Accelerate Obsidian card notes with ChatGPT and build a personal body of knowledge

Before I learned Card Note Writing: How to Achieve Reading to Writing, I had no idea how to take study notes and build a body of knowledge. The notes I take are at most specific requirements for work during meetings, and they are scattered in different paper notebooks.

However, when I started practicing card note writing, I quickly became addicted and recorded my usual reading notes and inspiration notes into the note-taking artifact Obsidian. So far, I have about 1000 or so card notes.

Although, when I first started using Obsidian for card notes, I tried to label each card note in the hope of organizing them through categorization.

However, I found that there are still many notes that I don't know what to label, or even though some are already labeled, there is still some confusion between the tags.

For example, sometimes there are labels that repeat the same meaning, or where two tags actually contain and are included, but I type them on the same card note.

However, with the increase in card notes, I understand and remember some single points of knowledge better than before, but the more I feel that the knowledge in my head is becoming more and more disorganized.

More importantly, when you want to call this knowledge, there are still scattered knowledge points, and there is no systematic knowledge system.

For example, I have a lot of card notes about reading in card boxes, but I never really comb through the relationships between these card notes. To be precise, it is because in my mind, I have not yet sorted out a complete body of personal knowledge about reading.

So, as a result, the more my card notes accumulated, the more disorganized my perception of reading became.

It was in this context that I became more aware of the importance of building my own body of knowledge. Because a good body of knowledge helps me organize my ever-increasing knowledge into a personalized, orderly, and easy-to-find structure.

However, quickly building my own body of personal knowledge was a big challenge for me.

Fortunately, I found that using ChatGPT, a powerful language modeling tool, was a great way to build my personal body of knowledge more efficiently in Obsidian.

Below I will share how I can improve my knowledge management process in Obsidian with the help of ChatGPT to achieve more effective personal knowledge system construction.

Definition of a personal body of knowledge

Before we start talking specifically about how to use ChatGPT to get advice on knowledge organization and systematization, we need to clarify the concept of individual knowledge systems.

Personal knowledge system refers to an organic structure of knowledge formed by individuals in the process of learning and accumulating knowledge, usually including various concepts, opinions, experiences and facts, and is related to each other through correlation, connection and classification.

Personal knowledge systems help us better understand and apply what we have learned, and can provide a clear framework for organizing and managing our existing knowledge more efficiently.

The construction of personal knowledge is not achieved overnight, but a process that requires long-term sorting, summarization and organization.

By classifying, labeling, and indexing the various knowledge acquired at different times, we can establish a personalized, orderly and easy-to-find knowledge network for better acquisition, digestion and application of knowledge.

When we have a personal knowledge system, we can better understand the differences and connections between different knowledge points, and form more in-depth thinking and unique insights.

Personal knowledge system is not simply a pile of knowledge, but a systematic way of learning and thinking, which can help us better deal with various complex problems and make more comprehensive and systematic solutions, so as to continuously promote personal growth and development.

Steps to build a body of personal knowledge using ChatGPT

1. Acquire knowledge

The acquisition of knowledge is an ongoing process. In addition to reading books and articles, we can also gain knowledge by watching educational videos, participating in online courses, visiting exhibitions, and field trips. The ways to obtain knowledge can be divided into two types: active acquisition and passive acquisition.

Active knowledge acquisition means being proactive in finding and learning new knowledge. This behavior is manifested in the fact that when we are faced with a clear problem, we will take the initiative to ask questions, read relevant literature, participate in seminars and training meetings, etc.

Actively acquired knowledge is usually more focused and relevant, more closely related to the basic knowledge we already have, so there are basic cognitive systems about this knowledge in our brains, making it easier to classify and manage what we learn. However, as we continue to learn, we may find that our original body of knowledge is not perfect.

Passive access to knowledge refers to unconscious exposure to new knowledge in daily life, such as through online media, communication with friends and colleagues, etc., to gain insights and inspiration. Even when actively reading related books, you can accidentally gain knowledge that is not relevant to the problem you want to solve.

This kind of knowledge is usually less relevant to our existing body of knowledge, and our understanding of this knowledge is relatively limited. As a result, categorizing and managing them is often difficult because we are not sure which body of knowledge they have.

As we acquire more and more knowledge, we are faced with the problem of how to effectively understand and manage this knowledge, and if we do not understand and manage this knowledge effectively, it will not eventually become useful knowledge for us.

2. Create card notes in Obsidian

For the knowledge acquired, I mainly manage it in the form of card notes. Each card note usually contains only one specific knowledge point and strives to paraphrase it with its own understanding.

To manage these card notes, I chose to use Obsidian. Creating card notes in Obsidian is actually a process of organizing and internalizing the acquired knowledge.

