Moving my second brain from Notion to Obsidian
Why I moved my personal notes out of Notion and into Obsidian, and what my system looks like now.
Build a personal notes system I own, that works offline and lasts
I wanted my notes to just be my notes.
Since 2020, my notes lived in Notion. I'd built a full "second brain" there using the PARA method (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive), and it had everything I wanted. It felt like a house where I knew exactly where everything was.
But it was a house that always needed Wi-Fi. And something in the back of my mind kept saying it wasn't sustainable. My notes lived on someone else's servers, and if those servers had a bad day, so did my notes. I wanted my notes to just be my notes.
So around the new year, I moved my personal notes to Obsidian. Here's what the setup looks like:
- Local files. Everything is stored on my own device as plain Markdown files. Private, offline and mine.
- PARA, adjusted. I kept the PARA structure but changed it to fit how I actually work, with templates I built for recurring note types.
- A weekly inbox. Quick notes from my phone land in one inbox, and I sort them at the end of the week.
- Linked notes. Obsidian lets me connect related notes in a way Notion never did, so ideas can find each other.
- Life only. Work never moved in. I keep work and life separate, and work has its own system on my work laptop.
Obsidian was never meant to be the whole system. I check in on how my life is organized on a regular basis, and at the time I was journaling a lot, so a hybrid approach made more sense. Long-term project notes, recipes and insights live in Obsidian. Day-to-day planning happens on paper, in a Traveler's Notebook and a ring planner. My calendar stays digital. Each tool does the job it's best at.
What worked
- Owning my data. Local Markdown files mean no outages, no lock-in and no question about who has my notes.
- Linking over filing. Connecting notes turned a filing cabinet into something closer to a map.
- The weekly inbox. Capture fast on my phone, sort later. It keeps the system clean without slowing me down.
What didn't
- It didn't stay a daily habit. I don't open it every day anymore. It's where long-term notes live, not where my days get planned.
- AI isn't connected yet. I haven't hooked Claude up to my vault, because I'm wary of security and unintended edits to my personal notes.
I wanted my notes to just be my notes.
There's also an AI reason I'm glad I switched. Markdown files are easy for AI agents like Claude to read, which opens the door to asking questions across years of my own notes. I'm not there yet. Before I connect anything, I want to be sure an agent can read my notes without changing them. One resource shaping how I think about it is Nick Milo's Obsidian + AI: How to Do It The Right Way (Claude Code + Obsidian).
The bigger lesson is about ownership. The best system isn't the one with the most features. It's the one you trust, and that still works when the Wi-Fi doesn't.