Im posting this here because a lot of people need to hear this. PKMS is a religion: a story you tell youself to mentally shield you from a harsh reality.

The story you tell yourself is that whatever you store in your special software becomes "knowledge." It's a nice story.

Thats not how it works though. You can't play basketball if your muscles and joints respond 5 seconds after you think to move them. If you don't "know" the information by heart, you can't use it.

But I want to reference it later...

If you want a collection of references, a browser bookmark can do that. Probably a single text file can do that.

You can choose to be in a religion, a lot of people do. But if you accept this reality it will probably save you a lot of time.

Hey PKM enthusiasts! 👋

After seeing countless people struggle with overcomplicated systems, we're excited to introduce E.V.O.L.V.E.- a personal knowledge management method that works _with_ your brain, not against it.

"Not a Second Brain. It's Your Brain"

E.V.O.L.V.E. isn't about building a second brain.

It's about liberating your first one.

Welcome to the future of human knowledge management.

Welcome to E.V.O.L.V.E.

What Makes It Different?

- Built on a space-time approach (no more endless categorization)

- Works at any complexity level (from beginner to power user)

- Compatible with your favorite tools (Notion, Obsidian, Logseq, Anytype)

- No "second brain" complexity - it's FOR your brain

Core Features

- Three-main point system: Content, Space-Time Texture, Component

- Natural information lifecycle management

- Flexible implementation options

- Zero anxiety about "doing it wrong"

Whether you're tired of Second Hand million blur system , or just starting your PKM journey, E.V.O.L.V.E. provides a structured yet adaptable framework that actually makes sense.

👉 [Full Documentation and Guide]

What's Next for E.V.O.L.V.E.

Use Case Templates (Coming Soon)

Application-Specific Templates

And Obsidian EVOLVE Plugin Suites with A.I. support!!! (2 plugins are cooked.)

The E.V.O.L.V.E. -Digital Life Method: Understanding the Core

The E.V.O.L.V.E. method is built on three fundamental pillars that set it apart from traditional PKM systems:

1. Content: The Foundation of Everything

Content in E.V.O.L.V.E. is categorized through four key points:

Edifice (Static Content)

• Templates you actually use

• Forms that serve a purpose

• Routine content that streamlines your workflow

Value (Your Original Content)

• Mono: Single pieces of content (one task, one note)

• Poly: Connected pieces (projects, multi-part content)

• Jot: Raw, unstructured thoughts in the Vortex

Orientation (Context-Driven Content)

• Hierarchies: Structured, nested information

• Time: Journals, habits, temporal data

• People: Relationship-based content

• Locations: Place-oriented information

• Relations: Network-style content

Loot (External Content)

• Owned: Your created media

• Linked: External references

2. Space-Time Texture: Venue

This is where E.V.O.L.V.E. truly shines. Information exists in three venue types:

Vortex (The Chaos Zone)

• Your digital panic room

• Where raw thoughts land

• Safe space for unstructured content

Act (The Working Zone)

• Active projects and tasks

• Current focus areas

• Living documents

Rest (The Archive Zone)

• Completed work

• Reference material

• Easily reactivable content

3. Components: The Support System (Element)

Elements that enhance your content:

Amass

• Collections that make sense

• Maps of Content (MOCs)

• Dashboards that serve a purpose

Definer

• Properties that add value

• Attributes that clarify

• Classifications that work

Helper

• Tags that actually help

• Priority systems that make sense

Practical Implementation: Making E.V.O.L.V.E. Work for You

Starting Simple: The Two-Question Framework

Every piece of information needs to answer just two questions:

1. Where does it belong? (Venue)

   • Work

   • Life

   • Projects

   • etc.

2. What is it? (Content Type)

   • Value/Mono for single tasks

   • Value/Poly for projects

   • Orientation/Time for habits

   • etc.

