Obsidian: De-clutter your mind

Mainak Chakraborty
2 min readFeb 20, 2022

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Too much content(Source: Pixel)

On average, global internet users spend 144 minutes on social media sites every day. More than 2 hours every day. Now, I am not a critic; there might be some helpful information that you need to know. However, this is too much content. Adding my work on top of this, I have to read papers, blogs and articles every day. My mind is just no match to hold these ideas. And as usual, I always end up forgetting important things to note down.

Also, I am not a clear thinker nor a good organiser. I tried organising my thoughts in a notebook. Alas! Every year I tried to maintain a journal of ideas, goals and everything in between. I Fail every year. Every day, I view, process and analyse content, articles, and papers. I don't remember 90% of it after one month.

I am a sucker for non-fiction. I read a book, maybe highlight a few lines, but that is it. I forget the majority of the content and don't seem to recall whenever I need it. I have no idea how to store and maintain something important I wanted to remember. This year I thought enough is enough. Let's go digital and see. Found Obsidian by chance.

What is Obsidian?

A Free but not open-source note-taking app. It does not charge and is entirely free(except for some plugins). Lets the user write in markdown language, in plain English and Latin if you want. It gives the minimalistic approach of notepad. Less mouse motion compared to "word" and a no-code environment unlike “Latex”. Additionally, you can add the plugin to introduce features like a mindmap. Simply awesome.

How Do You use it?

Download and install, dedicate a folder to save your notes and voila.

Also, a must-use plugin is a mindmap.

Source: Author

After using it for a couple of months, there is so much clarity, just on the fact that I can visualise my thoughts in a "tree-like" form. Trust me, and it is quintessential.

Graph View

Suppose you are working on project A, linked to a previous project B. B is related to C and C to A. These weird connections may be present, and we may not even notice. Graph view lets you visualise this.

Human thinking is always linked. Maybe now we can see it. Try it and let me know. Also, check the Calendar plugin.

Ref :

https://www.sitepoint.com/obsidian-beginner-guide/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUrOfIqvGS4

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