The Power of Simplicity

Lately I've really been rethinking my productivity system. The point of a good productivity system is to just get stuff done. That's the entire definition of productivity. And lately, my productivity system has not been helping me get things done. So what went wrong? From my recent experiments, complexity. I was so focused on building the perfect productivity system, with the Zettelkasten method in my Obsidian Vault, the Johnny Decimal System for file organization, and a really complicated Get Things Done approach to task management. The thing about this system, though, is that I spent more time Googling around and trying to do things the right way instead of actually using the system to get things done. The thing I've learned is that there is no "right" way to be productive. My all-time favorite software, Obsidian, is a prime example of this. Obsidian is really overwhelming at first because it almost seems too complicated with all its plugins and settings. In reality, though, Obsidian is almost too simple. At it's core, it's just a markdown editor. Once I started thinking about it that way, I got so much more productive. Instead of assigning each note its own Zettelkasten ID and worrying about the process of making a reference note, then a fleeting note, then a permanent note about an idea, I could just dump everything into the root folder of my vault and use other folders purely for organizational purposes.

I suddenly started getting so much more done and capturing so many more ideas than before. Now that I didn't have to deal with the overhead of such complex systems, my brain was free to do its job. I've since switched to Obsidian for task management as well, and putting my tasks into each day's daily note. So much easier than my TickTick setup, where I felt like I had sinned every time I didn't tag a task.

I really encourage everyone to just go as simple as possible and add things as you go. Don't search up "OBSDIAN WORKFLOW PRODUCHTIVITY" on YouTube and follow the instructions to a tee. Those videos are all way too complicated for the average joe who just wants to get work done.