Obsidian comes with a reputation. The popular open-source notetaking tool is intimidating to learn. And that reputation isn’t entirely undeserved. Obsidian doesn’t hold your hand, and it definitely didn’t hold mine as I dropped into a blank vault. Blinded by features, I missed that it’s really just a simple Markdown note-taking system.
I failed in my first two attempts to learn Obsidian. This is my third try, and now I am approaching it with a fresh mindset. My beginner mistakes tell me that it’s not the tool, but how we approach it that matters. Once you recognize this, the app becomes far easier (and far more powerful) to use.
Building a folder system before any notes
Folders can’t solve a problem you don’t have yet
The first thing most beginners do is crack open a fresh vault and start designing folders. Or copy it from another notetaking system. We focus on the “container” rather than the content. Obsidian’s real strength is its linking system, not its folder hierarchy.
Many of us come from apps like Notion or even a simple folder system on your desktop, so some structure feels natural. After all, who likes a messy bunch of notes. The difference is that Obsidian isn’t a filing cabinet. Its real power comes from linking the notes. A note about a newsletter project can link to a book you’re reading and a half-formed idea you had in the shower. As Obsidian experts say, structure in Obsidian should be discovered, not pre-built.
Give yourself a month of flat, messy notes first. Put everything in one flat folder to start. Links and tags will carry the organizational weight far better than nested folders ever will. When you connect notes, you will see patterns, clusters, and themes emerge naturally.
Installing too many plugins too soon
Plugins can overcomplicate the setup
Obsidian’s community plugin collection is massive. Dataview, Templater, Kanban, Calendar, Excalidraw etc can make your workflow smarter. But each is a complex tool in its own right. Plugins should solve problems you’ve already run into. Start with zero community plugins and only install one when an annoyance refuses to go away. Just enable the Core plugins.
I made the mistake of learning Obsidian’s core behavior and learning a plugin’s behavior at the same time. Now, I am just going through the default experience first. Once I understand how backlinks, the graph, and core search work natively with my notes, I will know which plugins I need.
The same suggestion goes for templates. Templates are like mermaid-sirens of the deep. Stick with the default template (maybe, just switch between Dark and Light views), and then gradually experiment with one template at a time.
Copy-pasting notes instead of writing them fresh
Writing notes gives you ideas on how to link them
This mistake is underrated because it feels so easy to just copy and paste your notes from another note-taking app. I used to read a great article, highlight the key passages, and paste them into a new note. It didn’t make Obsidian any different from something like Google Keep.
Then, I realized that a collection of pasted excerpts is a digital scrapbook, not a knowledge base. The act of rewriting something in my own words (even badly) forces me to process it. This is where the actual thinking takes place and makes the linking more intuitive.
Yes, some notes, like a code snippet or a quote, can be verbatim. But for some, even an imperfect rephrasing reveals what you actually understood versus what you just skimmed. Try this tiny mindset shift: write for your future self, not for the author whose words you’re preserving.
Many beginners write notes but never use [[links]]. Start linking early, even if they are rough notes. Even with copy-paste, write your key takeaways. And link ideas, not just topics, by asking yourself, “What else does this remind me of?”
The magnetic pull of other people’s note-taking systems
Zettelkasten, PARA, and LYT aren’t one-size-fits-all
The Obsidian community produces an enormous amount of content about productivity systems. Think, Zettelkasten, Building a Second Brain, LYT (Linking Your Thinking), PARA, Johnny Decimal. Each has passionate advocates, beautiful screenshots, and convincing YouTube videos. The trap is that beginners try to implement all of them at once or switch between them every few weeks. These systems are answers to very specific people’s very specific problems. Treat them as inspiration and experiments to do piecemeal.
I spent three months trying to properly implement a book tracking system in Obsidian (like Zettelkasten) before I wrote a single note I actually cared about. The framework sounded right for someone like me who reads a lot of books. So, I wanted to do it correctly.
Niklas Luhmann, the sociologist who developed Zettelkasten, invented one that fit his way of thinking. The best productivity framework is the one you’ll actually use consistently. This clarity comes with time.
Start writing now, adapt your system based on what annoys you, and revisit other people’s approaches only after you’ve built real habits of your own. For instance, I have adopted PARA for a single project alone, while my other notes are in a simpler linked system.
Giving up before the note links start making sense
Don’t quit Obsidian before the payoff
In the first few weeks of using Obsidian, a blank graph and a handful of disconnected notes won’t feel impactful. I have quit here twice before. The inflection point will come between 80 and 150 linked notes, when the graph starts revealing connections you didn’t think about. A note about stoicism links to one about learning tactics, which links to an article idea.
The serendipity will come from usage, not planning. After a few weeks of writing and linking notes, Obsidian will become a natural research tool. This is the point when Obsidian started to feel enjoyable for me, instead of overwhelming.
Some say that the Graph view looks cool, but doesn’t do much practical work. I feel that the Graph View works better when it’s complemented by the Backlinks panel. I can see in real time which of my other notes reference the one I’m currently writing. This only works if I stay in Obsidian to make enough notes for connections to start appearing.
- OS
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Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS
- Developer
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Dynalist Inc.
- Pricing model
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Free
- Initial release
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March 30, 2020
Write five linked notes from scratch
Open a blank vault, disable community plugins, and write five notes on anything you’re thinking about right now. Link them using [[double brackets]]. Don’t worry about folders, templates, or whether your system is “correct.” That one small experiment will teach you more about how Obsidian actually works than any tutorial, including this one. Build up from there without getting distracted by Obsidian’s massive riches of features.
