DeveloPassion's Newsletter #173 - Launching Soon

Edition 173 of my newsletter, discussing Knowledge Management, Knowledge Work, Zen Productivity, Personal Organization, and more!

Welcome

Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one ??

Last week, we escaped the "nightmare" at home and went to the Belgian coast with the kids. It was simply not possible to live at home with them, especially with my 3yo. So, I had to hit the pause button, once again. How frustrating! Also, my oldest son tried riding an electric scooter for the first time... and broke his right arm ??.

Anyways, now I'm finally back. Our ground floor still looks like a battlefield, but we just have to wait a few more weeks for it to finally be fixed. Patience is a virtue...

Alright, let's gooooo ??

Product Hunt Launch: I need your help NOW! ??

I've decided to promote the Obsidian Starter Kit on Product Hunt, a famous platform for product launch announcements.

I need all the support I can get to turn this launch into a success ??

Before the launch, you can already share the following link to your friends and colleagues: https://www.producthunt.com/products/obsidian-starter-kit

The product will launch on the 10th of August at noon, but the link is already available in preview:

Your support and upvotes can really make a huge difference in boosting its visibility and helping others discover it. If you’ve found value in the Obsidian Starter Kit, or just want to support my work, then now is a great time to act!

On launch day, you will have 24 hours to vote for the product (it's free and shouldn't take you more than a minute), and help it become one of the most upvoted products of the day. Let’s make this launch a success together! ??

Business

Nihil novi sub sole...

DeveloPassion is still in the "red", and I'm doing my best to keep this business alive. As I've explained in previous newsletters, it's a tough time to be a creator. You can have all the grit, persistence, motivation, skills and knowledge you need... and still end up failing.

Many people enjoy my work, but very few actually care enough to support it. As a consumer, it's something that I understand. What I failed to see before, is how impactful every single contribution really is.

Right now, we're at $112 per month, while my expenses are around $1K per month, even after my efforts to cut expenses. And I'm not even paying myself a single dime for all the work that I'm doing.

If you care about what I'm trying to achieve here, then it's time to show it! There are two ways to do so:

• Become a paid subscriber
• Buy my products, and let me help you grow

The lab???

This week, I've released version 2.2.0 of the Obsidian Starter Kit:

This release includes the book management system I built for myself, and blogged about a few weeks back. Don't miss it!

By the way, don't forget that the Knowledge Worker Kit now includes the Obsidian Starter Kit (and much more!):

New articles

I've published a piece about interleaving books. It's a topic I discussed a long time ago on this newsletter, and I think more people ought to consider reading multiple books in parallel, and switching regularly between those (especially non-fiction ones):

Note of the week

Besides my blog posts and newsletters, I regularly publish notes over here:

Those are part of my Personal Knowledge Graph in Obsidian, and represent my ideas on various topics. You can see the list of recently added notes here:

Consider those as evergreen. They're not final.

Here's one I want to share with you this week:

Quotes of the week

• Freedom is not about doing what you want. It is about not doing what you do not want to
• Freedom is the ability to live life in a prison of your own making, rather than someone else's — Dickie Bush

Thinking and learning

How good is ChatGPT at transcribing handwritten notes? Apparently much better than I thought, using with @wfhbrian's Transcribe GPT ??

My notes:

You can find the GPT here:

By the way, it's integrated in the Smart Connections plugin for Obsidian.

An overview of how Jason Heppler uses Obsidian:

Do you understand Large Language Models? If not, then read this:

What will the future of education look like? The digital transition is still a challenge, and now AI is shuffling the cards again. I don't know when AI will be taught to our kids, but it should probably be sooner than later, if we don't want to have yet another digital divide...

Many folks discuss the Zettelkasten method. And for some reason, I always feel like it can be much simpler than some make it look like...

PARA in Obsidian? Of course! But not only (cfr Obsidian Starter Kit):

Explore the famous Feynman problem-solving algorithm:

Beth McClelland is totally right: A PKM is not a bookmarking system!

What's the "shape" of information?

We should all be relentlessly resourceful:

About Sébastien

I am Sébastien Dubois. You can follow me on X) ??

I am an author, founder, and coach. I write books and articles about Knowledge Work, Personal Knowledge Management, Note-taking, Lifelong Learning, Personal Organization, and Zen Productivity. I also craft lovely digital products . You can learn more about my projects here. If you want to follow my work, then become a member.

Ready to get to the next level?

To embark on your Knowledge Management journey, consider investing in resources that will equip you with the tools and strategies you need. You can start by exploring the concepts and best practices with my Knowledge Management course ??.

Then, check out the Obsidian Starter Kit and the accompanying video course. It will give you a rock-solid starting point for your note-taking and Knowledge Management efforts.

If you want to take a more holistic approach, then the Knowledge Worker Kit is for you. It covers PKM, but expands into productivity, personal organization, project/task management, and more: