Building my second brain with Obsidian pt. I
Published: 2021-08-08 13:41:42

## Second Brain

In todays world we have so many different kind of information. We have emails, text messages, emails, articles, books, podcasts and so much more.
All of this content has value, but it is hard to try to remember all of it. But to be effective today you can build yourself a second brain to use all this content without needing to remember all of it.

I've been using [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) to build my second brain since the beginning of this year.
I'm very keen on Obsidian and I like it a lot. It suits me very well and has so many opportunities.

This below is my second brain as of today, it is under continuous development and gets bigger every day.

![Graph View](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/mhg8nl1oir0tqkxw4r5f.png)

Every yellow note is a note containing some content. Every blue note is a not-yet created note, but I have made a link to a note. And every purple note is an attachment, like image.

But what is a second brain? Other than Looking like one in the picture above?
Go check out what [Tiago Forte](https://fortelabs.co/blog/basboverview/) has done, he has a great article and a course about this.

> Building a second brain is a methodology for saving and systematically reminding us of the ideas, inspirations, insights, and connections we've gained through our experience.
> It expands our memory and our intellect using the modern tools of technology and networks.

In this post, I will mostly talk generally about personal knowledge management and how I'm using Obsidian to build myself a second brain.

## What is a PKM system?

PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) system can be a system that you use to curate knowledge.
You can design it to match your needs. You can look at PKM systems as your second brain.

This is one place to improve your knowledge.

So this will be a personal system best for your usage. I think that is important. None of us do the things in the same way, we may have a like activity to do various things,
but I think we can make them better by personalizing them to suit ourselves.

> By collecting our knowledge in a centralized place outside of our heads, we can create an engine of creative output – a “second brain” – to advance a career, build a business, or pursue a passion. By making this knowledge digital, we can reap the benefits of searchability, backups, syncing between devices, sharing with others, and more.
> \- Tiago Forte

Having this collection of knowledge in a digital form is very useful for me, as I spend quite a lot of time in front of my computer. It is super convenient to
have quick access to my PKM system.

I truly believe that in today's world we should use technology to help us build up knowledge.

By quickly accessing your notes to review, add to them, and use them you can methodologically build your knowledge you curate in your day-to-day life.

> "Go to sleep smarter than you woke up"

Is a great phrase I think Shane Parrish, said. It could be that he is quoting someone else, but the saying is true in my opinion. Couple that together with digital PKM and
I think you have yourself a great way to improve your life.

Why do I think PKM is good?
For so many reasons.
One of the biggest reasons I keep adding to my PKM system is because I want to learn more things, but I only can spend limited time diving into new things to learn.
By having a PKM system in place I can gradually add content about the things I want to learn and that way I build up more knowledge over time.

So this suits me very well, I can gradually add notes and connect them to build a good base of content.

Just to clarify, there are many other software's you could use, other than Obsidian. I like obsidian very much and I don't think I'll move away from it. But, I encourage you to start making you own PKM system, whatever the method you use.

## Why Obsidian?

- _Locally_ - You keep all of your files locally on your computer. Note: If you want to use their mobile app you can sync them with iCloud for example.
- _Markdown_ - Super easy to use markdown syntax after you get used to it. One thing I like more about Obsidian than Notion is the Markdown writing.
- _Customizable_ - You can add your custom CSS, there are multiple plugins you can use. You could even build a plugin if you want.
- _IDE like_ - Like mentioned above, it is customizable, you can make a lot of keyboard shortcuts and more, so it feels a lot like I'm just using an editor like VS Code.
- _Good Looking_ - just a personal opinion, but you can change themes, add plugins, and more to make it look nice.

One thing that I do like also is the graph view, like you see in the photo above. It helps to show the connection between notes.

![Obsidian Logo](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/nj8r1ndl81he5eewvsc4.png)

I'll write another post explaining how I use Obsidian and what I would like to do with it.
I've just been using it since the beginning of this year, so instead of making it super customized right from the beginning, I decided to wait and see what I thought
would improve my usage.

Here is [part II](https://dev.to/einargudnig/building-my-second-brain-with-obsidian-pt-ii-365p)