My current note taking system is tedious. I use Obsidian to create entries filed into categories inspired by Tiago Forte’s Second Brain methodology (PARA). Entering detailed notes is time consuming and finding them can also be a bit of a chore.

Obsidian is a great tool and I do love it, but I want a faster way to make notes and an easier way to find them.

Omi, An AI Enabled Second Brain

Omi is a wearable pin and app that records your life and then creates summaries about the conversations you’ve had during the day.

I am huge on privacy, and would never allow Omi to listen and transcribe my entire day. However, I do use it to record meetings, record journal entries and daily updates as things unfold.

I think phones are useful but trap us in the UI, are riddled with distractions and being text and image based are very slow to interface with compared to voice.

Voice has less friction, but users can ramble when dictating or create lots of word whiskers. Omi can condense a 20 min stream of consciousness into a short summary of bullet points while preserving the underlying transcript and voice recording.

Voice is more difficult to use in public or crowded rooms or while watching television, listening to music etc, so a text entry tool is still nice to have. Fortunately Omi can export summaries and notes to text which can be saved in Obsidian.

Omi creates notes but you can also query Omi using AI and it will generate responses based on your data.

Going Hybrid

I’m going to be switching to a notebook system + Omi. I’ll use the notebook to make notes during the day, and at night I’ll use Omi to record a journal entry.

I’ve selected this binder system because 1) it comes in 2 sizes 2) appears to be the only one I could find that isn’t made for women 3) Looks waterproof and durable 4) was fairly cheap

For important instructions or events, I’ll dictate them to Omi and have Omi export a summary which can be saved to Obsidian.

Why I’m Going Back To Paper

Paper is tactile, it’s boring, and distraction free. I can use it when I need it and then use my devices like I used to, years ago. When I need to accomplish something.

I’ve already taken social media apps off of my primary phone, but I still seem to find time to just flip around reddit, Amazon, or find other unproductive uses of my time on this device.

Omi gives me the best of both worlds, the ability to create permanent digital records (idk if they’re permanent but fairly permanent), without using a screen.

Benefits of This System:

1. Paper hard copy of important records
2. Will be used to create guided sessions with Omi, which creates an AI searchable archive of my information
3. Omi can export notes from my conversations as markdown text which can be pasted into Obsidian.
4. I will be free of my infernal device and emotionally present for friends and family while creating structured screen time to complete tasks (shopping, writing, bill payments, messaging, social media)
5. It’s open source, completely customizable, recyclable, refillable, and resilient. Even if the internet or phones died tomorrow in an EMP pulse… pens and paper will still work
6. It’s private(ish). Omi is definitely connected to an AI model, but I have control over what’s shared verbally – my paper notebook doesn’t collect any data about me that is shared with big tech companies

Customization

What I’ll be able to do with this binder is print custom templates. I plan to create templates for my workout log, since I prefer paper logging (easier to use a pen with gloves on than a phone).

I’m also working on a few different stories, sci-fi, western, etc, and I want a way to plan the writing before I write. I’m going to do this by creating templates that help me craft the story, and fill them out while I have free time.

Then when it’s time to write, I can put in a focused 30min to 1 hour and be done with it.

How I’ll Use The System

The smaller binder will be a daily carry. The larger one will live near my desk. The larger binder will be for planning writing, the smaller one will be for brief notes, to-do lists, etc. I may need a third binder for higher level monthly planning, a calendar etc, but K kind of handles the schedule and so I really don’t think so. I do prefer to have calendar appointments on my device but for the most part I don’t use them anyway, I like them for historical information but now with Omi, I can speak my calendar into it and it will retrieve the data if I need it.