![[Obsidian Is An Open Field With A Lot Of Rabbit Holes-2025-01-25.jpeg]] <div class="caption"> Image generated by Gemini </div> 01/25/2025 One of the frustrations of working with Obsidian is how quickly one can fall into a rabbit hole. For example, I had the idea to add a "Files Created Today" section to my daily note. Yesterday, I spent 30 minutes or so figuring out the code for the dataview query, and eventually got it to work. #Win. This morning, I realized that the query was not working the way I intended. As written, rather than recording the files created on Friday, January 24, it simply updated everyday to "today," so when I went back to yesterday's daily note, it was blank. #Lose. Ok, let's fix it. I returned to ChatGPT and started adding adjustments to the query. With the change in code from "today" to "today equals the daily note title formatted as yyyy-MM-dd" it was broken again. I tried several ways to remedy the query to work, but, alas, none of them would work. #Lose. In summary, this little hack wasted almost 90 minutes of time over two days. This is one of my fundamental problems with Obsidian. Without thinking, it is SO EASY to fall into a rabbit hole and waste a lot of. time working ON Obsidain rather than getting stuff done. ### One App Or Two There is a part of me that is seriously thinking about staying with my original plan: user Evernote as my daily driver and use Obsidian as my knowledge base. Many of the complications come from trying to do too much with Obsidian. I recently watched a video [An ode to taking notes in Obsidian 🌱 (3 year reflection)](https://youtu.be/qkVNoqXtNIA?si=BUlLQBRXH0RSY6lG). In this, the creator, Vicky Zhao, notes: **Don't Manage Your Life in Obsidian** - Obsidian (software is considered a garden, but it is not the entirety of one's life, and it is used for a specific purpose, separate from daily tasks and responsibilities. - Daily tasks are still performed, but they are not managed within Obsidian, as it is easy to procrastinate and get distracted when working with ideas. - To avoid procrastination, Obsidian is intentionally designed to be very basic, without features like a calendar app or non-idea-related to-do lists. - The focus in Obsidian is on output, specifically writing, and not on project management or other tasks that come with producing output. - The purpose of using Obsidian in this way is to maintain focus on writing and ideas, without getting sidetracked by other tasks or responsibilities This resonates with me. The counter to this (here's the Analysis Paralysis showing itself) is the belief that a trusted system develops over a longer period of time when used on a daily basis. I learn to trust a system because I put EVERYTHING into it and work in it EVERYDAY. This was the point of this article: [[Saying good-bye to a trusted system]]. > [!NOTE] Building A Trusted System > A trusted system develops over a longer period of time when used on a daily basis. Moreover, the process of keeping a Daily Note using [Interstitial Journaling](https://nesslabs.com/interstitial-journaling) helps me think and generate ideas. This article, for example, started out as a couple of thoughts within my Daily Note. I have also learned (through experimentation) that maintaining two systems doesn't work well for me. Having everything in one app, like Evernote or Obsidian, works. When I try to add to that, the system breaks down. So, I will continue to plow ahead with Obsidian, but I need to be mindful of the tendency to fall down rabbit holes.