Learning new things in Obsidian (2024): In defense of remembering

Here's how I'm learning things in Obsidian in 2024, and the tools I use in my information processing pipeline to read, listen, and watch content and turn that into ideas and output. I also talk about why it's important to remember what you've consumed, and the value of writing stuff down to help you do so.
Links
The Imperfectionist - How to forget what you read: ckarchive.com/b/68ueh8hk25687...
Sign up for The Imperfectionist newsletter (recommended!): www.oliverburkeman.com/the-im...
Four Thousand Weeks, by Oliver Burkeman (book): amzn.to/48EbJvk
Readwise Highlighter (browser extension): chromewebstore.google.com/det...
Shortform: shortform.com/nicole
Snipd: link.snipd.com/Cx7S/nicole
Readwise: readwise.io/nicole
Napkin.one: napkin.one/?via=nicole
Deep Work (book): amzn.to/3Smvvpw
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:43 Reason 1: Permanence
01:29 Processing articles, books, podcasts, videos
04:49 What is Readwise? What is Reader?
06:30 Reason 2: Deliberate practice
07:09 Napkin.one
08:19 Hegelian Dialectic in Obsidian
10:40 Reason 3: Concrete results
12:18 Reason 4: Cult of the new
---
// ABOUT ME
Site: nicolevanderhoeven.com
Mastodon: pkm.social/@nicole
Videos for my work at Grafana Labs: • My work at Grafana Labs
Adobo & Avocados (with Marie Drake), a channel about intersectionality in tech: / @adoboandavocados
Beyond the Character Sheet (with Leah Ferguson), a channel about TTRPGs: / @beyondthecharactersheet
// APPS I USE
- Obsidian: obsidian.md
- Readwise: readwise.io/nicole
- Shortform: shortform.com/nicole
- Reclaim: go.reclaim.ai/eg0tgbamp7cb
- Snipd: link.snipd.com/Cx7S/nicole
- Napkin: napkin.one/?via=nicole
// GEAR
nicolevanderhoeven.com/gear/
// WANT TO SUPPORT ME?
❤️ Join my Patreon and get my sample vault with templates: / nicolevdh
☕ Buy me a coffee: ko-fi.com/nicolevdh
Note: Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means I may get a small percentage when you sign up using those links. To see how I decide what to promote in this way, check out my Ethics Statement: nicolevanderhoeven.com/ethics/

[@nicolevdh]

Nobody sponsored this video, but I do have affiliate links if you'd like to try out some of the apps I mentioned: Shortform: shortform.com/nicole Snipd: link.snipd.com/Cx7S/nicole Readwise: readwise.io/nicole Napkin.one: napkin.one/?via=nicole Also, I might think Burkeman is slightly wrong on this point, but I really do love his stuff and rate him highly as a writer and thinker. Go show him some love by signing up to his free newsletter: www.oliverburkeman.com/the-imperfectionist THEME: Typewriter

[@angadsri]

This is phenomenal, Nicole! I'm shocked I haven't discovered your channel or writings sooner, but maybe that's owing to one of the fun paradoxes of KM stuff - just when I reach useful conclusions through reflection and uncover terminology through random googling, I discover creators or blog posts that would have just given me all the answers I sought. Really enjoyed how this video is fundamentally a video essay in style and narrative, yet one that also demos part of your setups and workflows. Kudos for doing both so smoothly, and in under 15 minutes!

[@ryadaj2220]

Always a huge fan of your work and getting a glimpse of your workflow. Experimenting with tags in Napkin led me to strictly use tags in Obsidian. Would love to see a video or write-up on how you feel about the tags vs. links debate. Editing this comment to say again, thank you for the time and energy you invest into sharing so much value with us!

[@nicolevdh]

Thank you so much! I appreciate the encouragement. Happy you’re experimenting with tags because of Napkin. Recently I’ve been experimenting with tags too, because of this video where I interview Jorge Arango about exactly what you were asking about: tags vs links and more!: Links vs tags vs folders: knowledge gardening for Obsidian, with Jorge Arango kzbin.infoiipvNQI8AQg

[@ryadaj2220]

@@nicolevdh Amazing! Thanks for this share; I'm watching as I type this reply :)

[@thek3nger]

Thank you, Nicole, for always being so inspirational. :)

[@mohammedtanveer5785]

1. Complexity requires permanence 2. Learning is about deliberate practice 3. Sometimes you need concrete results 4. Forgetting makes us cultists of the new

[@Darkknight512]

I find this video very interesting, mostly because one of the reasons I am here is because I'm trying to learn to take notes AFTER getting a masters degree and becoming a senior engineer. My entire career so far involves minimal writing and almost no notetaking unless I am intentionally writing a manual, guide or other documentation at work. It is starting to bite me nowadays, which is why I am here trying to learn how to take more notes then none, but my learning process so far involves a lot of forgetting. I more often remember that a certain video or article exists and tend to rewatch or reread some of my favourite content several times over the years. This is something that I've unintentionally gained a lot from I think. Going through old material after gaining more experience and more skill often results in me getting more out of something by reconsuming it. I am sure I could gain some of these benefits out of good notes but I think I do have decent defense for forgetting the vast majority of what I consume. There are points in content I wouldn't have taken notes on if I consumed years prior because the point would not have made sense to me or resonated enough for me to decide to note it down.

