I thought I wanted a "second brain" with Notion. It turns out that my first brain never used the second brain. When the tool is more complex than the problem, there's a problem. I may check out Obsidian. Thanks for the quality information.
i do agree. Notion is so complicated that i spend more time trying to figure out than actually taking notes and keeping track of my work. my work is complicated enough...i dont have time to figure out a note app.
People need to decide what they actually need in a note taking app. Notion is utterly simple or mind numbingly complex for some folks. Some want simplicity and for them, I suggest perhaps Google Keep. That said, Notion can be used as a simple note taking app. The complexity is there when you need it. Obsidian, ditto. I recommend most overwhelmed new Obsidian users turn off most plugins and enable them only when you learn how Obsidian "thinks." Ones needs should dictate the app.
Exactly. And this is also exactly why so many Evernote users jumped ship to Notion and within days, weeks... either jumped back or moved on to someting else, Notion leaves a bad taste in the mouth far more than it satisfies.
Yess ! I'm actually using both at the moment and I like it ! Notion for everything that needs to be tracked/managed, basically a productivity management system, and then you have obsidian where I put all my note-taking and extensive writing, so it would be my knowledge management system. Both are amazing to the point where you can probably do everything in them but still, it does feel more natural to "write & link" in obsidian and to "organize & manage" in notion so I'm keeping it this way for now. P.S : When it comes to stuff that is really important for example your own written stuff, I think it's much better to do it in an offline, private, secure and "backupable" tool.
Glad you found something that works for you! I tried doing both for a while but just found myself using Obsidian for most of it, so I ended up switching.
Same conclusion. I would even set Notion up as a funnel, or a staging area for my thoughts e.g. random ideas and todos during weekdays, and then come weekends, refine them while transferring to Obsidian. Notion's better for that quick note-taking, the writing experience is good.
Notion is certainly feature-rich. It is easy to go down the rabbit hole and try everything. I did that for a while. Ultimately rejecting an app for the reason it is so customisable is like rejecting MS Word because it can do too much. I tried Obsidian but it was not long before I headed back to Notion because I missed the flexibility of all the features I complained of.
I'm amazed I had to scroll so far down in the comments to find someone pointing this out too: Notion is as simple or complex as you want to make it. Literally open it and there are pages and that's all you may ever need. People don't have to use databases and all the advanced stuff if they don't need them. Perhaps it's just a matter of Notion providing a simpler skin or mode for pure note taking.
For myself personally, I used Notion for working, Obisidian for thinking. No clue why the debate is about one or the other when Obsidian is free regardless. 😅
@@VaughanVanDyk this does make sense. Of course, Obsidian has its own advantages. Collaboration is perhaps better in Notion. Overall, can't go too wrong with either of them.
I find Notion, compared to dedicated apps that can do specified tasks: time wasting, ugly, uninspiring, time sucking... did I say, ugly? Learning curve too steep, sucking time away from the work I actually wanted to do with it, after a few months I left it in disgust vowing to never look at it again, have moved back to apps such as: Trello, Keep, dedicated journals, mind mapping... and having more fun and getting stuff done.
For me the customization is super important because it makes me more motivated seeing the aesthetics, helps me romanticize my work, like extra dopamine
that's how most people procrastinate rather than actually doing the work lol. I never got the hype of notion, it's more like a toy for people to fiddle with when having too much time at hand.
The feature that broke Notion for me is how they treat tables. They assume every table has a leading row or column, which is usually true, but not always. I just wanted a simple grid of cells where I can input text, and organize it however I want, but Notion tables always broke spectacularly on me. Which is ironic taking into account how flexible it aims to be with everything else.
They introduced simple tables a while ago, and they are exactly what you want: a simple grid of cells with nothing fancy if you need something simple :)
You should try using simple tables instead then; they’re exactly everything you’ve described. A simple format, you can input text into cells and easily organise them however you want.
For the last few years I've been in love with Notion (to the point of being annoyingly evangelistic about it to everybody) and somehow simultaneously surprised at how uninterested I've become in using it despite my plans to use it for everything. There's something about a plain paper notepad that is excellent for allowing the unfolding of human agency, ownership, and imagination, but it can be limited. There's something about Notion that enables powerful organization and connection, but somehow evokes the feeling of working with an over-engineered super computer when all you wanted was a quick piece of paper and pen. Maybe Obsidian hits a sweet spot between the two.
I completely vibe with this, especially with how distracting Notion is. Notion is a bit too flexible and chaotic for my workflow; I had way too many unlinked databases that were all over the place.
I love the time bar, please keep using them on suitable videos. I am in software overload at the moment. I have Obsidian as a fledgling second brain, ClickUp as a task and project manager and Notion for random jobs like tracking TV series I’d like to see. After creating a whole life operating system following August Bradley’s then not getting on with it. Shiny object syndrome.
@@red-switch I’ve had a look at that I’ve decided to swap to a really basic tick and done system for tasks and I’m moving projects to Obsidian so I may use the Kanban for my blog writing.
2:40 Exactly... I've not tried Notion or Obsidian yet but video reviews I've seen give me the idea that people spend a lot more time customizing these kind of apps than doing the actual real work they are supposed to do. Not sure any of this is for me yet but thanks for the video.
In the dim, dark past, I designed and sold Microsoft Word Templates. Then I had to provide support to fix problems when my customers changed something and broke my carefully designed template. People tend to break things when given a choice. People love to change things and I think too many choices can be quite counterproductive. Perhaps limiting certain choices a good idea afterall.
@@OASH2023 I use Minimal and adjust it using the settings plugin to make it easier for me to read. That said, are you referring to Notion Templates or Obsidian Themes?
I laughed way too hard when you said " i don't need to build databases guys" hahahaha, I'm same as you. We just need minimal note taking app which is private, secure and offers some basic and cool stuff in a minimal way. Obsidian is the way to go. Great Video!!
Really helpful and mirrors a lot of my own thoughts as I contemplate switching from Notion to Obsidian. One thing I wasn't anticipating: the importance of Obsidian relying on plain text files. I'm resigned to there fact I will invariably explore other systems, so the sheer portability of a universal standard *that will likely be machine readable for my entire life* is a critical feature for me.
Notion is really fun to build that dream „second brain“. It is great for multiple people working together and maintaining it. But as an actual productivity tool, it is just not viable, you are constantly being slowed down by it‘s complexity with multiple places you can put the same note in, or vise versa. But even if you know where the place is, the mobile app is just too slow for me to use Notion spontaneously.
Thank you. I'm 30 years old and will be moving to a new industry and will be studying again for it. This video is really helpful because I know about Notion but I don't like how to maneuver around it.
Yes, amazing! I tried Notion for a very brief time before learning about Obsidian. Now I'm obsessed and it really can be whatever YOU need it to be! These little tips about folding and stuff are really useful, too, I'll check out your other Obsidian content!
Nice video. You have a great personality and presentation. My only advice is to turn the music down to around -30db in your editor. It felt like it was competing with your voice at times. Keep up the great work.
The music is too loud, but also it is not even necessary, especially when you have a good, well-paced script, which you have! Also, the sound effects are too loud, and as a result are disconcerting. Your delivery and content are very good!