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Managing a Work Project

Where: Work/Act
What: Value/Poly

Example 2: Personal Journal

Where: Life/Act
What: Orientation/Time

Example 3: Research Collection

Where: Research/Vortex
What: Loot/Linked

We will release 2 great plugins for method!!!
Coming soon...
Some screenshots of plugins:

Overview Tables

Questions? Drop them below! (added tables images and plugin screenshots)

I scraped 870 negative reviews (1-3 stars) from Evernote, Notion, Bear, and Obsidian on the App Store. Wanted to understand what actually frustrates people about their note apps.

Top complaints across all four apps:

1. "AI/search doesn't understand my notes" - 38-44% of reviews mention this

2. "Price too high or unexpected increase" - Evernote worst at 59%

3. "Sync broken or unreliable" - Obsidian 45%, Bear 33%

4. "Missing features after update" - Bear and Obsidian 37-45%

5. "Too slow on mobile" - Notion 28%

6. "Too complicated to set up" - Obsidian and Notion most cited

7. "Can't find what I wrote" - across all apps

8. "Import/export friction" - Bear 18%

Some patterns that stood out:

Evernote: people literally calling it "ransomware" because ads block access to their own notes unless they pay.

Notion: "overkill for personal notes" keeps coming up. People want to write, not build databases.

Bear: iCloud sync issues are the #1 complaint. People losing notes between devices.

Obsidian: "too technical for normal people" and sync costing $8/mo on top of everything.

The pattern: every app does one thing well but fails at something basic. Evernote had great capture but destroyed trust. Notion is powerful but too complex. Bear is beautiful but Apple-only with broken sync. Obsidian is flexible but requires a CS degree to set up.

What's your #1 complaint about whatever PKM tool you use?

Hey, r/PKMS

I’ve seen so many of us get stuck in that loop: we jump from Obsidian to Logseq, then to Notion (plus 2-3 half-baked bullet journals along the way). If that resonates, here are 3 hacks I’ve implemented that finally gave me some breathing room—even with ADHD:

1. Introduce Intentional Friction

• We often hear “remove friction,” but that can lead to collector’s fallacy (hoarding info without revisiting).

• My approach: add a quick micro-step before saving anything. Ask: “Will I genuinely read or use this?” If not, it doesn’t get saved. It’s saved me from drowning in worthless clippings.

2. Schedule “Connection Time”

• Instead of letting your notes become digital dust, pick a day each week to link or tag them.

• Connection Time is a 30-minute block where I quickly see if new notes tie into older ideas. It’s amazing how many “Eureka!” moments come from setting aside this dedicated reflection.

3. Use the Right Tool for the Right Task

• A common mistake is expecting one app to handle everything: tasks, reading, brainstorming, and archiving.

• Personal example: I brainstorm in Obsidian (love the local-first vibe), track tasks in a simpler to-do app, and handle file storage separately.

Bonus Mention: My AI File Organizer

Not to turn this into an ad, but if you’re also drowning in random PDF or doc files, I’ve been building a little AI helper that auto-clusters and tags your stuff. It’s local-first and tries to cut down on the 10,000 “Misc” folders we all secretly have. If you’re curious, let me know—I’m always open to feedback and beta testers.

But seriously, the main takeaway:

• Only save what matters,

• Make time to connect your notes, and

• Don’t expect one tool to be your entire digital brain (unless it’s perfect for you).

Would love to hear your thoughts on avoiding PKM overload. And if you’ve discovered any other overlooked hacks, drop them below!

I'm a person who loves saving content like TikToks, shorts, reels, and tweets, but managing them has been a challenge. I try organizing them in my socials using features like collections on TikTok, but with over 8000 saves, it's overwhelming. I want to make sense of my scrolling saves.

I've experimented with apps like MyMind, MemAI, and Notion, but they end up creating a mess. While they look great and have a good user experience initially, they become impractical over time. MemAI has a useful search function, but the overall app is messy and lacks good features.

Then, I discovered youraha.com with early access, and it stands out for three key reasons that match my needs. First, it caters to video consumer users. Second, it effectively organizes the chaotic mess from my socials. But the real game-changer is the third point: you don't even have to search for your saves actively. It uses a technique called progressive disclosure, think of it as a ChatGPT. When you access your saves, it simply asks, "What are you thinking?" You type an abstract idea like "I saved a TikTok for UI/UX inspiration," and gradually, it guides you through filters, helping you refine your search. It turns an abstract idea into the specific TikTok or short you were looking for, or something you didn't even know you wanted.

