How to Create an Obsidian Ideaverse: Step-by-Step Guide (Free Template)

Summary

This video introduces the concept of 'linking your thinking' using Obsidian's idea management system. It explores how linking notes together can create an interconnected 'idea-verse,' helping users organize thoughts and ideas more effectively. Through practical steps like creating notes, making links, and using metadata, the video demonstrates how this process enhances creativity, critical thinking, and memory. The speaker highlights how a well-connected note system transforms ideas into a living ecosystem, ultimately leading to better decision-making and self-knowledge. The video promises a deeper dive into note-making and overcoming mental blocks in future lessons.

Takeaways

• 🧠 Linking your thinking can help you overcome feeling overwhelmed and losing momentum in personal and professional efforts.
• 🗂️ Obsidian's idea verse is a folder of 250 notes with over 1,000 links between them, creating a living ecosystem of ideas.
• 🔗 Linking notes together creates a connected thinking environment, similar to a universe, called an idea verse.
• 💡 Making links between notes helps you think better, learn faster, and remember more, which improves creativity and critical thinking.
• 🚀 Using double brackets in Obsidian opens portals across the idea verse, allowing you to navigate between notes quickly and easily.
• 🎯 Changing note titles in Obsidian updates all related links automatically, which helps maintain a well-organized and dynamic knowledge system.
• 🗺️ Maps of content (MOCs) are used to navigate through large amounts of information and avoid feeling overwhelmed by too many notes.
• 🔍 Metadata in Obsidian, like relatedness and created dates, helps you organize and find your notes efficiently without overcomplicating the process.
• 🌱 Linking notes reinforces neuronal connections in your brain, enhancing your ability to make decisions and understand the world around you.
• 📈 The key to successful linking is note-making (creating quality content to link) and overcoming mental blocks by using maps of content.

Q & A

What is 'linking your thinking' and why is it important?

'Linking your thinking' is a method of connecting ideas through notes, which helps create an interconnected knowledge system called an 'idea verse.' This process helps improve critical thinking, creativity, and memory retention by forming a network of related thoughts.

What is an 'idea verse' in the context of Obsidian?

An 'idea verse' is a well-connected thinking environment made up of interlinked notes in Obsidian, a popular tool for linked notes. It functions like a living ecosystem where ideas are interconnected, allowing for easier navigation and understanding of concepts.

How does linking notes in Obsidian help improve your thinking?

Linking notes in Obsidian helps improve thinking by organizing ideas in a way that makes it easier to find connections between different concepts. It promotes critical and creative thinking, allowing for more unique insights and faster learning.

What happens when you change the title of a linked note in Obsidian?

When the title of a linked note is changed in Obsidian, all other notes linking to it automatically update to reflect the new title. This ensures that the connections between notes remain intact and up to date.

What is the 'mock Z .9 to mock one' reference in the script?

The 'mock Z .9 to mock one' reference is a metaphor for a breakthrough moment in 2020 when linking notes became highly efficient and widespread in use. It symbolizes a leap in thinking speed and power, similar to breaking the sound barrier.

What are Maps of Content (MOCs), and why are they important?

Maps of Content (MOCs) are an organizational tool used to create structure within a large network of notes. They help users avoid getting overwhelmed by too much information, providing a way to zoom out and see the bigger picture of their ideas.

What is the purpose of adding a link at the top of a note?

Adding a link at the top of a note helps with navigation and sense-making. It allows users to quickly access related notes and zoom out for a broader perspective when needed, ensuring that important connections are easily accessible.

How do linking notes and metadata improve the overall organization in Obsidian?

Linking notes and metadata, such as related topics and creation dates, help users organize their ideas more effectively. Metadata adds context to notes, making them easier to find and connect with other relevant notes when needed.

What does the acronym 'STIR' stand for, and how does it help with note-taking?

'STIR' stands for Space, Time, Importance, and Relatedness. It is a framework that helps users organize their notes based on when and how important they are, as well as how they relate to other notes. This system enhances recall and comprehension.

How can linking notes in Obsidian affect decision-making and personal growth?

Linking notes in Obsidian creates connections in both the digital and mental 'idea verse.' This process leads to more informed decision-making and personal growth by deepening one's understanding of interconnected ideas and improving critical thinking.

