The journey I have set upon requires immense planning. In the beginning I failed miserably. Part of it was because I could not prioritize tasks, and part of it was because I could not create a sense of motivation to document. For these reasons and others, I felt an increasing need to create a flow for systematic inquiry. This is just a simplified version of what I do, and I hope to add to it as I continue posting here.
Track in Notion
To track all my tasks, I use Notion. I have been using it for the last 5 years. Initially I would use it to take notes. Later I realised that it is more suited for task planning, structuring and collaboration, so that’s what I limit my use of Notion to now. Here’s a view of my All Tasks page, for instance. So that I could show you what it looks like, I had to uncheck tasks that I had already finished.
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Engage in OneNote
An tablet in today’s age for someone who wants to read a fair amount is a must. Using the stylus to annotate or write freely (I love marginalia) helps me better engage with text. OneNote is my go-to for this. The infinite canvas gives me the option to write as much as I want without bothering about space restrictions. You can also freely move stuff around as you start to refine your own ideas. The link of the note in OneNote should be attached to the source markdown file. This is where Obsidian comes in.
Reflect in Obsidian
Create a markdown note summarizing insights. Then, I add links for broad questions, like for instance, what is strategy, or what is a business model. This helps in linking ideas from different sources, and contrast them to find points of deviation. To create an interconnected and synergistic system, it is important to insert internal OneNote link in the Obsidian note (Right-click page > Copy Link to Page). Use One-Note Desktop Link Formatter to create a template that will do it in three clicks max. Add backlinks or tags to further create distinct properties for a note. This will help navigating your second brain better.