If I Had To Start In Obsidian, Here's What I'd Do

TL;DR

Start a new Obsidian vault and focus on linking ideas immediately rather than importing old notes or setting up folders.

Briefing Cornell Notes

Briefing

Starting from a blank Obsidian vault, the fastest path to a useful “idea verse” isn’t importing old notes or building folders—it’s creating a small set of meaningful notes and linking them immediately. The payoff is a personal network of ideas where relationships become visible in the graph view, turning note-taking from passive collection into active connection.

The approach begins with a clean vault: create a new vault in Obsidian and then ignore the usual setup steps. No folders, no plugins, and no metadata are required at the start. The goal is to externalize what already matters to the thinker—things that feel interesting or important—so the system grows from personal relevance rather than organization for its own sake.

Instead of importing content, the workflow starts with “thing notes.” A thing note is any item from the outside world that sparks a reaction—an idea, a quote, a song, a book, a person. The example starts with the “nearness principle,” an idea the creator has been focused on for years: the closer concepts are, the more their relationships stand out. After writing that note, the next step is to ask what it connects to. Using a repeated note-making prompt—“This reminds me of…”—the note is linked to a specific reference: dotted art paintings from Sarra. Even before the note appears in the sidebar, the graph can begin forming connections that feel intuitive because they come from lived associations.

The process then repeats with another thing note: a quote from Dune. The quote “Fear is the mind killer,” attributed to Frank Herbert, is added as its own note and then linked to its source material. In the graph, Frank Herbert and Dune become connected to the quote, making the relationships tangible rather than buried in text.

From there, the graph expands through personal resonance. The quote “Fear is the mind killer” is connected to Taylor Swift via the song “Fearless,” creating a new note for the song and linking it to Taylor Swift. The system keeps growing as long as each new note answers the same question: what does this remind you of, and what should it connect to next?

A final note—“It’s all about connecting the dots”—acts as a meta-synthesis of the exercise. The creator emphasizes that the value isn’t in amassing thousands of notes; it’s in the quality of the links and the joy of seeing ideas recombine. The suggested reset is simple: start with five notes, keep them intrinsically meaningful (not meeting notes or generic project logs), and use “This reminds me of…” to drive links that feel like thinking rather than tagging.

There’s also a plug for “Idea Verse Light,” a free, done-for-you set of linked notes, but the core method remains the same: build a personal internet of ideas by making connections yourself—rewiring how you think—rather than relying on AI or other people’s structures.

Cornell Notes

The core method for starting in Obsidian is to skip imports, folders, plugins, and metadata, then build an “idea verse” by creating a handful of meaningful “thing notes” and linking them right away. Each note should come from something personally interesting or important, such as an idea, quote, movie, or song. The repeated prompt “This reminds me of…” drives the next link, so the graph view turns associations into visible relationships. The example links the “nearness principle” to dotted art paintings from Sarra, connects a Dune quote (“Fear is the mind killer” by Frank Herbert) to Dune and then to Taylor Swift’s “Fearless,” and ends with a synthesis note about connecting the dots. The result is a personal network that makes note-taking feel joyful and active, not archival.

Why does the method recommend starting with a blank vault instead of importing notes or building folders?

It prioritizes connection quality over organizational overhead. By creating a new vault and immediately working in the graph, the system grows from current, personally meaningful associations. The example explicitly avoids folders, plugins, and metadata at the start, arguing that the first win is seeing relationships form rather than spending time on structure.

What is a “thing note,” and how does it guide what to write next?

A “thing note” is a note about something in the world that feels interesting or important—an idea, quote, song, book, or person. The workflow treats these as building blocks for linking. After writing one, the next step is to ask what it connects to, so the note becomes a node in a growing network rather than a standalone snippet.

How does the “This reminds me of…” prompt function in the linking process?

It acts as a consistent bridge from one note to the next. After creating a note (like the “nearness principle”), the prompt forces a specific association (e.g., dotted art paintings from Sarra). That association is then turned into an actual link, so the graph reflects the thinker’s own mental pathways.

How does the example build a multi-hop connection chain?

It starts with the Dune quote “Fear is the mind killer” and attributes it to Frank Herbert. The quote note links to Dune and Frank Herbert. Then the idea of fear is connected to Taylor Swift through the song “Fearless,” creating a new note for the song and linking it to Taylor Swift. The graph view makes these hops visible as relationships between nodes.

What does the method suggest as a practical starting size and goal?

Start with five notes. The goal isn’t to capture everything; it’s to recapture joy and agency by making links that feel intrinsically meaningful. The example ends with a synthesis note—“It’s all about connecting the dots”—to show how a small network can summarize the exercise.

Review Questions

What steps does the method explicitly avoid when starting in Obsidian, and why are those omissions important to the workflow?
Choose one of the example notes (e.g., “Fear is the mind killer” or the “nearness principle”). What would you link it to using “This reminds me of…” and what would the resulting graph connections look like?
Why does the method emphasize link quality over note quantity, and how does the graph view support that claim?

Key Points

1
Start a new Obsidian vault and focus on linking ideas immediately rather than importing old notes or setting up folders.
2
Use “thing notes” for items that feel interesting or important—ideas, quotes, songs, books, or people.
3
Drive each new link with the prompt “This reminds me of…,” then convert that association into an actual graph connection.
4
Build connections in chains (quote → source → related cultural reference) so the graph shows relationships, not isolated text.
5
Avoid plugins, metadata, and heavy organization at the beginning; let personal relevance guide the structure.
6
Aim for a small network first—about five notes—so the system stays joyful and exploratory.
7
Treat note-taking as thinking: the value comes from making connections yourself, not from AI or external tagging systems.

Highlights

The recommended reset is almost spartan: no imports, no folders, no plugins—just create a few meaningful notes and link them.

“Idea verse” is framed as an “internet for the inner world,” where the graph view reveals relationships between ideas.

A simple prompt—“This reminds me of…”—turns personal associations into concrete links that expand the network.

The example demonstrates multi-hop linking: a Dune quote connects to Frank Herbert and Dune, then to Taylor Swift via “Fearless.”

The exercise ends with a synthesis note (“It’s all about connecting the dots”), showing how small networks can produce insight.

Topics

Obsidian Vault Setup
Idea Verse Graph
Note-Making Prompts
Linking Notes
Personal Knowledge Networks