Obsidian, aka Obsidian Notes, is a powerful card-based two-way linking note-taking app known for supporting Markdown.

It allows for two-way links between the contents of notes, allowing our knowledge bases to be interconnected to each other, resulting in a highly structured body of knowledge.

Obsidian is ideal for users who need complex organization and management of a large number of notes. Especially for users who do card note writing, Obsidian can be said to be an artifact.

In Obsidian, the basic structure of a card note is: card note = title + tag + core concept paraphrasing + personal experience + action guide + reference material + related card.

For the requirements of each item in the card, you can refer to my previous article "Practical Summary: How to Optimize a Card Note".

In the process of organizing cards, I sometimes use ChatGPT to interact with ChatGPT to define, parse and expand certain knowledge points, which will give relevant answers and suggestions according to my needs.

For example, while putting together the concepts of systems thinking, I asked ChatGPT: "Definition of systems thinking, and references." ChatGPT was quick to answer.

So, combined with ChatGPT's reply, I paraphrased the concept of systems thinking into my own words and recorded it in the card notes, and copied the relevant reference materials to the back of the card notes.

This allows me to expand and deepen my knowledge through interaction with ChatGPT.

In addition, when we organize the knowledge obtained inactively, we often face a problem when adding tags to card notes, not sure which section of the personal knowledge system a certain knowledge point should belong to, or which specific secondary keyword belongs to a certain section. At this time, you can use ChatGPT to confirm.

For example, when sorting out the concept of reductionism, I didn't know what kind of keywords it belongs to in the personal growth system, so I entered the command in ChatGPT: "What kind of keywords does reductionism belong to in the personal growth system?" ”

ChatGPT quickly answered: "Reductionism belongs to the philosophical keywords in the personal growth system. So, I labeled the note "#个人成长/philosophy of life and values."

This way, I was able to quickly sort my knowledge through interaction with ChatGPT.

3. Use ChatGPT to assist in building a personal knowledge system

In my Obsidian card box, there are three card notes labeled "values." I have always thought that values are very important for everyone, but I have absolutely no idea where the concept of values fits in a person's body of knowledge.

Therefore, the label knowledge of these three card notes is simply marked with "#价值观", and there are no higher-level keywords to indicate their position in my personal body of knowledge.

So, I typed a question into ChatGPT: "What part of a person's body of knowledge do values belong to?" “

ChatGPT was quick to respond: "Values are part of personal growth and life philosophy. Personal knowledge includes our accumulation of knowledge, learning, and experience of the world, and values are an important part of this system. Through reflection and reflection, we form our own values that guide our decisions, behaviors, and goals. They are something we build up as we grow up and have a profound impact on our personal development and meaning in life. ”

In this way, I determined the place of values in an individual's body of knowledge with the help of ChatGPT.

At this time, the question immediately popped into my mind: what is the personal growth system? So, I asked ChatGPT another question: "I want to build a body of knowledge for personal growth, please help me list one, two, three level keywords." At the same time, I also posted this question to Wen Xin's words. And both sides quickly gave a reply.

Taking into account ChatGPT and Wen Xin's reply, I got a body of knowledge about initial personal growth. This system contains first, second, and third level keywords and corresponding explanations.

So I recorded the results on an index card dedicated to recording the body of knowledge, and named the card "Personal Growth."

In this way, with the help of ChatGPT and Wen Xinyan, I completed the initial construction of the framework of the personal growth knowledge system.

Next, based on this framework, I began to organize card notes that included the label of values. For example, I have a card note titled "Concept Card: Values (Li Xiaolai)". I added its label from the original simple "#价值观" to a clearer "#个人成长/self-knowledge/values".

I found that my body of knowledge about personal growth became clearer, and the card notes I had made about values were no longer like fragments floating in the air, but more clearly belonged and connected. My understanding of the knowledge of values itself has also become more profound.

By adjusting the labels, I was able to make my card notes more granular and clear. This granular and clear label management helps me better organize and find relevant content.

In addition, by interacting with ChatGPT, I can enrich my card notes by asking it for knowledge in specific areas, and organically connect knowledge from different areas. In this way, I can build a clear and complete body of personal knowledge.

Notes

ChatGPT, while powerful, is still a model-based language generator that may have some errors or incomplete inaccuracies. When using ChatGPT, we must maintain a critical mindset, screen and verify its answers, and we need to make comprehensive evaluations combined with our own judgment and other reliable sources to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the body of knowledge constructed.

If you're interested in reading and writing with card notes, you can add my friends. In the future, I will share more valuable dry goods for reading and writing.

- End -

-Author:Lei Mo-

——Focus on card note writing——

Read 100 books a year and organize 1 card pen every day

Read consistently and effectively, think deeply for the long term

Keep doing what is sure to win

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