My Year in PKM: 2024 in numbers

A year of personal knowledge management (PKM) for Nicole van der Hoeven produced a striking mix of output and upkeep: 1,613 new Obsidian notes, 3,616 note edits, 118 Readwise-captured items, and 1,003 Obsidian Excalidraw drawings—alongside a demanding life schedule marked by 15,474 emails, 560 meetings, and 95,259 kilometers of travel. The headline takeaway isn’t just volume; it’s how the system served as a feedback loop for learning, work execution, and mental health tracking during a turbulent year.

Content intake was steady and heavily tool-driven. Readwise fed 118 captured items into Obsidian, averaging roughly two per week. Book reading totaled 33 books. For audio, Snipd—positioned as an AI-enhanced podcast reader—generated 162 “snips” (highlights) and a record of podcast topics consumed. That intake then translated into a large note footprint: 1,613 new notes in 2024 (4.42 per day), representing 14.27% of notes in the main vault, plus 3,616 modifications (32% of all notes). The edit-to-create ratio landed at 2.24, meaning she updated about 2.24 existing notes for every one new note created—an indicator of ongoing refinement rather than one-and-done capture.

Work and life logistics were equally quantified. She received 15,474 personal emails and replied to 249. On publishing, she produced 11 videos on NVDH, 15 on Grafana Labs, 14 on other channels, plus 30 shorts—40 long-form/livestream pieces total. Calendar blocking remained central, handled via Reclaim, which reported 560 meetings attended (about 11 per week) with 472 different people met. She juggled seven calendars, and travel dominated: 152 travel days (41.64% of the year) across 18 countries, with 12 conferences (8 speaking, 4 attending). Travel distance totaled 95,259 kilometers—more than twice around the equator.

Health and therapy tracking were integrated into PKM rather than treated as separate. An Oura Ring showed low activity at the start of the year, a rebound with travel, a readiness and sleep hit in November during another travel surge, and recovery afterward. Stress patterns emerged too: Tuesdays were the most stressful day, and June was the peak month. Sleep averaged about seven and a half hours with a typical bedtime around 1:00 AM. For mental health, Obsidian also logged therapy-adjacent meetings and calls; a Dataview query counted 73 sessions across couples therapy, individual therapy, psychoanalysis, and professional coaching.

The system’s structure also emphasized retrieval and continuity. She imported 700 non-text files (often photos) into Obsidian, used Periodic Notes, and relied on Excalidraw for hybrid visual notes—currently totaling 1,003 drawings. Dataview queries surfaced “wordiest” and “most linked” notes, and an orphan-note check found none in the last year after excluding daily notes and game notes. The year ended with a personal pivot: after trying to learn in public, she learned that some lessons must be absorbed privately—while still sharing the quantified mechanics that made the year survivable and trackable.