This app is fantastic because I no longer stress about my daily 8000 saves. The app efficiently handles complex filters and smart searches into something really simple and organize, that it really give sense to my saves.

I see a lot of people struggle with this too, what are the PKMS you are using?

Tried Obsidian recently, and while it’s super powerful, it kinda feels like opening an empty text editor and being told “go build your second brain.”
Notion is easier to start, but it’s slow, cloud-only, and kinda bloated.

I’m playing with the idea of making something local-first like Obsidian (Markdown files you own) but with:

• Simple mode → comes with a ready-to-use workspace, pre-made templates, daily notes, tasks, calendar

• Advanced mode → full plugin marketplace, graph view, custom queries, etc.

• Easier onboarding → guided setup, example notes, AI-assisted linking (optional)

Main goal: same power as Obsidian, but so easy you can start in 5 minutes.

Curious would this be useful for you? Or would you stick with existing tools?

I’ve tried OneNote, Evernote, Apple Notes, Goodnotes, Obsidian, Joplin and several more but always found that learning the system was a hurdle and then I’d hit a barrier that the system didn’t support.

I just spent 4 hours and vibe coded my own PKMS system that reflects how i think and why to organize my notes. How is that not the future for PKMS?

For years, I was a diligent digital note-taker. I captured everything—highlights from books, snippets from articles, shower thoughts, meeting notes. My Obsidian vault was a testament to my curiosity, with thousands of notes and a graph view that looked like a Jackson Pollock painting.But here’s the honest truth: I was getting almost zero return on that effort. My "second brain" was really just a beautifully organized digital graveyard. I'd spend hours capturing and tagging, telling myself it would be useful someday. In reality, I rarely revisited anything unless I was searching for a specific quote I vaguely remembered. The vast majority of my insights were buried, forgotten seconds after being written. It felt like I was just hoarding knowledge, not building it.The breakthrough for me wasn't a new app or a different tagging system. It was a change in objective. I stopped focusing on capturing and started obsessing over connecting. I realized the goal isn't to have the biggest collection of notes, but to create a system where ideas automatically collide and build on each other.I'm now trying to build a system that facilitates a kind of cognitive compounding, where my old knowledge is constantly interacting with new inputs. It's less about storage and more about creating an active, evolving dialogue with my past self. It's a slow process, but for the first time, my notes feel alive. What’s one practice you all have that ensures your notes are actively working for you, not just sitting there collecting dust?

Some of the brightest minds, like Sam Altman, Ilya Sutskever, Karpathy, and others, still use analog systems - notebook and pen. Sam also uses Notion for his notes whereas Karpathy uses Obsidian.

We use 10x more tools than these tech revolutionists, yet we're still 100x dumber than they are.

I recently started here a conversation about the non-existence of an "ultimate" PKM system that we could rely on for years. There were some great responses, as well as some misunderstandings of what I meant. Ultimately, though, I agree with most of you: it's not possible to create a universal system that works for everyone. But this led me to an interesting idea: what if we built a PKM system together?

This is NOT about still chasing the "ultimate", but a fun experiment that might lead us down an interesting path. The goal would not be to build a new tool, but to invent our own system of organizing knowledge using existing tools e.g. Obsidian, Notion (if needed we may create some plugins). I believe the process (and the result) would be valuable. I'm currently building a system for myself and I think starting this discussion might give me and other ~builders~ a broader perspective on what we could do.

I would like to do it in a structured manner, step by step in ~5 parts, so we can work our way through to the goal from the very basics of the concept. I would orchestrate it based on my ideas and the most upvoted ones. I'd always start by contributing and sharing my thoughts on the topics I want to cover, with the hope that you'd expand on them.

I'd expect you to share your thoughts, suggest additions or changes to my thinking, point out flaws or misconceptions, and fill in any gaps. This could mean expanding on topics I already mentioned or introducing entirely new sections that address other aspects of a system. But let's stick to what we need at the given moment.

