Making intentional connections between your notes and ideas can have big benefits — not just for lifelong learners or those wanting to build a second brain, but for anyone who is looking to do their best creative work.
Practical PKM is here to help you do that with practical examples of personal knowledge management (PKM) workflows that help you do more of what really matters.
Why I'm Here
My goal is to help you get more out of your notes & ideas.
The unfulfilled promise of PKM is that you’ll be able to get additional insight simply from connecting notes. But you can’t just dump things into a new connected notes app and have it magically unlock new insight for you.
Have you ever seen one of those big constellation-style graph view images that people share on social media of the notes in their PKM systems? They show every connection that has ever been made between every note or idea they've ever collected, and they usually look something like this:
🔥 My hot take: the big Graph View looks cool, but is (almost) completely useless.
(The Local Graph is another story. There's a ton of value to be gained by intentionally tying notes together with bidirectional links and using the Local Graph to navigate between them.)
My problem with the big Graph View is that it subconsciously encourages you to link anything and everything. When it comes to links, I believe less is more.
When you have a handful of links, each link is valuable. Especially if you created it intentionally.
PKM is a System, Not an App
PKM is a lot like a software stack, which can include programming languages, frameworks, databases, back-end and front-end tools, APIs, servers, and software all used for a single goal. They all must tie together, and information must flow seamlessly between all the different parts of the technology stack, or the application won’t work.
This is a perfect model to describe what happens during the personal knowledge management sensemaking process. Information comes in, flows through the various parts of your PKM system, then leaves and causes output or action. You can see how all these pieces tie together in a model I call The PKM Stack.
At the lowest level is Information. This is the stuff we consume and collect.
Not all information is created equal, though, so the really good stuff (the information that causes us to stop and think) I’ve broken out into its own tier, Ideas.
Good ideas are powerful and will lead us to change our Actions. This tier includes everything we choose to engage with (tasks and projects), but also some stuff that happens automatically (habits and routines).
A missing piece for a lot of people, though, is the why behind what they do, the things they think about, and the type of information they collect. I believe your vision & values (your Identity) should influence your productivity systems (not the other way around).
Once you get this dialed in, however, it’s not static. You need a regular Reflection practice where you consider what’s working and what isn’t. This is the grease that keeps the machine running smoothly. Without it, things will break down.
You can plug different apps into different parts of the PKM Stack, but you’ll need a clear understanding of how it all ties together so you can put the right pieces in the right places.
And that's where we can help.
My Offerings
Newsletter
Every Monday, I send a free email newsletter to help you get more out of your notes and ideas in 10 minutes or less. Each edition has an original essay, a link to something cool (that's usually Obsidian-related), and my mind map book notes from a book that I've read recently.
You can sign up at the bottom of this page 👇🏼
YouTube Channel
I have a YouTube channel where I share a lot of my workflows. I also highlight cool Obsidian plugins and features that I think are useful and occasionally talk about books that I like.
Here's a sample video:
Podcasts
I host a couple of different podcasts that are PKM-adjacent:
- Bookworm, where Cory Hixson & I read and discuss a different non-fiction book every two weeks
- Focused, where David Sparks & I discuss intentional productivity and doing more of what really matters
Obsidian Life Operating System
I've been building workflows for myself in Obsidian for over 5 years, and I've packaged them all up into an epic done-for-you Obsidian vault called LifeHQ.
If you're looking for something to help you get up and running quickly with Obsidian, this is it. LifeHQ has all the plugins pre-installed and all the settings pre-configured, so you don't have to try and figure it all out. There are videos and annotated screenshots that explain EVERYTHING so you can tweak the workflows and make them your own.
Flagship Course
While I use Obsidian heavily, it's just one part of my own PKM Stack. Figuring out how all the other pieces fit together to support your workflows is important, so I have a Hybrid Cohort to help you dial everything in. It combines over 8 hours of self-paced video lessons with monthly live calls to help you get unstuck and apply the principles to your own PKM system.
Access to the hybrid cohort also includes a custom AI agent trained on course materials. It's kind of like a PKM coach that's available 24/7 and can make finding links and resources much easier.
Community
I run a private PKM community for serious sensemakers called The Library. Programming in The Library includes hotseat coaching, weekly accountability and coworking calls, monthly PKM challenges, PKM spotlights, and community workshops to help you get more out of your PKM system.
The community is a premium yearly membership and includes access to ALL of my courses and cohorts. If you're looking for the all-access option, this is it 😉
About Mike
Hi, I'm Mike Schmitz 👋🏼 I'm a bookworm and a huge productivity nerd who's been using Obsidian full-time for the last 5 years.
I've been creating online for about the last 10 years, but went out on my own about 24 months ago and started teaching people how to use Obsidian to be more productive and creative.
I have a personal mission statement (I call it a LifeTheme):
I help people multiply their time and talent so they can leave a bigger dent in the universe.
Everything I do gets filtered through that LifeTheme.
I see PKM as a vital part of this. I've found that when people get clear on why they want to do what they do, the motivation follows.
Hopefully I can help you do that 🙂