Productivity

Within the note that contains them, each blocking task is assigned the #blocking tag, and each dependent task is distinguished in the following three ways: They are listed beneath the task that they depend upon; they are indented one level from the task that they depend upon; and until their dependency is satisfied, they take the form of a list item (not a task.) Here's a contrived-but-illustrative example: ### Project with several tasks, some of which are dependent on others - [ ] This is a #blocking task - This will remain a list item until the above task is completed; it is, in turn, #blocking the following task - And _this_ list item won't become a task until the one immediately above is completed - [ ] This task is independent of all others (it is indented for some other reason) - This item also won't be converted to a task until the first level task directly under the project header is Done - [ ] This task is independent of all others At least once a day I review my "Update dependencies" note, which contains the following query: ```tasks done description includes #blocking ``` I use the backlinks in the query results to open the notes that contain completed tasks with the #blocking tag. In each, I delete the #blocking tag from now-completed items, and convert now-unblocked list items into tasks (by placing the cursor inside them and pressing Ctrl-Enter once) Although this approach does not support tasks with multiple, independent dependencies for a single task, I have found that it works well enough for my purposes, and am sharing it in the hope that it will be useful to others.

So,in my Household area of focus, I have a goal to make my house someplace where my entire family wants to come for holidays and spend time together and someplace where I can relax from a very stressful professional life. To achieve that, I have several high level objectives. The house is very large and older, so I have one around getting everything in full working order. I have another around automating the house so it is less hassle, etc. Inside the get everything in full working order, I have a more concrete entry to get all the water features on the property working. Inside each is a lot of someday maybe projects. When I feel engaged around I topic, I have a much shorter list of look at. So if I were doing my weekly review and the fountain in my courtyard was on my mind (get all the water features working), I might look at the list and say, “you know…I do want to install an auto fill this week…or…maybe I should fix that slow leak that it has….”

If you have a Zettelkasten like notes system, then I would recommend organizing your Someday Maybe as notes by areas of focus and horizon (in gtd speak). I keep my someday maybe mostly out of my task management system (OmniFocus). In my notes (Obsidian), I have a note for each of my GTD areas of focus. In that note, I have something akin to the Horizon 3 and Horizon 4 equivalent of organization. In GTD, Horizons 3/4/5 transcends areas of focus, but for me, I find having a couple layers above that is specific to the area of focus very helpful. I give that caveat so I don’t get a lot of comments on “that isn’t GTD”.

Different someday maybe lists that you check at different intervals. Some stuff I look at once a month other stuff I only look at once a year. Just put it somewhere where you’ll be confident you’ll see it as often as you need to.

SomedayTasks and projects on my Someday list are ones that I want to do. I will do. I just won’t do them right now. These are inactive items that I am committed to doing but I don’t know when. Examples of Someday tasks/projects are Redecorate the Kitchen, Purchase a New Car, and Vacation Along the Irish Coast by Bicycle.MaybeTasks and projects on my Maybe list are ones that I am not certain if I really want to do at all. I definitely will not do them anytime soon. These are items that I might eventually choose to do but I am not committed to them. Examples of Maybe tasks/projects are Write a Novel, Host a House Concert, and Learn to Speak Mongolian.SoonTasks and projects on my Soon list are ones that I want to do. I will do. I will not do them right now but they will become active in the near future. These are items that are important and will have high impact toward achieving my goals. They have a greater sense of immediacy than items on the Someday list. Examples of Soon tasks/projects are Discuss Estate Planning with my Attorney, Launch New Website, and Migrate Digital Photo Archive to Web Archiving Solution.

happens returns any task for a matching start date, scheduled date, or due date. For example, happens before tomorrow will return all tasks that are starting, scheduled, or due earlier than tomorrow. If a task starts today and is due in a week from today, happens before tomorrow will match, because the tasks starts before tomorrow. Only one of the dates needs to match.

Weekly Template Tags Tag Description title Works the same as the daily note {{title}}. It will insert the title of the note date, time Works the same as the daily note {{date}} and {{time}}. It will insert the date and time of the first day of the week. Useful for creating a heading (e.g. # {{date:gggg [Week] ww}}). sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, saturday, sunday Because weekly tags refer to main days, you can refer to individual days like this {{sunday:YYYY-MM-DD}} to automatically insert the date for that particular day. Note, you must specify the date format!

I work with seven kinds of notes, each based on its own template: Daily notes Source notes Reading notes Thinking notes Highlights notes Author Notes Idea Notes.

Next, I create a source note in Obsidian. A source note is a note that represents the book I am reading.

Capturing a passage in its own separate note and then link to that note from the source note (MOC) using a transcluded link so that the full note will show up in preview mode. I use this method when I think the highlighted passage and my related notes on it might ultimately be linked to other things than the source note itself.

Sometimes, I just want to capture a thought that isn’t really a separate note itself. In this case, I’ll just include it as a bullet in the source note.

Now, add a unique identifier to this block, by using the ^ symbol. Add a unique identifier to a blockNow, you can add a link to this part by typing [[^. This will automatically prompt you about the available blocks. Select one and press enter.

Tip for organizing attachment FilesFor those, who are attaching many files to the Obsidian notes, it is advised to create a separate folder for those attachments under each book.Now, open the Settings > Files and Links. Here, first, you need to make sure the link path is relative to the file location. Then, set the default location for new attachments to "Subfolder under current folder". Now, specify the “Attachments” in the next field, that is "Subfolder name".

How to Take Fleeting Notes in Obsidian A fleeting note is a note you capture on the fly. It can be an idea, a thought, or a valuable quote. You want to capture ideas quickly as soon as they arise so that you make sure to not lose them.

Obsidian is not very good at capturing ideas quickly. (There are some workaround but they’re far beyond this beginner guide. Remember, I want to keep things simple so that you can have a functioning workflow by the end of this guide.) This is why, I would encourage you to use a dedicated note-taking capturing tool.

However, to create a great permanent note, the goal is to rewrite everything in your own words (also called the Feynman technique.)

It’s time to create permanent notes. The word permanent is here for a reason. Think of those notes as permanent residents of your Zettelkasten. Technically speaking, Creating a permanent note is nothing else than described earlier in this guide when it came to “creating your first note.” You simply create a new note in Obsidian with the content of your fleeting note. However, to create a great permanent note, the goal is to rewrite everything in your own words (also called the Feynman technique.)

It’s time to create permanent notes. The word permanent is here for a reason. Think of those notes as permanent residents of your Zettelkasten. Technically speaking, Creating a permanent note is nothing else than described earlier in this guide when it came to “creating your first note.” You simply create a new note in Obsidian with the content of your fleeting note.

The workflow I follow is quite simple: 1- Reading and highlighting (you don’t need a tutorial for that) 2- Importing your highlights into Obsidian. 3- Distilling the information (rewriting/linking)