7-Oct-24

• Working out how to use obsidian and learning about the Digital Garden
• Thinking about a better workflow that uses both Notion and Obsidian
  • similar to Mike Tannenbaum's process(which I came across after writing this bullet point)

I came across a blog by Andy Matuschak, which has inspired me to set up my own Obsidian vault. I intend to use it in combination with Notion, but still trying to work how best to do that, or even how to work with Obsidian.

What I like about Notion is how structured and organised everything is, however I don't think it really works with my goblin brain for daily/ weekly tasks. I like the seemingly chaotic nature of the digital garden, where you wander through and see what is growing. Some entries might be mature trees, but other might be little saplings. Others still might be empty beds, that are prepared for something to grow. I love this idea - the discovery aspect of this appeals to me. I especially like the idea of "working with the garage door open", as described in Andy's blog. That is exactly what I intended my site to be, but couldn't work out how best to do it (without also duplicating my efforts). Unfortunately, Notion won't let me share a database publicly, if any of the entries are relational to a private database, and some tasks that I am working on are not mine to share publicly. Plus, that actually seems pretty boring and uninformative to look at. Using an Obsidian vault where I can decide what gets shared is a way better option. Plus, when I was thinking about the structure of my site, it was difficult for me to decide what should go where - project updates? blog? another blog just for project updates? all projects in one or individual project update blogs? My brain doesn't compartmentalise like that. The tasks I am working on might also be linked to different projects. For example, I am learning how to use a Django framework to build the Paperstars project. However, those are two separate tasks: 1. learning, 2. building. Separating these two is stupid and restrictive and redundant. and repetitive.

So far, what I'm loving about Obsidian are the .md format (hello future-proofing!) and the simplicity of the editor. It feels simultaneously more malleable and transmutable, but also more "real" than a quick note in my Apple Notes (which I hate btw but it is always the one closest at hand). I like the idea what everything is related and I love the nature of the digital garden (accidental pun but I'll claim it), even in my own notes. Did you know that you can select "Random Note" in your Obsidian and it will pull up a random note? How fun is that? I do miss that function on Google.

Back to my chaotic goblin brain: to everyone's horror, I mentioned in my lab meeting today that my bookcases are completely unorganised. I don't mean that they aren't colour-coordinated or sorted by genre. I mean that they are completely and entirely unstructured. This was actually an accident - when I got new bookcases that look very pretty and almost built-in, I was in the middle of finishing my thesis and I most definitely did not have time to put my books back in an orderly fashion. So I essentially shelved them wherever there was space, thinking I'd get back to it at some point (you might say I shelved it...). Over time, this cause for embarrassment has actually turned into something I love. I love the hunt for a specific title. I love the randomness of looking for something new to read (because in my haste to get a functional living room back, there was total equality between books read and books on my tbr). I love looking for the book with a blue spine and black writing or knowing that the tiny green poetry paperback is next to the hardcover of a high-fantasy epic (Book II... Book I is over on the other side beside the graphic novel of queer history).

I am also definitely the type of person that thrives on a messy desk. I am currently typing this from my relatively neat workspace, however wading through an ankle-deep swamp of post-its and general notes and to-edit lists and printed scientific papers is when I know I am deep in a project. I am hoping using Obsidian will satisfy this feeling of victoriously striding through the battlefield to emerge with a finished project.

At this point of my chaotic confessional I feel must also admit to a deep, dark secret. I am the monster that loads her pipette tips completely arbitrarily from the pipette box. I know, I am much maligned across the internet and have achieved almost cryptid-like status judging by the comments left under pictures of just such a ravaged pipette box; Nobody seems to know anyone who loads their pipettes like a wild stampede of hedgehogs. Somehow, I still manage to look at myself in the mirror and have not yet burst into flames upon entering a lab. Good job I'm working purely in silico now, otherwise I may be the subject of intense paranormal and metaphysical study. Or a podcast.

Thoughts on Andy Matuschak's process

• Evergreen notes: notes that are written to be expanded upon, in one place. This is where something like Obsidian is really handy, because it might not be clear how these items link but eventually they will.
• The rule of atomic notes kinda answers the above question - these should be separate from the bigger entry. However, that then begs the question - where do I put them? Into misc?
• Love the concept oriented note taking, it may lead to repetition, but I think that by linking the notes and creating a "master note" I can avoid too much repetition in the master note
• Disregard the audience: that is a little scary but I think necessary to cultivate a good Digital Garden.
• The idea of "working with the garage door open" really, really appeals to me. Accountability ✅. Transparency in research ✅. Open communication ✅. I like that I am not positioning myself as someone who knows stuff, but as someone who is learning stuff. Yes, the internet can be mean. But the internet can also be awesome and supportive and helpful.
• How I would adapt his daily routine:
  • deep focus in the morning (using Pomodoro)
    • start daily note
    • dig into what seems appealing (Note: I think I'd prefer a todo menu to pick from)
  • lunch time swim, shower, and lunch
  • admin and email tasks in the afternoon (since I categorise my tasks into high, medium, and low energy this would be a good time for the low energy tasks)
    • "course work" (I am learning a lot of new thing and using free and paid courses)
    • organise tomorrow (what tasks need to get done)
• The prompts to work on a given project

what are the most important unknowns for this project?
what new ideas am I excited about?
what are the most interesting things I know about this project?

Thoughts on Mike Tannenbaum's process

• on his main website, I like the "now" and the "principles" pages! ✅ 2024-10-08
• he has a workflow for obisidian -> jekyll page that I will look into adopting (if you are reading this, then it worked!)
• more discussion of the digital garden which then led me to this page (digital garden plug in for Obsidian)
• I also like the idea adding my changelog to the front page to see which notes have been updated ✅ 2024-10-08

Thoughts on Melanie Stefan's process

• (sorry no link here, this was verbally communicated in our lab meeting today)
• pipeline for projects
  • e.g. Paper pipeline that is linked to a database of papers, database filtered by tags "writing", "draft circulated", "submitted", etc.
  • I would maybe adapt that to be either more granular: "introduction done", "introduction edited", etc.
  • Another pipeline for general projects, however the problem there being that I have a lot of projects that have entirely different workflows. It's also hard to add "learn how to do this" to a workflow when I learning by doing
• daily wrap up ✅ 2024-10-08
  • 3 successes
  • what will make tomorrow awesome

filter by function ! task.isDone