Think clearly

Send a thought

Choose where to save (can do later)

Everything can be synchronized with the chatbot

Dump things in the chatbot

Use this flow for notes, tasks and journaling

#How to think deeply

Connect ideas. Let them compound. Think through.

I used app.files.md to improve my thinking in brain and software development area.

How I did that:

• I read articles and books
• I took notes in the chat, so that my reading flow wasn't interrupted
• One idea or insight per note
• Each note should be understandable without context
• I moved notes to either brain or dev folders (can be done after reading)

The main thing at this point is not to distract yourself from the reading process. That's why I used the chat.

Occasionally, I did the following thought work:

• I spent time travelling through the notes and thinking them through
• I made connections between the relevant notes (type [)
• Notes should be connected, just like neurons in our brain
• I practiced my new knowledge, I applied it out in the world
• At one point, some ideas in brain and dev folders appeared very related
• This connection between two different domains produced an insight
• I wrote an article based on that insight: Cognitive Load in Software Development

All this activity helped me to:

• Think deeply (which is very important in the AI-age)
• Think systematically and see the bigger picture
• Write insightful texts

To achieve all that, you'll have to use your brain, not advanced templates or AI workflows.

• Start with no structure at all, 0 folders
• One idea per note
• Every note should be understood without context
• Apply new knowledge immediately, don't save it for future self
• Link related notes
• Revisit your notes and think through

My friends and I have been using this simple setup for five years, and it works well.

#Second Brain?

I'll quote I Deleted My Second Brain:

Obsidian is a brilliant piece of software. I love it, dearly. But like anything, without restraint, it can also be a trap. Markdown files in nested folders. Plugins that track your productivity. Graph views that suggest omniscience. There’s an illusion of mastery in watching your notes web into constellations. But constellations are projections. They tell stories. They do not guarantee understanding.

When I first started using PKM tools, I believed I was solving a problem of forgetting. Later, I believed I was solving a problem of integration.

Eventually, I realized I had created a new problem: deferral. The more my system grew, the more I deferred the work of thought to some future self who would sort, tag, distill, and extract the gold.

That self never arrived.

The Second Brain is thrilling.
Advanced guru templates, plugins and AI workflows...
One wants to scrape the wisdom of the whole internet.
There's some beauty in this neat system. Every new note brings dopamine.

Second Brain is getting better.
But the first brain is not improving.
And that's an issue.
In the AI age, your first brain is as valuable as ever.

Use your brain to think through the notes.
The tool is not important, your thinking is.

Before adding a new note, try to answer these questions:

• How this new knowledge can sharpen my judgment or expand my taxonomy?
• How can I see the world differently, given this new knowledge?
• How can I act differently?

#Notes can prevent experience

• Reading and taking notes can easily fool us into believing that we understand a text
• We think we understand, but in reality we just know
• At some point our "knowing" is so good, that we start feeling that we actually do it (or at least tried)

The worst thing is that we don’t let new experiences emerge because we already have knowledge. It's a knowledge barrier. Life gives us opportunities to live through new experiences, but we refuse, because "we already know".

#Self-help through reading and taking notes?

Harm caused at the emotional level must be healed at the emotional level.

Not through intellectual work and taking notes.
Reading without action is entertainment. A form of procrastination.
No amount of self-help books can heal emotional wounds.
What can help is psychotherapy, rescripting and chair work. Meditation.
Healing happens by feeling.

#When to take notes

If your goal is to:

• Develop a deeper, more structured understanding of something
• Do research
• Write an article or a book

Then taking notes is perfectly fine.

#Files structure

You don't have to think about the structure, it is predefined.
Although, you're free to use whatever structure you want.

• Chat: Chat.md
• Notes: brain/Note.md, <category>/*.md
• Projects: Project.md, *.md
• Checklists: Read.md, Watch.md, Shop.md, MyChecklist_.md
• Journal: journal/2024.08 August.md
• Tasks: Later.md
• Habits: habits/Ate consciously.md, habits/*.md
• Images: media/* (png, jpg, webp, gif)
• Archive: archive/*.md
• Config: config.json