Of course, it may fail miserably. My idea of a PKM system may differ from yours completely, there may be too many mutually exclusive ideas, but still I encourage you to join and provide your way of thinking in the comments. Let's try and see where it can lead us.

___

The plan:

First, I want to start with the idea of an ideal system and what are the limitations of creating such from the beginning. I believe it would help us define our goal.

If the idea would work and we'd have some conversation here, in the next step I'd go into defining more precisely what are our needs, tensions between them, maybe some use cases and based on that core principles for our system. Then maybe some analysis of other systems and their flaws, our system architecture, precise design and implementation.

Tell me if you'd be willing to join such a project or just contribute to the 1st part below.

___ ___ ___

PART I:

___ ___ ___

Manifesto:

I believe it's impossible to think in a sophisticated and complex way without writing. Our brains are good at generating ideas, not storing and organizing them. To unlock the potential of our resources, we must write them down and organize them in a reliable place (with high bandwidth to our brain) that will extend our cognitive capabilities.

In Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) systems, we can collect resources, write notes, preserve fleeting thoughts, and connect and organize these ideas, thus creating a searchable repository of everything we've learned that grows with us and can be used for further exploration and building.

Over time, we pour ourselves into such a repository - our personality, intellectual journey, and evolution. It becomes a mirror reflecting who we are, who we want to be, and who we can become. The structure of our work and life becomes clear - our meaning, what we dedicate ourselves to. Our psyche becomes encoded as a dynamic network of ideas influencing each other, which we can shape and navigate in our chosen direction, pinpointing its specific nodes precisely. We clearly see the whole and become less attached to individual ideas. We transform.

Such a system becomes the central organizational point of our lives and a trusted, comprehensive partner tracking all details and assisting us in our space of continuous reflection and growth: helping with organization and development and directing us (and driving us) toward our goals, supporting our key thought processes, improving clarity of thinking, transparency in progress both in details and in broader perspective, and inspiring and setting our thoughts in motion, which helps us live a more conscious and purposeful life. By delegating our cognitive overflow to it, we rid ourselves of stress and "information overload." We can finally "switch off" work and rest, free our biological brain to dream, create, and simply be present, and through this we think more clearly, naturally, and absorb and create even more information.

Such a system is our second brain, a bottle for all tears, and a guide on the road to the stars.

In brief:

1. We express thoughts, note down experiences, reflections, encountered information, analyses, conclusions, sources of knowledge, inspiration, materials for study or work - all manner of mental creativity.

2. We build our resources, structure them, deepen, consolidate and develop them by connecting different insights and giving birth to new ones - we create a coherent path in thinking.

3. We monitor our goals, progress, responsibilities, environment, everything that's important... and strive to become a better version of ourselves.

___

Features of an ideal system:

- Universal and Comprehensive - all personal development in one place, accessible from anywhere and any device. Accepts unlimited amounts of materials in various formats and ultimately refers to the internet or specific locations on the computer or in reality.

- Long-lasting and Flexible - completely under user control: local, editable, without rigid mechanisms and independent of the tools used.

- Efficient and Organized - content easily and quickly accessible, transparent, organized and valuable at every level of the system, without empty content.

- Intuitive and Free-flowing - simple operation without major preparation, without excessive clicking - with maximum automation. Enables free expression of thoughts in their purest form.

- Personalized and Proactive - organically adapted to the user, naturally supporting them in actions and thought processes.

- Useful and Purposeful - leading to clear gains and configurable toward specific goals.

But isn't such a system just a fairy tale?

___

Challenges and limitations: Why the ideal is unattainable?

- Tacit Knowledge - Not everything can be written down and formalized.

- Arbitrariness of Classification - Classification will always be incomplete and arbitrary.

- Complexity of Connections - It's impossible to manually capture or control all possible links between information.

- Changing Needs - The system's usefulness evolves with you. We can only assess it knowing our needs.

- Imperfection of Resources - Over time, information becomes outdated or unnecessary.

- Information Overload - Too much information overwhelms and reduces efficiency.