Thanks for the video, Rachel. Similar journey to you, but backwards.. started off with Obsidian then got attracted by the bright lights of Notion. Realised it was an unnecessary time sink and Obsidian had everything I needed. Went running back and fortunately Obsidian welcomed me with open arms. 🙂
Super insightful. I was looking for a note taking app and knowing that Notion you'll spend way more time making it look all nice vs taking actual notes is what made me choose Obsidian
I am looking at Notion again and am glad for this video to remind me of why I didn't want to further use it. Main issues for me were crappy export options, slowness of the db combined with cloud storage and no real ability to have alternatives for the available fonts and colors. Still, I think Notion is a really good option for more visual folks. Obsidian and LogSeq (which is what I am using now) are waaaay harder to get into without a prior idea of linking and markdown, so Notion caters to that. There are also some benefits of readymade systems like PPV by August Bradley who offers the hard stuff of building the interlinked system as a service. I like to use the best task manager second brain and Project coordination in separate apps, still. Instead of making compromises for all implementations in Notion, I'd rather reproduce a basic structure in all apps.YMMV
When I started. I was frustrated that I couldn't connect notes, now interesting things are starting to appear, it's a long road, not suitable for people with a short-term vision. Thank you, your presentation is very interesting.
I discovered Notion yesterday and today, the moment I discovered that the desktop app MUST be online and connected to the cloud at all times, I immediately closed down the app and started looking for alternatives. Other than that, Notion does everything I want. Not being able to have it function offline and keeping all data local is a deal breaker for me...and no end-to-end encryption on the sync is immediate blacklist
Thanks! Admittedly, the progress bar is not an entirely original idea, a lot of TH-camrs have done it too, but I am pretty proud of it. Took me a hot minute to figure it out.
I love your review style. I think as a digital note taking beginner, I might stay with Notion for some more time until it also frustrates me. It might be that the effort the Obsidian developers invested into creating the best power user tool, the Notion developers invested into stacking activities in a way that I can learn quicker. E.g., without me noticing Notion created a sub-page for the first database I added, and now also happily shows me the sub-page as a normal thing, lik if that was what I intended in the first place. Thereby it automatically introduces me to the concept that I can integrate one page into another page without having to explain the concept. I just learn it by playing around. I love it.
Notion does have keyboard shortcuts for virtually all the things I use. You just type / and the command so /h2 for h2 header or /bu for bullet list and so on. You have the highliting shortcut as well which personally I hate because it's a 2 handed operation but I rarely find myself using the mouse with notion. Another thing is that if you're simple and don't use templates and all the fancy features, notion is just as good as obsedian if not better considering it has more features, FREE syncing across devices, etc... Sure I may not be in full control of my data but I get to sync my notes for free and save $100 a year + it's not like i'm taking notes on my WW3 invasion on the app lmao
Yeah . All the linkages that graph view of obsidian shows drove me crazy and i am switching to Notion now . Saw that notion also adopted markdown shortcuts so its even better now
You need encryption not only for grandious things like planning WW3. If you use Notion for work, to store info about clients and their problems, then the lack of offline mode and proper encryption may put you in breach of NDA and other agreements. And in case you use it for your college studies. Imagine you will need your notes 15 years later but Notion isn't there anymore and your notes are all gone.
Thank you so much for your effort of sharing your experience in this video! It is so nice that you packed your experience through years into polished thoughts and video demonstration to help people make their choice, thank you for your caring
Thanks, I been seeing a lot of people using Notion for med school, and as I am about to start my first year, this video completely changed my mind. Thank you!
We are allways tend to keep things complex. I’m working in the worlds biggest automotive company and I realized that the project managament team has been keeping most important notes (million dollars of budgets about project) in the basic excel spreadsheets. In my opinion we just need focus on the system not tools.
Started with Notion like you and then switched to Obsidian for about a year. Now using Notion again. Main difference worth discussing is collaboration. I love Obsidian but it is not designed for shared note taking like Notion. If you need a tool that allows you to collaborate on notes and work with others, Notion is your best bet at present. Just wish Notion let you split windows like Obsidian…
thanks for making this video! It gave a great perspective on obsidian vs notion. I'm currently torn between Notion, Obsidian, and OneNote because they all have really valuable features, but lack specific functionalities would be amazing in a single application. Notion's database and calendar view are really powerful for workflow and timelines, but is somewhat lacking in text handling. Obsidian is amazing for interlinking ideas and notes in a mindmap fashion, but lacks the table and database functionality. OneNote is fantastic for outlining, simple tables, and recording info quickly, but lacks features like databases, quickly inserting page/paragraph references, calendar views, or mind-map style interconnectivity. The niche each program fills is just different enough that each is useful on their own, but leaves you wanting to use multiple for different areas. Also very tempting to track things that don't need tracking because its a digital "endless" workspace with so many options.
I still like notion better. It's not complicated if you learn how to use it for your life. And i love it's so customizable i can make it look good, and that may take a little time but it gives me motivation lol
Very true. Notion is definitely more for people who understand systems thinking (which in itself is a separate perspective to learn) but once you know that, it's super easy.
One thing I already liked about Obsidian, has a lot of languages! I like to type things in English to improve the language but sometimes I save time doing things in my native language.
Great video, and I agree if you need only a note taker. If you're looking for an advanced note-taking app over Evernote, you are probably good to go with Obsidian Notion is not for simple tasks/note management if your needs are simple as just taking notes. I have used all and Notion is probably the best tool out there for having an all-in-one place tool. Once you know how to use it, your workflow becomes intuitive. The notion is a merging of Trello, Evernote, Basecamp, and Asana all in one place and is my only choice. Not advertising, but you must know how to use a tool to take advantage of it.
Using Notion for Note Taking or Tasks is like installing Linux just so you can use LibreOffice for note taking and some proprietary Linux app... for Tasks... you can do it, but there are better, easier, more dedicated tools for those purposes. I'd rather just use: Trello, Evernote, Basecamp... Asana.. as those are perfect for what they're designed to do, whereas no matter what template you install or dashboard you create, it'll never compare to mature, dedicated apps dedicated to a single purpose. Notion is a platform, jack of all trades , master of none with ridiculous learning curve and it's not worth it. My 2 cents only..
I loved the video. I have been looking at other note taking apps and got suggested this video. The little graphics and the loading bar for each topic was soo cute and unique. My only critique about the video is that the music was too distracting and it was louder than your voice most of the time to really absorb everything that you were saying.
Great video. I’m curious though, what keyboard shortcuts did you want that Notion doesn’t have? I’ve found that I use Notion shortcuts more, than most other apps.
Hi Matt! I'd like to hijack this thread. For me, I always had issues with some common keyboard shortcuts when using Notion. Most especially with copy and pasting. Often, I had to hit cmd+c several times and still, there are times when I paste, it pastes the wrong thing. Sometimes it pastes the whole block even if I just selected some of the texts.
I personally will still stick with Notion, I have tried Obsidian but I keep going back to Notion for whatever reason. It was however very insightful to get all your thoughts on either side (:
everything you mentioned Obsidian does, Notion does it as well. Even the things you said Notion couldn't do or had to be done differently in Notion, can be done in Notion the same way you presented them for Obsidian. Notion has over 100 keyboard shortcuts, as well.
for me I don’t take my notion so seriously so i love the fact that it is almost like a hobby at this point. i love creating/customizing new databases and pages and improving my pages. that being said I don’t take it seriously because I’m not in school and don’t use it for work or anything so I mainly use it for reading tracking and personal writing , habit tracking, agenda, etc.
Agree. I also switched from Notion to Obsidian for mainly the same reasons. It’s simple, clean and powerful and it perfectly meets my needs. I love that it’s future-proof. All of my data is local (or hosted). I do have some issues periodically with syncing between devices but not a big deal. Thanks for sharing this!