Outlines

00:00

🧩 Introduction to Linking Your Thinking

In this introduction, the speaker addresses the challenge of information overload and the loss of momentum in personal and professional efforts. They suggest that 'linking your thinking' is a solution to these issues. The concept revolves around creating an 'idea verse,' a well-connected environment for thoughts and ideas, particularly using the app Obsidian. The speaker compares the process to exploring a sandbox with childlike curiosity and excitement, and emphasizes the transformative power of linking notes together, which creates an interconnected, growing idea verse that functions like a living ecosystem.

05:01

🚀 Creating and Linking Notes

The speaker demonstrates the process of creating and linking notes within Obsidian. They guide the audience through creating a note titled 'Just Start' and linking it to another note, explaining how linking opens 'endless portals' for easy navigation. The speaker highlights the power of these links to create an interconnected web of thoughts, emphasizing that titles can be modified without breaking the links. They showcase how a simple act of linking strengthens idea organization and efficiency, turning a set of notes into a living network of information.

10:03

💡 The Power of Habit and Links

Here, the speaker expands on the idea of linking notes to create a dynamic thought process. By linking to a note titled 'Habits Map,' they illustrate how recurring ideas become habits and how links enable effortless connections between concepts. They emphasize that linking notes leads to better thinking, faster learning, and improved memory. The speaker reflects on the superpower of habitual linking, encouraging the audience to adopt this method for critical and creative thinking, as well as for fostering more unique ideas.

🔗 Navigating Notes with Maps of Content (MOCs)

In this section, the speaker introduces the concept of 'Maps of Content' (MOCs), a technique for organizing notes when overwhelmed by too much information. They explain the importance of adding links to the top of notes to aid navigation and sense-making. Using the 'Habits Map' note as an example, the speaker demonstrates how MOCs provide structure, allowing for zooming out and organizing scattered thoughts. The value of having a central map for navigating through interconnected micro-notes is emphasized as a key to managing information overload.

🧠 Enhancing Thought through Metadata and Linking

The speaker dives into the concept of metadata within notes and how it helps structure and manage information in Obsidian. They advocate for using basic metadata—relatedness and creation date—to enhance note organization. The speaker advises not to overuse metadata, focusing on the essential elements needed to find and contextualize notes. They introduce the mnemonic 'STIR' (Space, Time, Importance, and Relatedness) as a guide for structuring metadata effectively, and emphasize how linking metadata helps improve comprehension and retention.

🌐 The Interplay Between Digital and Mental Networks

This section explores the deeper impact of linking notes in the digital realm and how it mirrors the connections made in the brain. The speaker explains how the act of linking in the 'idea verse' enhances one's mental processes, subtly influencing future decisions and improving the quality of thoughts. They highlight the profound nature of this practice, describing it as both practical and priceless for personal growth and professional development. The speaker concludes by teasing the final lesson, which will cover note-making and overcoming mental blocks using Maps of Content.

Keywords

💡Linking your thinking

This concept refers to the practice of creating connections between different ideas, notes, or pieces of information to improve understanding and retention. In the video, linking your thinking is described as the 'missing piece' that helps you organize thoughts in a dynamic and interconnected way, making your ideas behave like a living ecosystem.

💡Idea verse

The term 'idea verse' refers to a network or universe of interconnected ideas that grow and evolve over time. In the video, the idea verse is compared to a well-connected thinking environment, where notes (or ideas) are linked together, creating a structured and accessible knowledge network. This is essential to the concept of linking thinking and personal knowledge management.

💡Obsidian

Obsidian is a popular note-taking software known for its ability to create linked notes in a non-linear way. The video mentions 'Idea Verse for Obsidian,' which is a starter kit to help users link their notes. Obsidian allows users to create a folder of notes that point to one another, building a personalized idea network.

💡Links

Links refer to the connections made between different notes in a knowledge management system like Obsidian. In the video, links are created by using double brackets (e.g., [[ ]] ), allowing users to jump between related notes. These links are key to forming an interconnected web of ideas, which is the basis of the idea verse.

