A weekly newsletter where I help people apply values-based productivity principles and systems for personal growth, primarily using Obsidian. Subscribe if you want to make more of your notes and ideas.
π― The 2025 Obsidian Report Card
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If you prefer to read this newsletter in your browser, click here. π‘ The Big Idea: Where Obsidian Shines (and Where it Struggles) as of April 2025A few weeks ago, I read Jason Snell's Apple Report card for 2024. It's a post he does every year where he collects feedback from others in the Apple space and includes comments and average scores for areas such as the Mac, the iPhone, Services, etc. In addition to the collective scores and occasional comments, many contributors share their full comments and scores on their own platforms after the report card comes out. Which got me thinking... it'd be cool to do something similar for Obsidian. Unfortunately, it was a little late to start collecting responses from others in the Obsidian and PKM communities, but I thought it'd be fun to just share my thoughts on the state of Obsidian in 2025. Full disclosure: I actually ended up with almost 4,000 words for this one! That's way too long for a newsletter (π), so I'm just going to share a brief summary here. If you want to read the whole thing, check it out on the website here.
The full post has a lot more detail and a ton of links if you're interested. I'd also love to know your thoughts on this newsletter format! This is a little different than normal, so I'm curious which you prefer:
If you have a literal minute to share your thoughts, please hit reply and let me know! π Something Cool: PomoBar PluginOne of the productivity tactics I still use to this day when I find myself procrastinating on a task is to set a Pomodoro timer. It gets its unusual name from the Pomodoro Technique, which was invented by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It's very simple: just set a 25-minute timer when you find yourself procrastinating on something, work until the end of the session, and then take a 5-minute break. Many people use those tomato-shaped kitchen timers (pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato), but there have been lots of productivity-focused adaptations since (one of my personal favorites is the Time Timer). One of the reasons the Pomodoro Technique works so well is that it eliminates the friction of getting started by giving you an out in 25 minutes. Now you don't need a separate app or physical device for this, but I do find it helpful to have a visual indication of how much time is left. So the PomoBar plugin is perfect for me, because it adds a visual timer to the Obsidian status bar that is easily seen while I'm writing. I don't think I'll use this all the time, but since I'm writing in Obsidian frequently, I can definitely see this being useful. π Book Notes: Keep Going by Austin KleonSpeaking of procrastination, Keep Going by Austin Kleon is a great book if you could use a little help staying focused and creative when life gets a little crazy. This book has 10 short chapters that speak directly to potential causes of procrastination, and Austin shares specific tactics you can use to help overcome it. Itβs kind of like a creative pep talk for when you feel stuck or burned out. If you want to download my mind map book notes for Keep Going by Austin Kleon, click here. β Mike |
Practical PKM
A weekly newsletter where I help people apply values-based productivity principles and systems for personal growth, primarily using Obsidian. Subscribe if you want to make more of your notes and ideas.
Prefer to read (or listen to) this newsletter in your browser? Click here. π‘ The Big Idea: Some Great Gift Ideas for Tough-to-Shop-for Nerds. Every year, I get invited by Chuck Joiner to be a guest on one of his MacVoices Holiday Gift Guide episodes. He does several rounds each year, and each round has four guests who each make four picks. By the end, there is a long list of great tech gift ideas. But I always feel a little out of place since I always end up picking at least one analog item....
Prefer to read (or listen to) this newsletter in your browser? Click here. π‘ The Big Idea: Gratitude is Essential for Living a Life of Intention & Meaning Weβre coming off the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, which for many is a time of being grateful. Gathering with family and friends spotlights the important relationships in our lives and makes us thankful for what we have. For others, the holidays can be one of the most difficult times of the year. Maybe there are some particularly...
Prefer to read (or listen to) this newsletter in your browser? Click here. π‘ The Big Idea: Design Thinking is Crucial to PKM The Nathan Barry Show is one of the podcasts that has earned a spot in my regular rotation. Normally, the Kit founder does a great job interviewing creators about their businesses. But last week, he had a very different kind of episode where he interviewed Stanford Design professors Bill Burnett & Dave Evans about their "Design Your Life" framework. During the episode,...