Last time I was writing about this topic, I went over what I think is [[A Good Note]]. I still think that post was good, but one thing I wanted to narrow in on was *context of use*, which is something I’ve been contemplating lately. There are so many “productivity” bloggers and youtubers who have made a full-time job of telling you how to write, how to organize your note-taking, and so on and so forth. I think thinking about how you write is helpful! As I’ve said before, [[Express Yourself With Writing|expressing yourself with writing]] is a very healthy and useful practice. But I also think that it’s good to avoid the kinds of people who make a living out of telling you how to do and organize your writing and thoughts. For one, the goal is never to just “write to take notes” — the goal is to think effectively. How can you develop insights from the things around you, or the things that matter to you? What things can you do to develop those insights, and what can you do with them, either internally or externally? It’s easy to think that “improving” your note-taking will help with these things, because it’s the most visible part of the invisible practice of sharpening the ole noggin. Taking notes is tangible, easy, and it *feels* like you’re doing something, but in the words of my boy Goku, you have to go even further beyond. And more importantly, the people who make money off of telling you how to write notes are missing the context of the usage of your notes. Their primary “creative work[^1]” is writing about productivity. They give advice to people on how to tackle their work, creative or otherwise, but the advice they developed is completely disconnected from the external realities of the people they’re attempting to reach. That makes it about as effective as snake oil. I’m a UI/UX guy, so one thing I’ve come to learn is that if you’re going to develop a system — whether it be for an app, a website, or the flow in which you work — it has to be developed based on the context of use. I dunno what a chemist is doing in their day to day: how the fuck am I going to tell them how to use [[Obsidian]] to make it easier for them to do their work? This is why if you’re wanting to write more, the only person who can truly determine the why and how of its usefulness to you is you. It’s also whey when I’ve had friends ask me why I love Obsidian so much, I ask them what makes them interested in it. Getting the context makes it easier to actually give them information to make it useful for whatever it is they’re trying to do. Anyways this post was spurred on by getting another one of those “THE ULTIMATE SECOND BRAIN!” videos showing up on my feed again. Don’t get pulled in by that nonsense. I’m speaking from experience by the way, I literally read the book on building a “Second Brain” by Tiago Forte and it was ass. The only thing that was cool about it was the author’s name.[^2] Maybe I needed to pay for the [$500 course](https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com/foundation) to get use out of it? In fact, [[Thoughts on The Bullet Journal Book|most systems-based books are trash]]. Just focus on you. [^1]: I struggle to call it “creative,” tbh. Or “work.” It’s mostly just “““[[content]].””” [^2]: I mean that by the way, Tiago Forte is a sick-ass name