💡Maps of content (MOC)

Maps of content, or MOCs, are higher-level notes that serve as a table of contents or an overview for a specific topic. In the video, MOCs are presented as a solution to the overwhelming nature of having too many isolated notes, helping users see the big picture by organizing linked ideas into a structured map.

💡Atomic notes

Atomic notes refer to small, self-contained units of information that represent a single idea. This concept, rooted in the Zettelkasten method, emphasizes breaking down information into manageable chunks. However, the video suggests that too many atomic notes can lead to information overload, which is why linking and organizing notes is essential.

💡Zettelkasten

Zettelkasten is a note-taking methodology that focuses on creating atomic notes and linking them together to form a personal knowledge system. In the video, Zettelkasten is mentioned in relation to pushback from its community regarding the idea of adding links at the top of notes, illustrating a tension between strict adherence to this method and a more flexible, link-driven approach.

💡Habit

A habit is a behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. In the context of the video, the creation of habits is linked to the idea of building a well-connected idea verse. By forming habits, users can consistently engage with their notes, strengthening the links between ideas and improving their knowledge over time.

💡Sense-making

Sense-making refers to the process of structuring, understanding, and interpreting information to give it meaning. In the video, sense-making is described as a core benefit of linking notes together, as it helps users see connections between ideas, thus making complex topics more comprehensible.

💡Metadata

Metadata is data that provides information about other data. In the video, metadata is discussed in terms of how it can help users organize and retrieve their notes. Basic metadata includes 'related' (connections between notes) and 'created' (the date a note was made), which improves note accessibility and context.

Highlights

Linking your thinking can be the missing piece to overcome being overwhelmed by information and maintaining momentum.

Idea verse for Obsidian allows for a well-connected thinking environment, enabling ideas to grow over time.

Linking notes in Obsidian transforms them into a dynamic ecosystem, where 250 notes can link over 1,000 times.

Using double brackets to create links allows easy navigation between notes, encouraging a space pilot mindset within the idea verse.

Changing a note’s title automatically updates all linked references, demonstrating how ideas remain fluid and adaptable.

Linked notes encourage sense-making and critical thinking by creating stronger titles and forming deeper connections.

By linking notes, individuals can think more critically, creatively, and remember more effectively.

Creating habits through note-linking promotes systematic thinking and the generation of unique ideas.

Maps of content (MOCs) help overcome information overwhelm, providing a structure to visualize connections between notes.

Adding links at the top of a note helps with navigation and sense-making, while reducing the risk of getting lost in too many atomic notes.

Metadata like 'related' and 'created' help categorize and organize notes for future reference.

The practice of linking notes facilitates the interplay between digital connections and mental associations in the brain.

Linking your thinking enhances both professional and personal growth by improving self-knowledge and decision-making.

Maps of content structure notes into broader themes, linking micro-notes to macro-concepts for better understanding.

The process of linking notes and organizing content is both practical and transformative, improving comprehension and memory over time.