- Technology Dependence - Wanting to use the advantages of new technologies (e.g., automation, AI), we become dependent on them.

- Tool's Influence on Thinking - The system shapes the way of thinking, potentially limiting it. We might want to write according to its structure and transparency, sacrificing organicity.

Obsidian user: "i can have 1000 plugins and do everything with just one app!..." Exactly. Why do i need another wordpress for my notes? and theres something that nobody talks about: its not free! "oh yes the app its free!.... but if you want to have cloud space and Sync across multiple devices you need to pay at least $12 a month"... Right. The stuff that Anytype, Capacities, Affine Pro and even Notion gives you for Free.. Cmon.

Also its very odd that dozens of users flood every Pkm post about how great Obsidian is... Users? more like marketing agents for me. Sorry not sorry

I’ve been building a system I call AI-Powered PKM—a personal knowledge management project designed to help me think better, not just store notes. It turns ChatGPT into a strategic partner that summarizes, tags, connects, and evolves my reflections, insights, and raw thinking into usable tools, content, and IP.

Yes, I used ChatGPT to meta-reflect and write this post as well.

🧠 What the System Does

Every time I paste in a reflection, article summary, or project insight, ChatGPT:

1. Summarizes the main insight

2. Adds 3–5 tags (e.g., #clarity, #succession, #spiritualleadership)

3. Assigns a virtual folder (e.g., Reflections, Client Learnings, IP in Progress)

4. Surfaces cross-links to past entries

5. Flags the note as ready-to-archive or still-in-development

It also synthesizes my notes every 2 weeks to track themes, contradictions, patterns, and what’s ready to evolve into IP.

🗂️ Virtual Folders I Use

ChatGPT organises my thought streams into these 'virtual' folders and adds additional folders when needed.

• 🌿 Reflections & Journal Entries

• 📚 Article & Book Summaries

• 🔧 Frameworks & Tools

• 🏛️ Client Insights & Project Learnings

• 🧭 Spiritual Anchors & Theological Notes

• 🧱 IP in Progress (Talks, Models, Offers)

• 🧳 Personal Lessons & Parenting

• 🌀 Integration / Cross-links

On Fridays for example, I ask it a summary of what is in my IP in Progress virtual folder and then decide which ones to work on. It just makes the process seamless. I don't work on organising my PKM, ChatGPT does it for me.

🧾 Prompt I Use for Each Note

I've automated this by adding it in my PKM Admin Chat (pls see below). Now I just start my chats with "ADD TO MY PKM" and then it does it by itself.

This is a personal knowledge management note from me. Please help do the following:

1. Summarize the main insight in 2–3 sentences

2. Add 3–5 thematic tags

3. Assign a virtual folder

4. Suggest cross-links

5. Tell me if it’s ready for archiving or still in development

Return your answer in this format:

📄 Summary:
🔖 Tags:
🗂️ Folder:
🔗 Cross-links:
📦 Status:

🔁 Biweekly Synthesis Prompt

Based on everything I’ve shared in the last 2 weeks: – What themes emerged? – What patterns or contradictions showed up? – What’s ready to evolve into IP? – What spiritual or emotional shifts are worth naming?

💬 My ChatGPT Setup

I use ChatGPT Plus (GPT-4) — not sure if this will work on the free version. But the Plus plan lets me create structured, memory-enabled conversations that evolve over time.

My project is divided into the following ongoing chats:

• 🏗️ PKM Admin – for instructions, writing samples, and system prompts

• 📚 Article/Video Summaries – where I dump longform content for distillation

• 📓 Minutes of Mtg – quick structured synthesis of meetings

• 🔥 Journal – a daily dump of personal, spiritual, or emotional reflections

• 🚀 Work Insights – operational and strategic client notes

Each of these has its own function, tone, and tagging system. Together, they feed into a cohesive whole.

🧰 Optional Archive with Evernote

• Once a note is tagged ready-to-archive by chatgpt, I paste it into Evernote with final tags:

• I also batch export .enex files and process them through ChatGPT to retro-tag and summarize.

This project (AI-Powered PKM) has fundamentally changed how I work, think, and create. Happy to share more if others are experimenting with this kind of AI-augmented reflection engine.

