Well, I did it! I just wrote my 1000th note. Ok, I've written many more notes in my lifetime. But I just logged my 1000th note in my knowledge management system... my second brain.
Time lapse animation showing the formation of my universe of thoughts and ideas in Obsidian.
A Second Brain
Wait, what?!? What is a second brain? Think for a minute about our physical brains. Our brains are incredible tools that we use to experience the world through our senses, synthesize the information that we receive, and use the information to create outputs in the form of what we say and what we do. But there is another layer of complexity to our brains that differentiate us from other creatures that respond to the environment merely by reflex. Our brains have the capacity for higher order functioning. We create thoughts. These thoughts are powered not just by sensory inputs but also by our own imagination. In our thoughts we act as creators. Throughout the course of our lives, we develop a web of ideas, thoughts, emotions, and memories that define who we are, and if used for creative expression can leave a legacy. Or brains are truly amazing.
But, despite the amazing ability that our brains have to process and create, they are not great at storing information with a high degree of fidelity. Have you ever had the experience of wanting to reference an amazing idea or quote from a book but having a hard time finding where in the book that idea was located, or even sometimes remembering the source? Memories degrade and we soon forget.
Our brains transfer short term memories stored in the hippocampus to long term memories stored out in the neural cortex. But memories are only retained long term they are repeatedly rehearsed and integrated into other existing memories. This is the concept of Hebbian learning and one of the reasons behind the learning strategy, spaced repetition.
So, in order to maximally utilize the information that we process, we need a way of storing ideas and thoughts outside our brains. We need a reference system that is more durable than our natural memory. It needs to be a system that not only archives data but also integrates the ideas together in an artificial neural network and stores them in such a way that they are easily to recall. This is our second brain. Enter Obsidian!
Obsidian
I was introduced to Obsidian by a friend last year. Since then, this simple piece of software has changed my life. Ok, that may be a little overly dramatic. But Obsidian creates an environment that caters to my love for knowledge and learning and provides a platform that I can use for creativity. So, what is it?
Obsidian is a free note making software program that is designed to get out of your way. It allows you to record your thoughts. But unlike other notation applications, Obsidian stores the notes as plain text files and relies on a simple markdown syntax for formatting. This lack of proprietary formatting offers a profound degree of future-proofing if your note archival system changes in the future.
But the cornerstone feature of Obsidian is the ability to easily link your notes. This simple feature creates profound implications for how you manage your recorded thoughts. Historically, other notation applications rely on a folder structure to organize notes. However, a “top-down” hierarchy imposes a degree of rigidity to the archive and does not account for notes that transcend multiple categories. In addition, folders do not allow you connect your notes into a network of thoughts. Links, on the other hand, offer the opportunity to create a "bottom-up" organizational structure that allows you to flow smoothly from thought-to-thought and link thoughts that may not live in a typical folder hierarchy.
Since starting with Obsidian, I have been able, in a more effectively way, capture those fleeting ideas, quotations I read, journal articles and other pieces of data that I want to remember and use for future academic or creative work.
So, at the risk of sounding like a zealous evangelist for this piece of technology, try it out for yourself at obsidian.md. And for a little help getting started, check out the great work of Nick Milo. He has a way of introducing the concept of linked based notes that will leave you feeling that your life is better for having undertaken the pursuit of linking your thinking!
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