https://samyhaff.github.io/blog/atom.xml

Obsidian: a flexible note-taking tool

2024-07-21

Here I will write about my journey using Obsidian to organize my thoughts and notes.

Why Obsidian?

I used to write my notes using Apple Notes, which allowed to sync them across my devices and was easy to use, with the features I needed. However, I wanted to have more control over my notes, to be able to load them in any editor and automate some tasks. This is why I decided to switch to Obsidian, as it stood out to me as the best tool choice for my needs, for the following reasons:

  • Notes are nothing more than markdown files
  • The notes are stored locally and can be synced with a cloud service of choice
  • It is free
  • It has a large community and many plugins available
  • It has available on all major platforms
  • It is highly configurable and can be customized to fit my needs
  • It has a powerful search and linking system that allows for the creation of a personal knowledge base

So far, my only complaint is that the apps are not open source, but I am satisfied with the fact that my notes are fully under my control.

My Gym Log setup

This particular project is the reason I wanted to move away from Apple Notes. I am used to writing down the weights I lift for each exercise in order to track my progress and select the right weights. I wanted to be able to quickly log my weights during my workout and have them automatically update a note to keep track of my progress and workout schedule.

This setup relies on two community plugins:

  • The dataview plugin allows for a live indexing and querying of notes
  • The QuickAdd which allows for the quick creation of notes from templates.

So, I created a Upper body and a Lower body templates, along with the two corresponding QuickAdd options, which I use to create a new unique note for each workout, with the title being the date of the workout. For example, this is what the Upper body template looks like:

#upper
dumbbells-bench::
lat-pulldown::
shoulder-raises::
lat-raises::
biceps-curl::
triceps-pushdown::
row::
hammer-curl::

I also have a gym note where I keep track of the weights I lift for each exercise. I use the following query to display the last four upper body workout weights in a table:

TABLE
dumbbells-bench AS Bench, lat-pulldown AS "Lat pulldown", shoulder-raises AS "Shoulder raises", lat-raises AS "Lat raises", biceps-curl AS "Biceps curl", hammer-curl AS "Hammer curl", triceps-pushdown AS "Triceps pushdown", row as "Row", pec-fly as "Pec Fly"
FROM #upper and "gym"
SORT file.ctime DESC
LIMIT 5

And this one to display a calendar:

CALENDAR file.ctime
FROM #upper AND "gym"

I plan on extending this to include a graph of my progress, by either finding a plugin that can do this or writing my own script to generate the graph from the markdown files.

My piano practice setup

I am also using Obsidian to keep track of my piano practice and repertoire. I have a Piano pieces note where I write down the pieces I learned and the ones i want to learn, as tasks. Using the Tasks plugin I can assign completion dates to each piece, corresponding to the last time I played them. Then, using the dataview plugin, I can display the pieces ordered by the last time I played them, which allows me to quickly see which ones I should play again to refresh my memory.

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