[@nicolevdh]

I think everyone has a different threshold for how much effort they're willing to spend on remembering/taking notes. I will say that as both an avid note-taker and senior engineer, I still do forget a lot, and I still do find myself sometimes rewatching/rereading content I didn't take notes on or couldn't understand previously. But I do also enjoy those moments when I wonder something, do a search in my own notes first, and find to my delight that past me stopped to spell out something that current me already forgot. I don't think it has to be an all-or-nothing approach. I think it's infeasible to remember/take note on 100%, but for me personally, it's equally infeasible to to take notes on 0% of the stuff I learn. Just a matter of finding your own ideal balance.

[@Darkknight512]

@@nicolevdh It is definitely a gradient. I just personally came to the realization that I wrote nothing down at all and I should probably do something about it. Both extremes probably have their associated problems. Part of it was me never paying attention in class in grade school and generally skipping all my lectures in undergrad, I found different ways of learning and worked really hard through the course material, but it was overall quite a different path than I think is typical. I did have an occurrence where I did take a lot of notes recently and about 6 months after, I met a student I decided to mentor, working on a similar project for their thesis. That was one occurrence where I don't think I would even consider mentoring the student had I not had my notes from prior.

[@thisisavinash]

Too awesome!!! I'm currently trying to use obsidian to learn stuff soo imm into this incremental reading/writing stuff and trying retrieval practice for that I use a combination of obsidian and anki, love it as an app! Awesome video :)

[@gmchris4113]

Absolutely great video. Shows a difference in philosophy and I wholeheartedly agree with yours. Active learning requires practice and effort, the idea of "Learning through Osmosis" feels like a lazy way of avoiding putting in the work. Yes, exposure can influence your learning, but it's my opinion that proper learning requires effort, especially on highly complex / deep subjects. Listening to a KZbin video while I cook will never be as powerful as taking notes as I read. Practice makes permanent.

[@maurolimaok]

Obrigado pelo vídeo. Sempre aprendendo alguma coisa nova por aqui... mesmo que demore um pouquinho.

[@adanice49]

Thank you for another amazing video Nicole! I’m in a course that requires me to write a systematic review and I’m a chronic forgetter of what I read. I’d love to tailor your pipeline for my use-case. Always a fan of your videos and I’m excited for new year of remembering

[@smcla]

I loved this workflow, thank you.

[@nicolevdh]

Happy that was useful!

[@adhdraw]

"Here's why I think X is wrong" is my favorite dialectical tool yess

[@ryanbartlett672]

Simplified workflow: Obsidian with ReadItLater plugin. Trade off is splitting into multiple vaults to deal wit volume (wip)

[@hasanyilmaznet]

Hey Nicole, I like your workflow details very much. I still use RSS feeds too. :) They are pretty handy and great to read in a standard interface in Reader. I also want to mention that I add KZbin channels to directly Reader Feed. Not all but some of them. Social media algorithms sucks. Thx for your effort.

[@nicolevdh]

... wow. I never knew you could add channels! Thank you! Somehow I missed that. I will absolutely do that from now on.

[@diyorbeksielts]

Hi. A great video. I wonder what kind of chrome extensions you use?

[@nicolevdh]

The three Chrome extensions I use

[@adrianrebisz8122]

hi, what's the font you're using?

[@susanpearson-creativefibro]

Just out of interest as a fellow Obsidian and Arc user, do you find the Obsidian forum isn’t displayed properly? I can never scroll down a page and have to use a different browser for the site.

[@nicolevdh]

Hmmm, no, not at all. I just tried it again now and didn't notice any issues. Do you have any boosts or extensions going on that page?

[@meathead919]

Is there any plugin in Obsidian that would mimic the napkin functionality? I think there's smart connections, anything else?

[@nicolevdh]

I haven't found anything that replicates Napkin's UI, which is the loveliest part of it! And I've been staying away from having AI touch my personal notes. I have tried it some, but on different (smaller, less private) vaults. I've looked at the data some of those plugins send in the background and have not liked how much they send.

[@Caroline_Creative]

How do I find your newsletter to sign up?

[@nicolevdh]

Here it is: tip.nicolevanderhoeven.com/ Thanks!

[@demerion]

I came from your pdf organizing video, where you said you used Zotero for that. You didn't even mention Zotero in this video, does this mean you moved on from it, or is this an entirely different workflow?

[@nicolevdh]

Hey! I was using Zotero for organizing, but not for annotating. This video is more about the annotation process. I do still have some Zotero links in my vault, but honestly, I've found the new PDF features in Obsidian to be enough for my use case. It probably would not be enough in an academic setting, but I'm not in that context.

[@demerion]

@@nicolevdhGot it, thank you!

[@visua1hue-k6s]

New year, new theme? Would you share the name? :P

[@nicolevdh]

Oh yeah! Let me add that to the pinned comment. I just forgot. I'm using the Typewriter theme!

[@lzlxleldorado8646]

second comment finally

[@nicolevdh]

Hah, didn't know you were trying. Congrats!

[@Qwellbrock.is.a.Weirdood]

Hello, I am currently on the hunt to donate to whoever can help me achieve a time sensitive task. I need an AI service to represent my entire obsidian vault, an AI assistant that can help specifically for preparing a speech. This AI would be able to take my input, analyze it and adjust the content of the speech accordingly. It would also be able to discuss the value/contrast of new points I periodically add, via raw notes and how they fit into the overall narrative of the speech. Would anyone be able to direct me to a source that can achieve this? Thank you.

[@topdirect4286]

they are too expensive

[@andypolainepersonal7216]

🤔

[@nicolevdh]

I expect a video from you attempting to defend forgetting.

[@andypolainepersonal7216]

I keep forgetting to do that.