of possibilities you can discover yourself, the more you explore it. It’s for everyone, and only takes a few minutes to set up. If you like what you read, and want to know more cool things around technology, keep visiting us here at reliancedigital.in