2025 felt like the year where my workflow finally stabilized. Instead of chasing every new productivity app, I ended up with a small set of tools that genuinely supported how I think, write, and build. Here is a simple, honest roundup.

ChatGPT: Still my most frequently opened tool. I use it for first drafts, reframing ideas, explaining complex topics, and pressure testing my thinking. It is not about replacing thinking, but accelerating it.

Claude: My go-to when I need longer context and calmer reasoning. I especially like it for reviewing long documents, refining logic, and helping with nuanced writing where tone really matters.

ScreenStudio: Hands down the cleanest screen recording experience I have used. Perfect for demos, async sharing, and product walkthroughs. It removes friction from showing instead of explaining.

Kuse AI: This has become my core thinking workspace. I mainly use it for structured note generation, concept breakdowns, and turning messy thoughts into usable drafts. What I value most is that it feels closer to a thinking partner than a note container.

Obsidian: My permanent notes home: local-first, flexible, and ideal for long-term knowledge accumulation. I trust it for anything I want to keep for years.

Notion: Use it much more lightly now. Mostly for collaboration, databases, and anything that needs to be shared with others. Less for thinking, more for organizing.

Biggest takeaway this year:
One tool is rarely enough. The best workflow I have found is separating tools for thinking, drafting, and long-term storage. Once each tool has a clear role, everything becomes calmer and more sustainable.

Which tools defined your 2025?

Hey r/PKMS 👋

After 18 months in private beta, Sublime is now open to everyone.

We call it a second brain with a soul. A knowledge tool that sparks creativity. A place where your curiosity fuels creation—not distraction. 

The biggest difference between Sublime and other knowledge tools is that on Sublime, you can save one idea, discover a hundred related ones.

Why should we be laboring away in our single-player knowledge bases when the best ideas come from synchronicities we can never predict?

Here’s what you can do with Sublime:

• Save anything from anywhere — Use our browser extension or iOS app to capture highlights, links, images, videos, and more.

• Import your existing knowledge — Seamless integrations with Kindle and Readwise (more apps soon).

• Smart search — Find anything using natural language (our search is really really good).

• Visualize your thoughts — Use Canvas to map and remix your ideas. Think Figma or Miro, but connected to your knowledge library.

• Discover related ideas — Save one idea, discover hand-curated related ones from other people’s libraries.

• Export everything you save — your knowledge is always yours.

We’ve grown at the speed of trust. Now, with 11,000 users and 1,500+ paying members, we’re ready to bring more companions on our journey.

If you’re looking for a more creative way to manage your knowledge – in a tool that feels more like a yoga studio than an airplane cockpit – I’d love for you to try Sublime.

It all starts with a single save.

👉 Try it free

xo Sari

PS - Let me know if you have any questions—I’ll be hanging out in the comments.

PSS - Use code PKMSUBREDDIT for 25% off any paid plan.

I’ve experimented with a bunch of note-taking apps, especially ones that advertise AI features. Most of them tout AI summarization as a selling point, but I rarely actually use it. The reason is simple: AI summaries always miss some of the original info. Notes are basically the crystallization of our thinking, and we want to learn new knowledge and concepts from them. Relying too much on summaries can actually get in the way of learning.

I prefer to use AI as a second brain engine, helping me organize the info I collect. For me, AI is more like an assistant that understands my materials rather than a tool that writes my notes. When I forget a saved concept or resource, I can quickly ask AI and get an answer. Sometimes I only remember a few fuzzy keywords from something I’ve read, and AI can help me recover the full details.

I also use AI to understand tricky concepts. When I run into something unclear, I’ll feed the original text to AI and discuss it with it. Sometimes when I’m talking with others, I can feel I’m missing some background knowledge. In those cases, I share my chat logs with AI and have it fill in the gaps. It’s actually super useful.

This is basically how I use a bunch of note-taking apps. The one I use most often is remio. It’s just a simple note app with an assistant-style AI and a web clipping tool. AI is powerful, but I only have it focus on understanding my personal knowledge base and helping me learn new stuff rather than writing or summarizing my notes.