I used Devonthink to manage thousands of text notes and sources for my doctoral dissertation. Mostly stick to OneNote for business and apple notes for personal, now. NValt is great if you don’t need complex markup, all those notes are still readable text files. Online tools are not responsive enough for me. I bounced off Notion hard.
i coudnt get into notion, i was spending more time trying to make it pretty and adding and fixing the templates for my needs than putting them to use. when i did try to use them i found that the process of maintaining them was more "labor intensive" for me compare to just keeping a regular paper planner. Plus i dont actually do that much in my daily task so keeing track was kainda pointless. i do love seeing videos about notion tho, idk how ppl can do so much per day but its fun seeing how they organize and make theirs pretty.
With my severe ADD, my life's lost almost all of its structure and logic after last year's severe depression. Occupational therapy has done a great job at rebuilding a lot of it, but nevertheless, there's this fundamental helplessness, lack of orentation and nearly nonexistent perception of time that makes it hard; if not impossible; to reach a basic level of mental ease when there's even just a bit too many goals piled up. That makes a weekly routine barely manageable, but as there's always deviations, external influences and temporary goals and necessities, every week is at risk of falling apart. I've found structure to be insanely crucial to my functionality and the cohesion of most of what I do, yet at the same time, I cannot hold out for too long without a generous amount of flexibility, since I'm a very emotional lad with a bit too much ambition. I was never good at either and always needed a perfect balance between the two. That's why I found that the criticism that people have about Notion being TOO customisable ended up being the very thing that pulled me into it in the first place. I seem to be incompatible with modern life, if we wanna be dramatic about it, so something that allows me to create a right hand guide that perfectly moulds itself around my deviancy and remains elastic for its ever-changing nature sounds like a dream come true, as I've never once had the pleasure of using an agenda or digital planner this flexible, especially with my unconventional ways of perceiving time. Take all of this with a grain of salt, as I have just recently started using notion, but the sense of security it brings is already starting to manifest. I'm someone who's deeply deficient and had to learn self-discipline all by himself and has barely managed to wing it. So an all-encompassing guide lifts tonnes of weight off my shoulders. Who knows, maybe in a month's time, or two, I'll find myself in much the same situation as yours. I'm not denying that possibility. But in the end, we're all different, obviously, and the point I'm trying to make is that some of us cannot get enough of this sort of flexibility which gives a sense of control. Some who suffer from the same issues I do absolutely NEED _perfect_ structure and could not fathom having to bother with something as fluid as Notion, I get that. But I would certainly recommend this to people who want as much guidance as possible that they can design to the smallest detail. I need an in-depth overview of as many aspects of my entire life as possible, as my brain seems innately incapable of "getting its shit together", if you will; pardon my French. But not only that: It does so in a way I, myself, can design; A form of overview that is tailored to how I process information. That's just... Love on first sight. That's what it feels like to me: Guidance meets control. I'll let you know should this perspective change anytime soon, but right now, the honeymoon phase is certainly hitting hard.
Oh boy, you're not alone. I relate so much; the ADD, the need for structure but at the same time enough flexibility to feel in control. Thanks. After reading all this, I'm probably sticking to Notion for now.
@@sagebowman8452 Happy to hear I helped you make up your mind! c: bUT BEWARE that the daily planner / agenda / calendar that Notion has is utterly *_abysmal_* and has 0 visual ease of use. I strongly recommend that you check out Akiflow, Sunsama or Motion, which are beautiful planners that give you a school-style weekly schedule, rich calendar, and extremely dynamic ways to time block and create schedules and modify them according to all the new tasks that come in on a daily basis.
I am very interested in learning Obsidian. I am not able to swap completely, as my workflow depends on my manager being able to see my call notes (and I hate google docs for it), but I want to see if I can use obsidian for some other processes! Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
I tried Obsidian for about an hour. It was easy to transfer my data from Joplin to Obsidian. But then I couldn't find a built in sync feature. In Joplin I have it set up to sync to another drive. With Obsidian it looks like I would need to use Google Drive to accomplish the same thing. So I will stick with Joplin for now.
My solution is to create a private GitHub repo that will store your vault. Then use an Obsidian community plugin for the git syncing. You can get it to sync every so often (I've set it to 5 minutes). It is a bit more complicated to set up, but much nicer in the long run as you get complete history of changes etc. And you have all your deleted information too.
Those are exactly the reason why I tried to use notion but gave up pretty soon. I thought "I don't have time for this", and also I dislike having my notes online. It's nice to have them sync between devices, but ultimately I want them on my computer.
I got to the point that I can't improve my Notion anymore. It took me 4 days in a row to design my whole workflow, pages and subpages, as well as how each of them were going to be displayed as "side view" and how they were going to have "center view" or "whole page", I have a balance between functional and aesthetic, now I move forward without distractions and I don't usually configure my Notion again. Keep in mind that it took me much longer to learn Notion and I found it too complicated before, so I stopped using it as I wasted time trying to get organized. I found that no template I saw was going to suit me and I ended up making my own templates by learning from other people.
I'm in the midst of my Notion obsession phase. I can't see how I could leave. Anyway, I love your topic progress bar pop up in your vid. How did you do that?
Wow. I love how you costumize notes in Notion, I used to do it in other apps or software but I might love the Obsidian more because of the worth informations I got from you. I have the same issue, I hate spending so much time in devices, I think Obsidian will be the best for me too.
Tried to learn both of these at the same time HAHA, Notion was too complicated and heavy on my phone that it sort of lags. With obsidian, it's plain text, like how I use my phone's default note app, except I can use wikilink to easily relate my separate notes and even create a homepage out of that. Plugins are godsent in obsidian. My faves are dataview, bulk rename, emoji shortcodes(for when I use a separate keyboard for my phone/iPad), and thumbnails. It's more convenient with a physical keyboard, but its mobile toolbar compensates. and the Hotkeys! I love it. I still become envious when I see notion users show off their system and aesthetic, but again, it got me thinking too much about the "look" instead of the "work" I can do from it. This vid validated my thoughts and happier that I didn't force myself to adapt to notion (I mean, it just looks so neat and website-like, deceptively "easy to navigate")
As a software engineer with gamification studies, I analyzed Notion for a few hours. Instantly and firmly I was 100% sure that people do not use Notion because it's useful, but because its FUN. ALSO: - Notion has a built in non optimized programming language that is really easy to understand but extremely weak. You can learn a real programming language and create your own systems in the same time that you create your Notion setup. - Notion offers a free plan that is extremely server demanding (someone is or will pay for this).
When I first discovered Notion, I was overjoyed with the customization options. I was high on making sure all my pages were organized and aesthetically pleasing... to the point where I lost the plot completely and became stuck in a false sense of productivity. I then stepped back and redid all my Notion pages, keeping everything as simple as possible. Now I only open it when I actually have something to do, instead of endlessly fiddling and tweaking the pages.
I left Notion for one specific reason: I can't access Notion offline. I absolutely learned my lesson when I needed something and could not get to it due to no internet access. I like Notion but no offline access is a deal killer.
3:16 Why I don't use any note taking app... Configuring correctly takes more time than actually doing the work. I just use a basic bullet journal and index cards. Even if I find a good one, it will eventually become popular and feature creep will set in making a simple app bloated and complex over time. Similar to how the iPad started out being a simple tablet and now there are so many widgets and gestures that it's lost it's way.
I am Evernote survivor. Notion looked cool but it felt i going to work allot. Your video clicked in my head: Notion is basically MySpace of note taking app ecosystem. Designing and all the work around it.
