I Resisted Obsidian but Can’t Live Without It Now

Use this application to improve your writing efforts

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

During a recent file clean-up, I sorted, combined, and deleted hundreds of files.

As I stared at what remained, I felt no inspiration to create.

Worse, I had little faith in the system I’d perfected. The files were tucked away, but everything I’d just organized was static.

My brain dump had become a landfill.

What I craved was a repository… A single place to capture notes, musings, drafts, and reference material.

Enter Obsidian.

I’d tried using this application before. Three times, actually. And every time, I’d stare at the blank vault and decide it was too much.

But this time around, I didn’t just reinstall the app. I watched a few videos highlighting its features. Seeing the tool in action gave me the courage to dive in.

As I poured my info into Obsidian, I was freed by the realization it didn’t matter how I went about doing things. I just had to ensure whatever system I created would let me capture and retrieve my files as needed.

Take folder structure, for example. You can leave all your files in the root directory or set up as many folders as you wish. I opted for a select few to keep my writing files separate from my reference information.

But it wasn’t just my file structure that changed. I approach the note-taking process differently now, too.

Say I run across an interesting bit of info online. Previously, I would have bookmarked it or saved it as a digital file on one of my devices. Now, I create a stand-alone file and add relevant links and notes for future reference.

All those notecards and papers floating around my office? They go in there, too. And with a few added community plugins, I can import Kindle highlights and marked-up PDFs.

Sample Obsidian file created prior to drafting this post. Photo provided by the author.

I also tag my content and add links to other Obsidian files (above). This approach not only allows me to retrieve…