Simplify your system, download my template - A personal knowledge system
The knowledge collector’s problem
You save articles to “Favourites.” You add videos to “Watch later.” You take notes in Notion, Obsidian, Google Docs.
A month later you open these notes — and you don’t understand why you created them.
Six months later you have 200+ notes that you’ve never re-read.
Psychologists call this “the collector’s fallacy” — when we accumulate information but don’t use it. It creates an illusion of knowledge, but in reality leads to stress and a superficial understanding.
I ran into this at university. I’d write down lectures word for word. I’d highlight the important definitions with a marker. I’d re-read them before the exam.
The result? After some time, after the exam, I’d forget it.
I didn’t understand why. I was taking notes. I was studying.
The problem wasn’t in the effort. The problem was in how I worked with the information.
How memory actually works
In 1885 the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted an experiment. He memorised meaningless syllables (like “BOK”, “LAR”) and checked how much he remembered after different intervals of time.
The result:
after 20 minutes we forget 40% of new information. After a day — 70%. After a week — 90%.
This is called “the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve.”
But there’s a nuance. Ebbinghaus tested isolated information — syllables without meaning, without connections.
⭐When information has context and connections — it’s remembered dozens of times better.
What “connections” are in the context of notes
A connection is a bridge between the new and the familiar.
When you read about “procrastination” — your brain doesn’t save the textbook definition.
It recalls:
- That time you put off an important project
- The feeling of guilt after a deadline
- The article about dopamine you read a month ago
- The habit of checking your phone instead of working
All these memories are connections. They turn an abstract concept into part of your experience.
Without connections, information exists in a vacuum.
With connections — it becomes part of a network of knowledge.
Obsidian as a tool for materialising connections
The problem with our brain
— connections are invisible.
You can’t open your head and look at how the idea “procrastination” is connected with “dopamine” and “the fear of failure.”
But you can materialise these connections in a digital space.
That’s exactly why I chose Obsidian.
Why Obsidian, and not Notion/Evernote/Roam?
1. Local files Your notes are stored on your computer in Markdown format. Not on a company’s server. If Obsidian shuts down — your notes will remain.
2. Connections through double brackets
You write [[note title]] — and a connection is created. Simple. Fast. Intuitive.
3. A connection graph Obsidian visualises all the connections between notes. You see the network of knowledge with your own eyes.
4. Free and extensible The basic version is free. Plugins let you customise it for yourself.
The alternatives and their limitations:
- Notion — beautiful, but slow. The connections between pages are inconvenient. The data is on a server.
- Roam Research — expensive ($15/month). The data is on a server. Complicated for beginners.
- Evernote — more for storage than for thinking. There’s no connection graph.
- Logseq — powerful, but excessively complex. The learning curve is too steep.
Obsidian is the golden mean: simple to start, powerful for advanced users.
What you need to understand BEFORE you start
Many open Obsidian and think: “Now I’ll create the perfect system!”
They install 20 plugins. They copy other people’s templates. They configure colours and fonts.
A week later they abandon it.
Because the system became an end in itself.
Here’s what’s important to understand:
Obsidian is just a notebook.
It doesn’t make you smarter. It doesn’t create connections for you. It just helps visualise what’s happening in your head.
The real work happens in your brain.
When you:
- Write a note in your own words (don’t copy)
- Ask the question: “Where will I apply this?”
- Connect a new idea with an old one
- Review your notes and update them
Simplify your system, download my template - A personal knowledge system
Three levels of creating connections
Over two years of working with Obsidian I developed a system of three levels. From basic to advanced.
Level 1: Structure — the foundation for connections
The problem: It’s impossible to create connections in chaos.
The solution: The PARA folder structure (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive).
What it gives: You understand the context of each note. It’s not just “a note about productivity” — it’s “a resource that I’ll apply in project X.”
More → Level 1 — The PARA structure
Level 2: MOC notes — centres of attraction
The problem: After a few months you have hundreds of notes. How do you see the big picture?
The solution: MOC (Map of Content) — summarising notes that gather all the key ideas on a topic.
What it gives: You create centres of attraction. Instead of 50 scattered notes — one MOC “Productivity” with all the principles and connections.
More → Level 2 — MOC notes
Level 3: Obsidian’s tools — speeding up the process
The problem: Searching for connections by hand takes a long time. You forget about old notes.
The solution: The connection graph, random notes, Canvas.
What it gives: You diagnose the system (find orphan notes), fight forgetting (random notes), visualise the hierarchy (Canvas).
The main principle: connections are created by the brain, not the tool
You can have a perfect structure, a beautiful graph, 100 plugins.
But if you don’t think about connections — they won’t appear on their own.
The best connections aren’t created by Obsidian. They’re created by your brain.
So:
- Write notes in your own words. Don’t copy text from articles.
- Ask the question: “Where will I apply this?” The connection of theory with practice is the strongest.
- Regularly review old notes. New connections appear over time.
- Do refactoring. Combine, split, rewrite.
Keep going Level 1 — The PARA structure