Yeah Notion is too overwhelming. Crazy thing is I end up spending more time making my Notion look pretty instead of actually taking notes and/or managing tasks. I decided to just quit Notion to remove the temptation of designing 'the perfect system' since I realized the perfect system for me is not all in one app but rather separating note taking apps from my todo/project management apps.
Great video! I use Notion and Obsidian for two different things. I prefer Notion for managing my life and plans and keeping notes and records of everything related to my life. I find the databases in Notion easy to keep track of records. On the other hand, I use Obsidian for my research. Obsidian makes Organizing and connecting ideas more manageable, especially when keeping track of the pieces of literature I used in my research. I am, however, considering transferring Obsidian for my other notes in my courses. Thanks for the help by the way.
Thx rachel for your insight, I use confluence for my works documentation, and used notions for my personal notes. Confluence have many integration with atlasian product. But it too expensive and slow. Will try obsidian for my new startup team !
As a writer, I used notion for a couple months and have found it too distracting. I prefer to use Ulysses to write, Notes for note taking and research gather and all my other apps integrated in my phone for to do lists and calendars. I think trying to make Notion more than what it is (a database) is where people get a sunk cost bias and keep trying to make it “pretty”
Obsidian is a much simpler note taking app but I find the downside of having to pay a monthly fee of $10 or yearly fee of $96 just to sync it to my other devices because there may be times where I just only need my laptop or if I only need my tablet but only one is updated with notes but the other isn't.
hi great video and it gives me a lot of useful information. One suggestion from a video editor though: better try to reduce the volume of background music next time, and while your talking speed is above average and also you have a higher tone frequencies, it's better to use a quieter music to just define the mood and ambient a bit. Otherwise it would somehow distract the audiences from focusing the content. And because you provide such accurate information that this video would appear in a massive playlist, some of the audiences (including me) would tend to accelerate the play speed and this kind of fast-speed music would contradict a lot against your voice when we do that :)
I use both for very different purposes, Notion is for organizing my personal life and work teams (to do lists, movies, reading, learning resources, planning projects, assigning people to tasks, upload receipts, design) and I use obsidian for pure knowledge and connecting ideas that I come up with or learn from reading or other sources where I can build a lasting connected network of knowledge that I can come back to in the future for essays, projects, or just for the joy of learning, even if the app doesn't exist anymore since everything is in plain text. To whoever is reading this comment, consider this system, for me it would be a mess if I mix this two very separate worlds into one app.
Finally I understand how to use templates. It would be nice if you do a series of tutorials about Obsidian, and dont forget YAML. I simply don't get how to use it.
It's interesting to me that "obsidian" is like a code editor application and a normal user that want to take normal note use it. I hope you enjoy this application and thanks for this complete review.
Hey Rachel, just wanted to say you're doing an incredible job with your format and editing! It's insane to me that you've only got 2000 views at this point. With your professionalism and quality content, I know that if you keep at it, the world will recognise you! Love from London :)
yes, you are right. in notion I will try to setup new ways, too much work. can not focus on my actual work and other hand on Obdidian, I do not have to think too much. just focus on my work and create notes.
In terms of blocks and folding, better than Obsidian is Logseq. In Logseq, each paragraph is a block with an ID (unless you break the lines with Shift+Enter or write in the Document mode) that you can readily fold or drag into another page as an embed. Logseq's folding is logical: children inherit their parent's tags. This allows you to create a page with blocks as database entries and search for specific blocks or set up queries for them in a more rational strategic manner than is possible in Obsidian. Currently Obsidian is more stable and has more plugins, while Logseq is getting there. Logseq pages are stored/loaded as .md, you can set the directory the same path as the Obsidian vault, so you can have one .md folder to be shared by the apps if you want to use both (although the two apps accept different markdown styles for certain features such as embedding). Also, you can access your cloud-stored folder from Logseq's web app. Logseq has the option of hiding markdown brackets for WYSIWYG, whereas the same is possible in Obsidian only via a plugin.
After watching the video, basically she left Notion because it takes too much time to customize it and she spends her time more on customizing it than doing the actual work. This isn't problem with the App but the user. She has a particular workflow she prefers and specific ways of doing things and she wants the App to be built around her than meeting it halfway. Good thing there are Notion templates out there that you can buy so it already looks good for use. Note that she did mentioned she is not the creative type so that's also a problem with her not good with matching icons, fonts, colors hahahaha I use notion, all the time :)
kinda unrelated comment, but I suggest a high-pass filter on your voice recording, if you can. There were a couple times when idk maybe you hit the desk, and as I'm listening to you with a big sub system I.. felt it. (like at 3:57). Set and forget, just set it to cut everything below 100Hz or maybe a bit more and voila!
The sheer speed is what's really selling Obsidian for me. I'm in AND out at the same speed I'd spend getting in to Notion. Jot out quickly and slap a #hashtag on that boi and you're good to go!
I thought I wanted a "second brain" with Notion. It turns out that my first brain never used the second brain. When the tool is more complex than the problem, there's a problem. I may check out Obsidian. Thanks for the quality information.
"When the tool is more complex than the problem, there's a problem." Truth.
Ha thx Rachel! I used to used other apps too.
This is exactly what I was struggling with Notion
This is so well articulated. I'm in this boat right now.
As if Obsidian wasn’t obnoxiously complex
i do agree. Notion is so complicated that i spend more time trying to figure out than actually taking notes and keeping track of my work. my work is complicated enough...i dont have time to figure out a note app.
People need to decide what they actually need in a note taking app. Notion is utterly simple or mind numbingly complex for some folks. Some want simplicity and for them, I suggest perhaps Google Keep. That said, Notion can be used as a simple note taking app. The complexity is there when you need it.
Obsidian, ditto. I recommend most overwhelmed new Obsidian users turn off most plugins and enable them only when you learn how Obsidian "thinks."
Ones needs should dictate the app.
Exactly. And this is also exactly why so many Evernote users jumped ship to Notion and within days, weeks... either jumped back or moved on to someting else, Notion leaves a bad taste in the mouth far more than it satisfies.
Yess ! I'm actually using both at the moment and I like it ! Notion for everything that needs to be tracked/managed, basically a productivity management system, and then you have obsidian where I put all my note-taking and extensive writing, so it would be my knowledge management system. Both are amazing to the point where you can probably do everything in them but still, it does feel more natural to "write & link" in obsidian and to "organize & manage" in notion so I'm keeping it this way for now.
P.S : When it comes to stuff that is really important for example your own written stuff, I think it's much better to do it in an offline, private, secure and "backupable" tool.
Glad you found something that works for you! I tried doing both for a while but just found myself using Obsidian for most of it, so I ended up switching.
This is exactly what I do too.
I going to try it that way. I currently use notion for both things, tracking/ management and as knowledge base.
Same conclusion. I would even set Notion up as a funnel, or a staging area for my thoughts e.g. random ideas and todos during weekdays, and then come weekends, refine them while transferring to Obsidian.
Notion's better for that quick note-taking, the writing experience is good.
Interesting idea. Which tool fits your “offline, private, secure and backupable” criteria.
Notion is certainly feature-rich. It is easy to go down the rabbit hole and try everything. I did that for a while. Ultimately rejecting an app for the reason it is so customisable is like rejecting MS Word because it can do too much. I tried Obsidian but it was not long before I headed back to Notion because I missed the flexibility of all the features I complained of.