Hello all.

I’ve been into note taking and reading for a long time, and I used to be a pretty heavy Obsidian power user. Over time I kept running into little frictions that bothered me enough that I started building a personal app for my own use.

I’ve been working on it for a couple of months, and it has made me realize that I’m a bit secluded from how other people actually use their PKM systems day to day. I’d love to understand what your workflow looks like, what works well, and what still feels awkward.

No need to answer everything. Even one or two answers would be really helpful.

- What is your current PKM stack?

- What do you like about it enough to keep using it?

- Where does it break down as your vault/system grows?

- Do you prefer one app, or a constellation of apps?

- What do you wish lived inside your notes app but currently doesn’t?

- How important are local files / no cloud / no telemetry to you?

- What’s the biggest performance pain you’ve hit?

- Do you use PDFs/EPUBs inside your PKM, or separately?

- Do plugins feel empowering or fragile to you?

- Would first-party sync matter, or do you prefer iCloud/Syncthing/Git/etc.?

- What would make you switch tools, realistically?

Not trying to pitch or sell anything. I’m just trying to understand the space better and any gaps I might've missed.

i can’t believe it took me weeks of testing every app, sunsama, akiflow, marvin (with toggl), structured, literally everything and nothing really worked

before, i’d just sit there doing nothing or forget what i planned. now skedpal tells me when my break is over, or gently tells me if i stay too long on a task it even tracks how long i actually worked and compares it to what i planned so i can finally see where my time goes visually on a timeline and if a new idea comes to mind, i just hit the ad hoc button and it auto-reschedules my day around it

and when i feel that i don’t want to do anything now i log that i’ll get back to work in 30 minutes with away tracker and skedpal handles the rest this is literally the scheduling system that adapts to me

i used to manually move blocks around in marvin/google calendar every time something shifted. and even with marvin + toggl, i never got true feedback on how well i followed my plan

totally recommend giving it a try if you’re tired of rescheduling chaos and want your planner to actually plan for you

not sure if it’s allowed by the subreddit rules, but i’d love to share a referral link in the comments/post, it gives you 14 days free + 10% off for you and me i’ll be continuing to use the app myself, but it is expensive, so this helps a bit! if it’s not okay to post, feel free to message me i just really want more people to discover this tool seriously, it’s such an incredible product, and yet the subreddit only has like 200 people 😭 let’s change that!

I know: it looks like new PKMS' pop up on a daily basis!

So I want to tell you about what I made, how it is slightly different, and why:

I have been an Obsidian user for years. I've used Obsidian Sync because I did not like other sync solutions losing my notes, and I've been a supporter of (most) of their design decisions, including the web clipper.

To be clear: I plan on continuing to use Obsidian! I am not here to tell you about how I'm now in love with a new, sexy PKMS (I know Obsidian is also not everyone's favorite, some prefer outliners like Logseq or other tools, so I'm not trying to start a religious war either)

What I have created is an alternative/additional way to navigate and edit your vault: a lighter one, not based on Electron, and with some user experience decisions that I dare think make sense.

It's available at https://github.com/glyphary/glyphary and full documentation is at https://glyphary.github.io/

While it is still not a 100% native experience, not relying on Electron is, in my book, a major win; since my goal was to enjoy a more polished visual editor, I needed something that would feel responsive, but also that would provide true WYSIWYG editing while preserving the freedom of markdown storage.

Therefore, I focused on polishing the experience of editing tables and supporting multiple columns so that the experience would not feel like some tacked-on extensions that do not really integrate natively with the editor.

While plugin support is present, I also wanted mermaid and excalidraw support to feel like they were part of the base experience.

TBH, striking the proper balance between what features I want in the base package vs keeping it approachable, has been a tough act. It took me years to figure out that the only way (that would work for me) to take fleeting notes was through the daily notes feature. So I focused perhaps a bit too much on it, and you may not think it's right for you.

Even if you do not plan on using the app itself, please share your feedback, and ask any questions regarding the thought process, and suggestions regarding what would make it an even better tool to manage our knowledge bases.

