Using Logseq as a second brain

Where I came from and how I got here

I have been somewhat of a serial experimenter when it comes to personal note taking and the apps that support it. I have been interested in the commonplace books of yesteryear since first reading about them a number of years ago. What has been preserved from Leonardo DaVinci and Alexander Graham Bell, as just two examples, is amazing. I still use a fountain pen and physical notebook from time to time but the majority of my notes are digital. I have fond memories of the Palm Pilot and that early feeling of digital note taking with a stylus. The strangely satisfying resistance on the screen of plastic on plastic.

My note taking sojourn made a significant stop at Evernote many years ago. Which I quite enjoyed but became embittered against when features that had been included in the free tier were moved to a paid tier.

Side rant: When companies take free features and start charging for them, I have an automatic, viseral repulsion for said app or service. I have no objection to differentiating the free tier and the paid one but be upfront with what is paid for and what is not. Every company that does this seems to be convinced that no one will re-consider their solution stack as a whole simply based on their financial mutability.

I started using OneNote because I already had a Microsoft subscription (eyes wide open on costs and features provided) and the experience syncing via OneDrive between Android, ios, Windows and Mac works quite well, except when it doesn't which is rarely in my experience.

I had heard about people using Obsidian and other notetaking apps that were more free form or outliner specific rather than using pre-structured folders, tags, pages, but I didn't pay much heed. I was reasonably happy with my adhoc structure in OneNote and quite frankly didn't record that much on a daily or weekly basis to be fussed about any alternatives.

And that was kinda the problem: I wasn't using my system as a 'trusted system' in GTD parlance. I had data stored slipshod across lots of platforms and places:

1. OneNote
2. Paper notes
3. Too many browser tabs because they had reference material I (may) want to revisit.
4. Email
5. Text files in github repos

I came across some videos (thank you YouTube algorithm? How did you know, wait, don't answer that, its better if I don't know.) about using logseq as a second brain and how others were using it for personal knowledge management.

Three samples that got me thinking.

• Ultimate beginner's guide to logseq

• How I use logseq for better productivity and organization at work

• Personal Knowledge Management Logseq Methods and Madness - Michael Carducci

Now, I subscribe firmly to the idea that brains are best for thinking and problem solving and far too valuable a resource to burden with trying to remember every trivial (at least at the time) matter. So having a trusted system appeals to me on many levels. The tough part is "trusted." By 2024 I think it is safe to say that most knowledge workers have been impacted by oh-so-cool-corp dropping/cancelling/selling/changing the pricing model overnight of their wizzbang widget/app/service.

I tend to approach new systems with less excitement and more caution than I once did. But I was willing to give it a try. And so I set a goal of trying it for three months to see if the LogSeq system was one that would work for me. It just so happened to be the first week of January so the three month trial would run until the end of March 2024. I was curious to see whether the "record things in the journal and don't worry about organizing the information up front" approach was going to work for me. The month went by and I looked back and only missed making notes on one day.

In the second month, February, there were a few missed days but I was on vacation for part of the month and I wasn't fussed about recording in the journal while away. I didn't force myself to do it, I merely recorded anything that I thought worth the effort. March came and went. As I looked back, I saw that I had put something in the journal each and every day. I found this interesting to reflect on as the month ended: I found myself putting things into the journal and had, on more than one occasion, referred back to something I had recorded. There were a few themes uncovered in my weeks of data capture that I spent a few minutes organizing pages around but I never once thought about a rigid structure and whether I "had it right". I had almost sub-consciously applied tags to some of the journal entries and when reviewing the resultant pages, I made some minor adjustments, adding headings or applying formatting. One such page was this very one where I had tagged some Logseq specific information captures. When I reviewed it, I was motivated to do a little organizing.

My use a.k.a. what's working for me and what ain't

Things I like

• Text backend is huge. My data, I am in control - backups, replication, opening with other tools
• My three main platforms for daily compute are supported - Windows, Android, IoS
• Using the journal entries as the main entry point frees the mind from thinking about organization first. Content first approach appeals to me.
• I think it is making me capture more "rough" content for my future self to access and maybe organize or maybe just have available via search.
• Ease of creating tags

Things I don't like (so far)

• Larger blocks of text I want to paste in can't be edited. This 'everything is an outline' approach is a double edged sword.
• I don't know enough about the upcoming "database version" but I am concerned that it may corrupt the beauty and simplicity of "text files are the backend" philosophy.
• Too many orphaned files seemingly from android replication is annoying.
• Many of the articles highlighting what can be done with logseq focus on plugins. My primary device is my ipad. Plugins only work on the desktop app.
• The roadmap and updates from the dev team seem sporadic at best.

Conclusion

So what pithy conclusion shall I make on my experiment of learning and using Logseq for nigh on four months? Overall, I am satisfied with the product and my results. Do I think it is the be all, end all of note taking? No. Do I think it is a system that everyone should adopt? No, although it is marketed as simple (because text), in reality there are many finer points in its use that may be off putting to the average person, which is not to say that you should avoid trying it.

For me, the real question is will I continue using it now the experimental period has ended? And for me, that answer is yes. The second brain concept clicks with me, the everything starts as a journal entry works for my way of thinking too. And the fact that the effort I have put into learning a bit about logseq has resulted in some simple text files that I have replicated, backed up and accessible is valuable. If tomorrow I decide to abandon Logseq my data is still in text files. Text files I can manipulate in vim or python, with sed or awk or bash. Of all the things that logseq is and isn't, that is the real advantage for me.

This markdown file was created in logseq.