I'm amazed I had to scroll so far down in the comments to find someone pointing this out too: Notion is as simple or complex as you want to make it. Literally open it and there are pages and that's all you may ever need. People don't have to use databases and all the advanced stuff if they don't need them. Perhaps it's just a matter of Notion providing a simpler skin or mode for pure note taking.
For myself personally, I used Notion for working, Obisidian for thinking. No clue why the debate is about one or the other when Obsidian is free regardless. 😅
@@VaughanVanDyk this does make sense. Of course, Obsidian has its own advantages. Collaboration is perhaps better in Notion. Overall, can't go too wrong with either of them.
I find Notion, compared to dedicated apps that can do specified tasks: time wasting, ugly, uninspiring, time sucking... did I say, ugly? Learning curve too steep, sucking time away from the work I actually wanted to do with it, after a few months I left it in disgust vowing to never look at it again, have moved back to apps such as: Trello, Keep, dedicated journals, mind mapping... and having more fun and getting stuff done.
For me the customization is super important because it makes me more motivated seeing the aesthetics, helps me romanticize my work, like extra dopamine
making you dopamine addict. you will crave dopamine and visit their app time and again.
I completely agree with you, therefore I'm sticking with notion xD
cope
yea I tried obsidian and I really love the notion aesthetics and databases
that's how most people procrastinate rather than actually doing the work lol. I never got the hype of notion, it's more like a toy for people to fiddle with when having too much time at hand.
The feature that broke Notion for me is how they treat tables. They assume every table has a leading row or column, which is usually true, but not always. I just wanted a simple grid of cells where I can input text, and organize it however I want, but Notion tables always broke spectacularly on me. Which is ironic taking into account how flexible it aims to be with everything else.
They introduced simple tables a while ago, and they are exactly what you want: a simple grid of cells with nothing fancy if you need something simple :)
You should try using simple tables instead then; they’re exactly everything you’ve described. A simple format, you can input text into cells and easily organise them however you want.
@@callo_m That's great!
Agreed, it's frustrating
Hahaha you should probably explore more of notion.
For the last few years I've been in love with Notion (to the point of being annoyingly evangelistic about it to everybody) and somehow simultaneously surprised at how uninterested I've become in using it despite my plans to use it for everything. There's something about a plain paper notepad that is excellent for allowing the unfolding of human agency, ownership, and imagination, but it can be limited. There's something about Notion that enables powerful organization and connection, but somehow evokes the feeling of working with an over-engineered super computer when all you wanted was a quick piece of paper and pen. Maybe Obsidian hits a sweet spot between the two.
I completely vibe with this, especially with how distracting Notion is. Notion is a bit too flexible and chaotic for my workflow; I had way too many unlinked databases that were all over the place.
I love the time bar, please keep using them on suitable videos. I am in software overload at the moment. I have Obsidian as a fledgling second brain, ClickUp as a task and project manager and Notion for random jobs like tracking TV series I’d like to see. After creating a whole life operating system following August Bradley’s then not getting on with it. Shiny object syndrome.
Lol. I can definitely relate with the shiny object syndrome.
There is a Kanban plugin for Obsidian, if you wanted to use it for your tasks.
@@red-switch I’ve had a look at that I’ve decided to swap to a really basic tick and done system for tasks and I’m moving projects to Obsidian so I may use the Kanban for my blog writing.
2:40 Exactly... I've not tried Notion or Obsidian yet but video reviews I've seen give me the idea that people spend a lot more time customizing these kind of apps than doing the actual real work they are supposed to do. Not sure any of this is for me yet but thanks for the video.
In the dim, dark past, I designed and sold Microsoft Word Templates. Then I had to provide support to fix problems when my customers changed something and broke my carefully designed template.
People tend to break things when given a choice.
People love to change things and I think too many choices can be quite counterproductive. Perhaps limiting certain choices a good idea afterall.
Who uses templates? Thoughts
@@OASH2023 I use Minimal and adjust it using the settings plugin to make it easier for me to read. That said, are you referring to Notion Templates or Obsidian Themes?
I laughed way too hard when you said " i don't need to build databases guys" hahahaha, I'm same as you. We just need minimal note taking app which is private, secure and offers some basic and cool stuff in a minimal way. Obsidian is the way to go. Great Video!!
LOL right? Thanks! Glad you liked it!
Really helpful and mirrors a lot of my own thoughts as I contemplate switching from Notion to Obsidian. One thing I wasn't anticipating: the importance of Obsidian relying on plain text files. I'm resigned to there fact I will invariably explore other systems, so the sheer portability of a universal standard *that will likely be machine readable for my entire life* is a critical feature for me.
Notion is really fun to build that dream „second brain“. It is great for multiple people working together and maintaining it. But as an actual productivity tool, it is just not viable, you are constantly being slowed down by it‘s complexity with multiple places you can put the same note in, or vise versa. But even if you know where the place is, the mobile app is just too slow for me to use Notion spontaneously.
Thank you. I'm 30 years old and will be moving to a new industry and will be studying again for it. This video is really helpful because I know about Notion but I don't like how to maneuver around it.
I’m 32 and recently moved into a brand new industry this year too! What are you transitioning into?
@@Hamyhamster24 Data Governance Professional ~ SLR 😊
You're just getting better and better! This video echoed so many of my own thoughts. I can really relate! Keep it up!
Ahh! Thank you! Glad I'm not the only one thinking these!
Yes, amazing! I tried Notion for a very brief time before learning about Obsidian. Now I'm obsessed and it really can be whatever YOU need it to be! These little tips about folding and stuff are really useful, too, I'll check out your other Obsidian content!
Woot! Thanks! Hope you like 'em!
Nice video. You have a great personality and presentation. My only advice is to turn the music down to around -30db in your editor. It felt like it was competing with your voice at times. Keep up the great work.
I agree. I find background music to be a useless distraction.
The music is too loud, but also it is not even necessary, especially when you have a good, well-paced script, which you have! Also, the sound effects are too loud, and as a result are disconcerting. Your delivery and content are very good!
Both the OG comment and the comments by Daly about sound effects.... Too loud. Good content otherwise.
Totally agree, for me playing 2x it is annoying as hell
Yes, please cut out the music entirely. It is so distracting!!!!!!
Thanks for the video, Rachel. Similar journey to you, but backwards.. started off with Obsidian then got attracted by the bright lights of Notion. Realised it was an unnecessary time sink and Obsidian had everything I needed. Went running back and fortunately Obsidian welcomed me with open arms. 🙂
The time line at the top left is such a genius idea!! Great job
Super insightful. I was looking for a note taking app and knowing that Notion you'll spend way more time making it look all nice vs taking actual notes is what made me choose Obsidian
I am looking at Notion again and am glad for this video to remind me of why I didn't want to further use it. Main issues for me were crappy export options, slowness of the db combined with cloud storage and no real ability to have alternatives for the available fonts and colors.
Still, I think Notion is a really good option for more visual folks. Obsidian and LogSeq (which is what I am using now) are waaaay harder to get into without a prior idea of linking and markdown, so Notion caters to that.
There are also some benefits of readymade systems like PPV by August Bradley who offers the hard stuff of building the interlinked system as a service. I like to use the best task manager second brain and Project coordination in separate apps, still. Instead of making compromises for all implementations in Notion, I'd rather reproduce a basic structure in all apps.YMMV
When I started. I was frustrated that I couldn't connect notes, now interesting things are starting to appear, it's a long road, not suitable for people with a short-term vision. Thank you, your presentation is very interesting.