Transcripts

if you are tired of getting overwhelmed

with information or losing momentum on

your personal and professional efforts

then linking your thinking might be your

missing piece to the puzzle today we

will cover how and why you should link

your thinking you will learn how to do

it and why it works you will hopefully

see and feel how your own idea verse can

grow over time if a healthy idea verse

is a well-connected thinking environment

guess what linking notes together will

help you create an idea verse to get

there we are going to re-enter idea

verse for obsidian which is the world's

most downloaded starter kit for Linked

notes now this time as we step into the

idea verse we're going to act like a

child stepping into a Sandbox we're

going to be curious we're going to be

open to wonder and we are going to be

ready to play that's how you will truly

unlock the power of linking your

thinking you ready okay let's go all

right we are now inside the idea verse

at its simplest level idea verse for

obsidian is just a folder with 250 files

but those 250 files let's just call them

notes they point to each other over

1,000 times let's call each one of those

points a link so what we have here are

250 notes that are linked 1,000 times

and once you get to that many links your

ideas start to behave like a living

breathing ecosystem like a forest a

planet or even a universe that's why

it's called an idea verse now let's do

the thing what's the thing making links

so let's jump into any old note or let's

create a note actually so I'm going to

just go here hit the plus icon and then

create a new file now let's uh for now

just call it just start so this is the

title name I'm going to hit tab now I

can start typing here's what I'd like

you to do hit left bracket twice bracket

bracket what that does is basically open

up end endless portals across the idea

verse that you can hyper jump to that's

right pretend you're a space pilot and

the IDE verse is yours to navigate the

only limits are your imagination but if

you want another limit just start typing

anything let's type the word

start what do we notice there's this

note called start here so let's go ahead

and click that and we have just created

a link now I'm going to hold down

command or control on Windows as I click

on this link it opens into a new tab

that way and I want you to notice that

below the note there are linked mentions

and what is pointing to this note aha

it's just start the note that we just

created okay now let's jump back to just

start I kind of want a stronger Title by

the way did you know you're allowed to

change what you title your notes It's

actually an amazing form of sense making

and in tool tools like obsidian every

connected note will update the link let

me show you what I mean so here we have

just start now I'll go back to the note

called start here and you see this

linked mention now when I go to just

start let's give it a stronger title how

about something like a journey of a

th000 miles

starts with a single step cool and now I

know that's by uh laa so I'm just going

to put that there for now and then we'll

have

that that I can come to later let's jump

back into the note start here and see

what

happens okay cool so now in the linked

mentions notice it automatically updates

so when you have links that are

connected all over the place if you

change a note title those changes

percolate and you don't even have to do

anything this is part of the moment in

2020 when link thinking broke the sound

barrier we went from mock Z .9 to mock

one and boom this is an amazing

superpower I can't wait for you to

experience it okay let's go back to a

journey of a th000 miles starts with a

single step this is a great note and

maybe the notion of all those steps make

me think of a connection when something

is repeated a bunch what does it become

that's right a habit okay so let's start

typing so I'm going to hit what am I

going to hit left bracket left bracket

or just bracket bracket and I'm going to

limit our search This Time by typing

habit and immediately you can see all

these hyper targeted results the one

that I'd like to actually link to is

habits map isn't that great now we have

a link an always available portal to

another area in the idea verse or in

Plaine we have a file in that file we

created a link to another file that's

cool by itself yay we can easily link

notes but it's what that does that make

people fall in in love with linking

basically you think better learn faster

and remember more any of those benefits

would be worth it but all three this is

really unfair by linking your thinking

you are habitualized yourself to think

more critically more creatively and

connectively not to mention you will

generate more unique thoughts than you

ever have before how might these

superpowers be useful to you my goodness

let me count the ways now one neat thing

about link notes is a practice that I

advocated for in the spring of 2020

where you add a link to the top of a

note if you can believe it today this

super Common Sense practice was

initially met with like a lot of push

back from a very dogmatic part of this

zetel Casten Community zedel Caston is

German for slip box and it essentially

is all about Atomic notes the problem

with all these tiny notes is that you

get lost in a forest of them this is why

in the next lesson we're going to cover

maps of content which is the solution to

the the mental squeeze point when you

get overwhelmed by too much information

all we need to do is make a map we throw

links on that map and life feels pretty

great now we can solve that problem now

we can make those insights and now we

can return to something when we're ready

for it but let's go back to the value of

having a link at the top of the note not

only does it help you navigate but it

helps you make sense of things let's do

an example I'm now going to jump into

that habits map note and you'll notice

at the top there's a related note called

the three phases of maps of content or

moc's but we're not going to go there

right now instead I'm just going to look

around at this awesome map that I

developed it might not mean a lot to you

but it means everything to me because I

used this note to make sense of a topic

this topic happened to be about habits a

topic like habits connects to all sorts

of other topics that are interrelated in

a really interesting way for now let's

