Workflow

Here I describe my overall productivity workflow, featuring the tools I use and methods I follow.

Note-Taking

I use Obsidian which uses a “file over app” philosophy.

File over app is a philosophy: if you want to create digital artifacts that last, they must be files you can control, in formats that are easy to retrieve and read. Use tools that give you this freedom.

File over app is an appeal to tool makers: accept that all software is ephemeral, and give people ownership over their data.

In Obsidian, notes are written in markdown.

Personal Vault Structure

I use one main vault to store everything, except for storing this quartz website.

Old Structure

My original vault used the following organisation methods →

• Organise by folders
  • Main folders based on context (Academic, Personal, etc)
    • Allow a folder for quick rough notes
    • Store templates, attachments in a “Central” folder
  • Sub folders based on topic (Programming → [Python, C++, OOP], BSc → [Modules])
• Notes are organised into folders
  • Written in bullet points

Which, overtime (2-3 years), came with the following issues →

• Lots of →
  • Repeating information in multiple places
  • Duplicate topics from different sources
• Therefore →
  • Harder to navigate
  • Harder to easily make use of information
  • Quicker to forget information

New Structure

To try to fix the faults of the previous system, which ends up defeating the point of it, I have started a new vault to test a different method, using links rather than folders. This method takes a lot of inspiration from Steph Ango’s personal vault and organisation system.

The only folders in this vault are for templates, attachments, notes (split into some vague categories for some better organisation), web clippings, dated notes, and categories. Categories are topic specific. Each note will have a property linking to a category. Dated notes are daily notes, to log what was written and done on a day.

Note Content

Notes will aim to have one main concept.

Keeping a note focused on a single idea, and then creating separate notes for related ideas keeps the coupling low and the cohesion high - allowing me to reuse, reapply, and more efficiently make use of the information.

The goal of this is to have a “wiki” or “dictionary” of information, forming relationships between concepts to better understand and learn them.

The rest of this page is still being written