I discovered Notion yesterday and today, the moment I discovered that the desktop app MUST be online and connected to the cloud at all times, I immediately closed down the app and started looking for alternatives. Other than that, Notion does everything I want. Not being able to have it function offline and keeping all data local is a deal breaker for me...and no end-to-end encryption on the sync is immediate blacklist
You blew my mind with the preview option for Obsidian. That is now a total gamechanger for me
Nice review! That's the first time I've ever seen an animated progress bar to indicate the length of a section. What a great idea!
Thanks! Admittedly, the progress bar is not an entirely original idea, a lot of TH-camrs have done it too, but I am pretty proud of it. Took me a hot minute to figure it out.
I love your review style. I think as a digital note taking beginner, I might stay with Notion for some more time until it also frustrates me. It might be that the effort the Obsidian developers invested into creating the best power user tool, the Notion developers invested into stacking activities in a way that I can learn quicker. E.g., without me noticing Notion created a sub-page for the first database I added, and now also happily shows me the sub-page as a normal thing, lik if that was what I intended in the first place. Thereby it automatically introduces me to the concept that I can integrate one page into another page without having to explain the concept. I just learn it by playing around. I love it.
Notion does have keyboard shortcuts for virtually all the things I use. You just type / and the command so /h2 for h2 header or /bu for bullet list and so on. You have the highliting shortcut as well which personally I hate because it's a 2 handed operation but I rarely find myself using the mouse with notion.
Another thing is that if you're simple and don't use templates and all the fancy features, notion is just as good as obsedian if not better considering it has more features, FREE syncing across devices, etc... Sure I may not be in full control of my data but I get to sync my notes for free and save $100 a year + it's not like i'm taking notes on my WW3 invasion on the app lmao
Yeah .
All the linkages that graph view of obsidian shows drove me crazy and i am switching to Notion now .
Saw that notion also adopted markdown shortcuts so its even better now
You need encryption not only for grandious things like planning WW3. If you use Notion for work, to store info about clients and their problems, then the lack of offline mode and proper encryption may put you in breach of NDA and other agreements.
And in case you use it for your college studies. Imagine you will need your notes 15 years later but Notion isn't there anymore and your notes are all gone.
Thank you so much for your effort of sharing your experience in this video! It is so nice that you packed your experience through years into polished thoughts and video demonstration to help people make their choice, thank you for your caring
Great video and I absolutely love your timer in the upper left hand corner!
Thanks!
Thanks, I been seeing a lot of people using Notion for med school, and as I am about to start my first year, this video completely changed my mind. Thank you!
We are allways tend to keep things complex. I’m working in the worlds biggest automotive company and I realized that the project managament team has been keeping most important notes (million dollars of budgets about project) in the basic excel spreadsheets. In my opinion we just need focus on the system not tools.
Started with Notion like you and then switched to Obsidian for about a year. Now using Notion again. Main difference worth discussing is collaboration. I love Obsidian but it is not designed for shared note taking like Notion. If you need a tool that allows you to collaborate on notes and work with others, Notion is your best bet at present. Just wish Notion let you split windows like Obsidian…
thanks for making this video! It gave a great perspective on obsidian vs notion. I'm currently torn between Notion, Obsidian, and OneNote because they all have really valuable features, but lack specific functionalities would be amazing in a single application. Notion's database and calendar view are really powerful for workflow and timelines, but is somewhat lacking in text handling. Obsidian is amazing for interlinking ideas and notes in a mindmap fashion, but lacks the table and database functionality. OneNote is fantastic for outlining, simple tables, and recording info quickly, but lacks features like databases, quickly inserting page/paragraph references, calendar views, or mind-map style interconnectivity. The niche each program fills is just different enough that each is useful on their own, but leaves you wanting to use multiple for different areas. Also very tempting to track things that don't need tracking because its a digital "endless" workspace with so many options.
Notion has overwhelmed me. I had to strip it down to get a workflow going.
I went back to Bear and markdown.
I still like notion better. It's not complicated if you learn how to use it for your life. And i love it's so customizable i can make it look good, and that may take a little time but it gives me motivation lol
Very true. Notion is definitely more for people who understand systems thinking (which in itself is a separate perspective to learn) but once you know that, it's super easy.
@@ksmith1964 exactly!
What a great comparison! Section previews look super useful for connecting my notes.
Yay! Glad it was useful!
One thing I already liked about Obsidian, has a lot of languages!
I like to type things in English to improve the language but sometimes I save time doing things in my native language.
I'm not even done with your video and I want to say how much I LOVE the onscreen timers in your video. So incredibly helpful for my ADHD brain.
Yay! Glad you like it!
@@RachelVMadrigal If you don't mind me asking, how did you make those?
Great video, and I agree if you need only a note taker. If you're looking for an advanced note-taking app over Evernote, you are probably good to go with Obsidian Notion is not for simple tasks/note management if your needs are simple as just taking notes. I have used all and Notion is probably the best tool out there for having an all-in-one place tool. Once you know how to use it, your workflow becomes intuitive. The notion is a merging of Trello, Evernote, Basecamp, and Asana all in one place and is my only choice. Not advertising, but you must know how to use a tool to take advantage of it.
Using Notion for Note Taking or Tasks is like installing Linux just so you can use LibreOffice for note taking and some proprietary Linux app... for Tasks... you can do it, but there are better, easier, more dedicated tools for those purposes. I'd rather just use: Trello, Evernote, Basecamp... Asana.. as those are perfect for what they're designed to do, whereas no matter what template you install or dashboard you create, it'll never compare to mature, dedicated apps dedicated to a single purpose. Notion is a platform, jack of all trades , master of none with ridiculous learning curve and it's not worth it. My 2 cents only..
I’m subscribing and liking, why? This was a very high quality, well structured video. I’m looking forward to viewing all your work.
Aww thank you! 💙
Notion is a great app for procrastinating.
It helps me procrastinate?
@@landonjackson284 for me, it make more procrastinate & More anxious cus it's beautifully distracting.
Seriously 😂 I’ve never accomplished anything with notion
The layout of the video is so informative! Like the chapters + the time elapsed of that chapter :O
This is a well-articulated informative video about two of the best note taking productivity apps out now
As a programmer I use notion, because I can customize it perfect to my needs.
Wow, I really appreciated this video. I used to be a guy who just drops everything in my notes & and Google Keep
Notion has 100+ keyboard shortcuts. Which ones were missing for you?
I relate to everything you said, I'm making the switch myself. This video was very useful, I'll binge the playlist you have on obsidian, thank you! :)
I loved the video. I have been looking at other note taking apps and got suggested this video. The little graphics and the loading bar for each topic was soo cute and unique. My only critique about the video is that the music was too distracting and it was louder than your voice most of the time to really absorb everything that you were saying.
Great video. I’m curious though, what keyboard shortcuts did you want that Notion doesn’t have? I’ve found that I use Notion shortcuts more, than most other apps.
Hi Matt! I'd like to hijack this thread. For me, I always had issues with some common keyboard shortcuts when using Notion. Most especially with copy and pasting. Often, I had to hit cmd+c several times and still, there are times when I paste, it pastes the wrong thing. Sometimes it pastes the whole block even if I just selected some of the texts.
@@babie.desk- definitely a gripe, but something they fixed recently!