just jump into defining a habit we can

look through all this and this is great

isn't it now we might just dive into it

and start exploring so if I'm in this

note for whatever reason I might decide

to then jump into let's say feedback

loop okay so now I'm in feedback loop

life's going well and then I say well it

is related how habits okay habits carry

a ton of hidden inertia I'm having a

great time but let's say for whatever

reason my mind feels like I could use a

bit more structure like I hopped from

note to note to note great I maybe like

tweaked a little bit of notes here and

there I made some insights but I'm

feeling like a little overwhelmed and I

want some structure basically I want to

be able to zoom out so here's what we

can do with that top link that I was

talking about at the top of this note

you'll see it goes up to the habits map

so all these kind of micro notes are

likely going to be connected to a macro

note so I go back to the habits map now

without even moving my cursor notice

that it's already hovering over over

another link this time it's not

necessarily up but it's related so now I

can just go ahead and click on the three

phases of M's and again if I hit without

even moving my mouse if I click again

it'll go to the moc's overview what if I

click it again idea verse map what if I

click it again well then it's going to

go to home whoa what just happened we're

flying across the IDE verse as fast as

we can click and many but not all roads

will lead you home home this is a

knowledge Network and each year imagine

having this your idea verse becomes more

valuable to you it's as much a secret

weapon in self- knowledge as it is in

career advancement and I know because

I've used it for both several times but

I won't bore you with those details

right now instead let's hop back a

little bit because I just want to talk

about these metadata values so here if

we look at moc's overview which we'll

overview tomorrow let me let me go ahead

and add a missing related link that I

think would make a lot of sense here how

about the three oh there it is the three

phases of maps of content so let's look

at this what is happening because I

can't go over all this stuff at the top

of these notes but I should at least

give you some context so you know what's

happening this stuff is usually called

metadata it's data about the note that

you're looking at now in obsidian this

metadata can be easily managed in this

section called properties and there are

endless bits of data that you might want

to track let's imagine that you're into

movies maybe you want to create your own

IMDb database and you want to have some

category called year and then you can

say the year that that movie came out

was

1990 and then after a while you can have

all those movies grouped together in a

really interesting way oh wait have we

shown this already so quickly I can open

up sources map and we can see what we

did with books how they're categorized

by year what what does that look like

let's click into the count ofon Christo

whoa look at that year 1984 and what's

above it up and related that's what we

were just talking about so let's go back

to moc's overview and just finish off

this conversation on metadata here's a

quick word of caution before I share my

basic strategy don't overdo it don't

feel obligated to add a bunch of stuff

here don't spend more time in properties

than you do in the content itself

so here's my simple recommendation for

almost every note you want something

that is bound by relatedness and

something that is bound by time that is

if you want to greatly improve the odds

of you being able to find this note when

you want to find it and if you want to

find it in context to all the other

important notes and if you want to

improve your comprehension in the

process okay here's my pneumonic for

metadata related and created have one of

each so in this case we have two

relationships one that points up and

then one that is just generally related

and then we have a created date now if

it's a movie I might put year instead

those are going to be some nuances that

we'll cover elsewhere we might cover

that in the workshop those sort of

places but essentially you want related

and created so if we look at this note

we can see we have a related and created

and if I feel like I don't actually need

that area go ahead and delete it you can

do that at the end of the day if you

want to remember this for the reasons we

just talked about related and created

that's the only metadata you need

everything else is gravy on top when you

really get into your specific use cases

and then that's cool too now for a

deeper dive as to why this works just

remember stir stir stir stands for space

time importance and relatedness and you

can go ahead and explore it further by

opening a note called you stir to

remember more and you can read about it

all here it's pretty cool but that's

enough metadata for now can you start to

see why so many people get excited about

linking their thinking I navigated

around my notes effortlessly if I wanted

to write an article in habits I was

already off to a good start and all my

related material was already a click

away but even if I never write a single

article to the outside world my work

here has changed my inner world as it

helps me make better sense of all the

world around me and you can have all

this power for yourself what's cool is

that when I leave this idea verse behind

I take this idea verse with me how

profound is that the links that I make

in the digital idea verse directly

affect the neuronal links in my inner

idea verse in my mind and this

fascinating interplay between the

technological and the biological

connections has a really neat result it

subtly flavors every future decision

every future choice and improves the the

chances that it will be better richer

and a more fulfilling outcome you simply

must start linking your thinking it's

both practical and Priceless now in the

final lesson for this introduction to

the idea verse you will learn two major

parts of linking your thinking the first

is how to have quality stuff to link to

in the first place that's where we cover

note making instead of note taking and

the second is how to overcome these

mental squeeze points that we have so we

can supercharge our thinking that's

where we use use maps of content so when

you're ready click here to jump to the

next session and we'll see you in the

next one