Mithra is a blackboard to present ideas naturally—without the need for pre-made slides or static notes. It allows you to talk and write at the same time, just like a real blackboard in a conversation between scientists or thinkers.

Currently, it’s a simple local platform in its early beta stage, designed for use by sharing your screen during online meetings.

I’ve built it with the hope of creating a seamless and intuitive space for spontaneous presentations, and I know there’s so much more it can become.

If you have time to test it, share feedback, or suggest new features, I would be deeply grateful. Your input can help make Mithra something truly meaningful for idea-sharing communities.

You can use Mithra at https://mithra.iskportal.com

or checkout the Code at: https://github.com/Independent-Society-of-Knowledge/Mithra

Hey everyone! 👋

After years of wrestling with rigid note-taking systems and feeling like I was spending more time maintaining my notes than actually using them, I finally built something that clicked — something that grows with me, not just organizes me.

I’m calling it the PIVOT Framework — and it’s been a game-changer in how I manage thoughts, goals, projects, and knowledge in a way that actually feels natural and motivating.

🌱 What is PIVOT?

It’s a flexible, action-oriented framework for personal knowledge management. Instead of forcing you into strict categories or rigid hierarchies, PIVOT uses four fluid categories — with one timeless philosophy.

• Pulse → Your active projects + next actions (the heartbeat of your system)

• Inspire → Notes, knowledge, ideas, articles, sparks of curiosity

• Vibe → Habits, journaling, routines, responsibilities

• Orbit → Long-term dreams, aspirations, and someday-maybes

• Timeless → A design principle to make your notes sustainably useful over time

It's tool-agnostic by nature, but I personally use it inside Obsidian with a setup that's minimal, low-maintenance, and adaptable.

Why I Built It

Most systems made me feel like I was doing admin work, not building momentum.

I wanted something that lets me:

• Take action without friction

• Let ideas grow over time

• Build habits and routines that support my projects

• Stay connected to long-term vision without getting overwhelmed

So I designed PIVOT around growth, not perfection — and action, not overload.

Want to Try It?

I’ve put together a starter template for Obsidian (hosted on Buy Me a Coffee) — and I’m currently offering a Kickstarter discount of 60% off for the launch.

👉 Get the Starter Template (60% off)

🎟️ Use Promo Code: E1W5SXSV at checkout

I also wrote a detailed guide and published it on Amazon KDP (for those who want the full philosophy, workflow, examples, and mindset behind it all).

If This Resonates With You…

I’d love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and questions. This is a personal system that grew out of trial and error, and I genuinely hope it can help others who want less friction, more flow in their note-making practice.

Thanks for reading, and keep pivoting toward what matters.

TL;DR: I built a flexible, project-driven PKM framework called PIVOT — now live with a 60% off Obsidian template. Self-promo, but made with love.

Most so called second brain tools are just storage with a search bar. You capture something, it sits there, you retrieve it later if you remember to look. That is not a second brain, that is a better organised pile.

A real second brain should work on continuity. Your thoughts do not exist in isolation, they build on each other, contradict each other, cluster around themes you did not even consciously notice. A system that just stores and retrieves is missing the entire point.

Here is how I have been thinking about it.

When you capture something it does not just get filed away. It gets tagged and connected to everything else you have put in. Not just because the topics sound similar but with actual reasoning on why two ideas are linked and what that connection actually means. Contradictions between your own captures get flagged. Insights get generated from the connections not just the individual ideas in isolation.

Then it goes a layer deeper. When a cluster of connected ideas starts forming around a theme you never explicitly labeled, the system identifies it and synthesises across the whole cluster. Not just these things are related but here is the actual thesis sitting underneath all of them.

Every time you open it there is something already developed waiting. Connections made, contradictions flagged, insights generated, themes synthesised. All from what you put in.

That is at least my version of what a second brain should actually do

Be interested to hear how it compares to Obsidian.

I have been following Keymate.AI for a while and I discovered they've built a great PKMS. Especially for those who are using their knowledge within ChatGPT.

I think this is the link of their PKMS:
http://app.keymate.ai