I personally will still stick with Notion, I have tried Obsidian but I keep going back to Notion for whatever reason. It was however very insightful to get all your thoughts on either side (:
everything you mentioned Obsidian does, Notion does it as well. Even the things you said Notion couldn't do or had to be done differently in Notion, can be done in Notion the same way you presented them for Obsidian. Notion has over 100 keyboard shortcuts, as well.
for me I don’t take my notion so seriously so i love the fact that it is almost like a hobby at this point. i love creating/customizing new databases and pages and improving my pages. that being said I don’t take it seriously because I’m not in school and don’t use it for work or anything so I mainly use it for reading tracking and personal writing , habit tracking, agenda, etc.
Agree. I also switched from Notion to Obsidian for mainly the same reasons. It’s simple, clean and powerful and it perfectly meets my needs. I love that it’s future-proof. All of my data is local (or hosted). I do have some issues periodically with syncing between devices but not a big deal. Thanks for sharing this!
I used Devonthink to manage thousands of text notes and sources for my doctoral dissertation. Mostly stick to OneNote for business and apple notes for personal, now. NValt is great if you don’t need complex markup, all those notes are still readable text files. Online tools are not responsive enough for me. I bounced off Notion hard.
i coudnt get into notion, i was spending more time trying to make it pretty and adding and fixing the templates for my needs than putting them to use. when i did try to use them i found that the process of maintaining them was more "labor intensive" for me compare to just keeping a regular paper planner. Plus i dont actually do that much in my daily task so keeing track was kainda pointless. i do love seeing videos about notion tho, idk how ppl can do so much per day but its fun seeing how they organize and make theirs pretty.
With my severe ADD, my life's lost almost all of its structure and logic after last year's severe depression.
Occupational therapy has done a great job at rebuilding a lot of it, but nevertheless, there's this fundamental helplessness, lack of orentation and nearly nonexistent perception of time that makes it hard; if not impossible; to reach a basic level of mental ease when there's even just a bit too many goals piled up. That makes a weekly routine barely manageable, but as there's always deviations, external influences and temporary goals and necessities, every week is at risk of falling apart.
I've found structure to be insanely crucial to my functionality and the cohesion of most of what I do, yet at the same time, I cannot hold out for too long without a generous amount of flexibility, since I'm a very emotional lad with a bit too much ambition. I was never good at either and always needed a perfect balance between the two.
That's why I found that the criticism that people have about Notion being TOO customisable ended up being the very thing that pulled me into it in the first place. I seem to be incompatible with modern life, if we wanna be dramatic about it, so something that allows me to create a right hand guide that perfectly moulds itself around my deviancy and remains elastic for its ever-changing nature sounds like a dream come true, as I've never once had the pleasure of using an agenda or digital planner this flexible, especially with my unconventional ways of perceiving time.
Take all of this with a grain of salt, as I have just recently started using notion, but the sense of security it brings is already starting to manifest. I'm someone who's deeply deficient and had to learn self-discipline all by himself and has barely managed to wing it. So an all-encompassing guide lifts tonnes of weight off my shoulders. Who knows, maybe in a month's time, or two, I'll find myself in much the same situation as yours. I'm not denying that possibility. But in the end, we're all different, obviously, and the point I'm trying to make is that some of us cannot get enough of this sort of flexibility which gives a sense of control. Some who suffer from the same issues I do absolutely NEED _perfect_ structure and could not fathom having to bother with something as fluid as Notion, I get that. But I would certainly recommend this to people who want as much guidance as possible that they can design to the smallest detail.
I need an in-depth overview of as many aspects of my entire life as possible, as my brain seems innately incapable of "getting its shit together", if you will; pardon my French.
But not only that: It does so in a way I, myself, can design; A form of overview that is tailored to how I process information. That's just... Love on first sight.
That's what it feels like to me: Guidance meets control.
I'll let you know should this perspective change anytime soon, but right now, the honeymoon phase is certainly hitting hard.
Oh boy, you're not alone. I relate so much; the ADD, the need for structure but at the same time enough flexibility to feel in control. Thanks. After reading all this, I'm probably sticking to Notion for now.
@@sagebowman8452 Happy to hear I helped you make up your mind! c:
bUT BEWARE that the daily planner / agenda / calendar that Notion has is utterly *_abysmal_* and has 0 visual ease of use.
I strongly recommend that you check out Akiflow, Sunsama or Motion, which are beautiful planners that give you a school-style weekly schedule, rich calendar, and extremely dynamic ways to time block and create schedules and modify them according to all the new tasks that come in on a daily basis.
I am very interested in learning Obsidian. I am not able to swap completely, as my workflow depends on my manager being able to see my call notes (and I hate google docs for it), but I want to see if I can use obsidian for some other processes! Thank you for bringing it to my attention.
omg that section preview is so useful! I wish notion has that huhu
I tried Obsidian for about an hour. It was easy to transfer my data from Joplin to Obsidian. But then I couldn't find a built in sync feature. In Joplin I have it set up to sync to another drive. With Obsidian it looks like I would need to use Google Drive to accomplish the same thing. So I will stick with Joplin for now.
My solution is to create a private GitHub repo that will store your vault. Then use an Obsidian community plugin for the git syncing. You can get it to sync every so often (I've set it to 5 minutes).
It is a bit more complicated to set up, but much nicer in the long run as you get complete history of changes etc. And you have all your deleted information too.
Those are exactly the reason why I tried to use notion but gave up pretty soon. I thought "I don't have time for this", and also I dislike having my notes online. It's nice to have them sync between devices, but ultimately I want them on my computer.
Really good video thank you. 🤝 I was considering switching from obsidian to Notion and this came up on my feed today!
I got to the point that I can't improve my Notion anymore.
It took me 4 days in a row to design my whole workflow, pages and subpages, as well as how each of them were going to be displayed as "side view" and how they were going to have "center view" or "whole page", I have a balance between functional and aesthetic, now I move forward without distractions and I don't usually configure my Notion again.
Keep in mind that it took me much longer to learn Notion and I found it too complicated before, so I stopped using it as I wasted time trying to get organized. I found that no template I saw was going to suit me and I ended up making my own templates by learning from other people.
I'm in the midst of my Notion obsession phase. I can't see how I could leave. Anyway, I love your topic progress bar pop up in your vid. How did you do that?
I definitely went through that! Hope it works for you! I used keyframes for the progress bar.
@@RachelVMadrigal Thx!
do you still use notion? cause im in my early notion obsession phase here, lol
@@dizzie9544 yup! I don't see a way out! Lol!
@@dizzie9544 Odds overwhelmingly the obsession turned to loathing ... very quickly.
Wow. I love how you costumize notes in Notion, I used to do it in other apps or software but I might love the Obsidian more because of the worth informations I got from you.
I have the same issue, I hate spending so much time in devices, I think Obsidian will be the best for me too.
Tried to learn both of these at the same time HAHA, Notion was too complicated and heavy on my phone that it sort of lags. With obsidian, it's plain text, like how I use my phone's default note app, except I can use wikilink to easily relate my separate notes and even create a homepage out of that. Plugins are godsent in obsidian. My faves are dataview, bulk rename, emoji shortcodes(for when I use a separate keyboard for my phone/iPad), and thumbnails. It's more convenient with a physical keyboard, but its mobile toolbar compensates. and the Hotkeys! I love it. I still become envious when I see notion users show off their system and aesthetic, but again, it got me thinking too much about the "look" instead of the "work" I can do from it. This vid validated my thoughts and happier that I didn't force myself to adapt to notion (I mean, it just looks so neat and website-like, deceptively "easy to navigate")
As a software engineer with gamification studies, I analyzed Notion for a few hours.
Instantly and firmly I was 100% sure that people do not use Notion because it's useful, but because its FUN.
ALSO:
- Notion has a built in non optimized programming language that is really easy to understand but extremely weak. You can learn a real programming language and create your own systems in the same time that you create your Notion setup.
- Notion offers a free plan that is extremely server demanding (someone is or will pay for this).
When I first discovered Notion, I was overjoyed with the customization options. I was high on making sure all my pages were organized and aesthetically pleasing... to the point where I lost the plot completely and became stuck in a false sense of productivity. I then stepped back and redid all my Notion pages, keeping everything as simple as possible. Now I only open it when I actually have something to do, instead of endlessly fiddling and tweaking the pages.
I left Notion for one specific reason: I can't access Notion offline. I absolutely learned my lesson when I needed something and could not get to it due to no internet access. I like Notion but no offline access is a deal killer.
3:16 Why I don't use any note taking app...
Configuring correctly takes more time than actually doing the work.
I just use a basic bullet journal and index cards.
Even if I find a good one, it will eventually become popular and feature creep will set in making a simple app bloated and complex over time.
Similar to how the iPad started out being a simple tablet and now there are so many widgets and gestures that it's lost it's way.
I am Evernote survivor.
Notion looked cool but it felt i going to work allot. Your video clicked in my head: Notion is basically MySpace of note taking app ecosystem. Designing and all the work around it.
Same. Evernote is dead to me now. Notion is slow, seems like too much work at first but shines once you get it to work for you.
Yeah Notion is too overwhelming. Crazy thing is I end up spending more time making my Notion look pretty instead of actually taking notes and/or managing tasks. I decided to just quit Notion to remove the temptation of designing 'the perfect system' since I realized the perfect system for me is not all in one app but rather separating note taking apps from my todo/project management apps.
Great video! I use Notion and Obsidian for two different things. I prefer Notion for managing my life and plans and keeping notes and records of everything related to my life. I find the databases in Notion easy to keep track of records. On the other hand, I use Obsidian for my research. Obsidian makes Organizing and connecting ideas more manageable, especially when keeping track of the pieces of literature I used in my research. I am, however, considering transferring Obsidian for my other notes in my courses. Thanks for the help by the way.
Loved the "progress bar" on the video
Thx rachel for your insight, I use confluence for my works documentation, and used notions for my personal notes.
Confluence have many integration with atlasian product. But it too expensive and slow. Will try obsidian for my new startup team !
As a writer, I used notion for a couple months and have found it too distracting. I prefer to use Ulysses to write, Notes for note taking and research gather and all my other apps integrated in my phone for to do lists and calendars.
I think trying to make Notion more than what it is (a database) is where people get a sunk cost bias and keep trying to make it “pretty”
I currently use Notion I think is easy to use and Obsidian looks good as well !! Thanks for sharing!!
Obsidian is a much simpler note taking app but I find the downside of having to pay a monthly fee of $10 or yearly fee of $96 just to sync it to my other devices because there may be times where I just only need my laptop or if I only need my tablet but only one is updated with notes but the other isn't.
Thank you for your opinion and information on Obsidian. I'm very interested.
And... I subscribed.
hi great video and it gives me a lot of useful information. One suggestion from a video editor though: better try to reduce the volume of background music next time, and while your talking speed is above average and also you have a higher tone frequencies, it's better to use a quieter music to just define the mood and ambient a bit. Otherwise it would somehow distract the audiences from focusing the content. And because you provide such accurate information that this video would appear in a massive playlist, some of the audiences (including me) would tend to accelerate the play speed and this kind of fast-speed music would contradict a lot against your voice when we do that :)
I use both for very different purposes, Notion is for organizing my personal life and work teams (to do lists, movies, reading, learning resources, planning projects, assigning people to tasks, upload receipts, design) and I use obsidian for pure knowledge and connecting ideas that I come up with or learn from reading or other sources where I can build a lasting connected network of knowledge that I can come back to in the future for essays, projects, or just for the joy of learning, even if the app doesn't exist anymore since everything is in plain text. To whoever is reading this comment, consider this system, for me it would be a mess if I mix this two very separate worlds into one app.
Finally I understand how to use templates. It would be nice if you do a series of tutorials about Obsidian, and dont forget YAML. I simply don't get how to use it.
How do you sync your obsidian notes across devices? Since you have to pay in order to get them synced, so that's a bonus point for notion imo.
Amazing video, hope you will do one for Taskade in the future! :)
i still like my notion because i value the aesthetic as well lol but i do hope i can synch my google calendar and other stuff
It's interesting to me that "obsidian" is like a code editor application and a normal user that want to take normal note use it. I hope you enjoy this application and thanks for this complete review.
why i didn't remember that i wrote this comment? oh god, what's wrong with my mind :|
Great review of the features provided by the two apps and your workflow. Very helpful!
Great one, Rachel! Thanks!
great parts indicator!!!
I was in love with Craft but after seeing Obsidian I am in the process of transitioning all my notes over to that platform as well.
Hey Rachel, just wanted to say you're doing an incredible job with your format and editing! It's insane to me that you've only got 2000 views at this point. With your professionalism and quality content, I know that if you keep at it, the world will recognise you! Love from London :)
Wow! Thank you! That's so inspiring to hear. Perfect timing for filming day.
Love subject video link numbers AND the subject timer in the upper left hand corner, next level organized wow. Do you drink coffee?
Can't wait for "Why I left Obsidian for Logseq" :)
yes, you are right. in notion I will try to setup new ways, too much work. can not focus on my actual work and other hand on Obdidian, I do not have to think too much. just focus on my work and create notes.
In terms of blocks and folding, better than Obsidian is Logseq. In Logseq, each paragraph is a block with an ID (unless you break the lines with Shift+Enter or write in the Document mode) that you can readily fold or drag into another page as an embed. Logseq's folding is logical: children inherit their parent's tags. This allows you to create a page with blocks as database entries and search for specific blocks or set up queries for them in a more rational strategic manner than is possible in Obsidian. Currently Obsidian is more stable and has more plugins, while Logseq is getting there. Logseq pages are stored/loaded as .md, you can set the directory the same path as the Obsidian vault, so you can have one .md folder to be shared by the apps if you want to use both (although the two apps accept different markdown styles for certain features such as embedding). Also, you can access your cloud-stored folder from Logseq's web app. Logseq has the option of hiding markdown brackets for WYSIWYG, whereas the same is possible in Obsidian only via a plugin.
Super helpful video! Please keep making videos :)
After watching the video, basically she left Notion because it takes too much time to customize it and she spends her time more on customizing it than doing the actual work. This isn't problem with the App but the user. She has a particular workflow she prefers and specific ways of doing things and she wants the App to be built around her than meeting it halfway. Good thing there are Notion templates out there that you can buy so it already looks good for use. Note that she did mentioned she is not the creative type so that's also a problem with her not good with matching icons, fonts, colors hahahaha
I use notion, all the time :)
i use notion for personal things, and remnote for school. i might check out obsidian
kinda unrelated comment, but I suggest a high-pass filter on your voice recording, if you can. There were a couple times when idk maybe you hit the desk, and as I'm listening to you with a big sub system I.. felt it. (like at 3:57). Set and forget, just set it to cut everything below 100Hz or maybe a bit more and voila!
You tell me this the day I finally manage to set up my notion
The sheer speed is what's really selling Obsidian for me. I'm in AND out at the same speed I'd spend getting in to Notion.
Jot out quickly and slap a #hashtag on that boi and you're good to go!