Optimisation du temps, organisation personnelle et outils de productivité (Notion, Obsidian, etc.).
New in Obsidian Reader:
Also added a beautiful new reading experience for deeply nested comments on Reddit and Hacker News.
Available with Obsidian Web Clipper 1.3. The update is already approved on Chrome and Safari but may take a little longer to get approved for Firefox.
guys I’ve done it all!! I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 15 and noticed it in my inability to focus in classrooms but I could always get stuff done (medicated) at home. However, when I got to college I found it much more difficult to remember to do things, even if I really wanted to do them. Here are the things I have done that have really changed my life:
I still struggle with this but it has really helped me.
It's been a while since my last post on this plugin. A lot of things have been added so I figured, I will share it again on this sub. I started on this project to make a plugin for myself, and then, over time kept adding what felt right based on feedback I received & based on my own thoughts. My usage is folder tree depended, but I've expanded to add support for users who like to use tags. The plugin is lightweight and its available for mobile and desktop. That being said, its not tested widely - I've tested it on my 3 devices, i.e. MacOS, Win11 and Android. Here's a bullet list of features,
For more details, checkout the github page. Available for direct download, clone and BRAT installations.
stopped using every productivity app i had. been doing this on sunday nights instead for four months
notion, todoist, time blocking, all of it. tried everything. nothing lasted past week three.
sunday nights now i just open chatgpt and type everything out. not formatted. not organised. just whatever's in my head.
here's everything going into this week:
[just type it all - half finished stuff,
things you've been putting off, deadlines,
stuff you told people you'd do,
anything that's been sitting there]
what actually needs to happen vs what
i just feel bad about not doing yet
what am i avoiding and why do you think
based on how i described it
one thing that makes the rest easier
if i do it monday
three things to start with. nothing else.
don't add stuff i didn't mention.
the avoiding question has been right every single week for four months. uncomfortably specific every time.
Ive got nine more like this in a free pack at here if interested: client emails, meeting notes, weekly resets, inbox stuff i actually use
I spend ~90 minutes daily commuting to and from the lab and want to make better use of that time. I’ve been considering listening to language-learning content since I’ve always been interested in picking up new languages.
For those who’ve optimized their commute time, what has worked well for you? Open to any suggestions beyond language learning as well.
Here is my notes from the book Book of Proof (which is very dear to the math community). I'm still not sure how I'm gonna do notes when I fuse books, if I do then linear, modular or both
https://x.com/karpathy/status/2039805659525644595?s=46
Andrej Karpathy (former OpenAI and Tesla) just posted his workflow for crunching knowledge, makes heavy use of Obsidian.
In my previous article (https://www.dsebastien.net/i-built-an-obsidian-plugin-to-sync-my-remarkable-notes), I showed how to sync reMarkable notebooks into Obsidian as images. That was step one of my handwriting-to-text pipeline. This is step two.
I built the Transcriber plugin for Obsidian to convert those images into structured Markdown using local AI models. Right-click any image in your vault, select "Transcribe Image", and get a .md file back with headings, lists, quotes, tables, code blocks, and even Mermaid diagrams. All extracted by a vision AI running on your own machine. No data leaves your computer.
The plugin uses Ollama to run vision models locally. Ollama is a tool that lets you download and run AI models on your own hardware. You install it once (one command on Windows, Linux, or macOS), pull a model, and the plugin handles the rest.
Here's the workflow:
The first transcription takes a bit longer because the model needs to be loaded into memory. Subsequent ones are fast because the model stays loaded for a few minutes before being automatically unloaded to save resources.
You don't have to go one image at a time. Right-click on a folder and select "Transcribe all images in folder". The plugin processes every image and saves the corresponding Markdown files. Handy when you've just synced a whole notebook from your reMarkable.
The plugin includes a default prompt that instructs the AI to output Obsidian-flavored Markdown. It preserves the original document structure, formats headings and lists properly, converts diagrams to Mermaid syntax, and transcribes handwritten text as accurately as possible.
If the results aren't what you want, you can tweak the prompt in the plugin settings. Different models respond differently to prompting. You can also switch between multiple installed models to compare results.
The plugin settings list recommended vision models that I've tested for this task. I've been using glm-ocr and getting solid results. You can install models directly from the plugin settings; no terminal needed.
Any Ollama vision model works. Install multiple ones and compare.
I don't want to send my handwritten notes to some cloud service. You might not care about that, or you might care a lot. Either way, running everything locally means zero data leaves your machine. Ollama processes everything on your CPU/GPU.
My handwriting-to-Markdown pipeline is now two steps:
Both plugins I built. Both run locally. Both open source.
The results aren't perfect. You still need to review and clean up the output. But it saves a massive amount of time compared to manual transcription.
I recorded a 10-minute video walking through the full setup and workflow: https://youtu.be/uD5FcY1fx-s
The plugin isn't in the community plugin directory yet, but you can install it manually from GitHub.
If you want a ready-made Obsidian vault with the best structure, plugins, and templates already set up, check out my Obsidian Starter Kit: https://www.store.dsebastien.net/product/obsidian-starter-kit
And if you want weekly tips on PKM, note-taking, and knowledge work, subscribe to my newsletter (free): https://dsebastien.net/newsletter
That's it for today!
I was never that much of a driven person, but I used to at least have some drive. It all feels gone now. Basically the entire last year was just stress, every single day and I just couldn’t do it anymore.
I thought my energy and motivation would return after a couple months of rest. It hasn’t. I don’t regret quitting in and of itself because the job made me quite miserable in the last year or 2 (I was there for 6 years), but I do wish I left to a different job before I burned out.
Financially I’m fine, at least short term. I have a decent amount of savings and moved back in with parents while I figure out next steps. Here’s the thing though, I haven’t really figured out many next steps at all. I wake up and think “why bother trying?” It’s obviously a horrible job market right now and it does not help my motivation.
Ive been feeling like such a privileged loser and a failure. So many hardworking people out there, working 2 jobs to support themselves and/or their families and do not have the luxury to rest. I do try to give myself some grace as I did 6 years of work and my work did contribute something meaningful to society. It’s just really hard to get back into that headspace
Just curious if anyone has gone through something similar and how they may have recovered.
I wanted a clean, minimal homepage for my Obsidian vault without relying on a bunch of plugins. Everything is built with Dataview code blocks inside a single Home.md.
What's on the dashboard:
setInterval ticking every second, shows current time and full dateapp.commands.executeCommandById()The entire dashboard was built and iterated using Claude Code
I have exams in 6 weeks and need to do at least 3 hours a day but I always get bored and just find other things to do. I have started to do it earlier in the mornings which I find help, implemented the wall staring technique and keeping my phone into a bag until I’m done. Any other techniques would be much appreciated or things I can implement I need to lock in badly 😭
There are some major changes I need to make in my life. I have a pretty bad phone/social media addiction, I’m not putting effort into my job, and overall I’ve just been really lazy. The frustrating part is I’m very self-aware of all of this and how it’s affecting my mental health and my life but I’m not doing anything to change it. I was never like this before, but since around November 2025, something shifted. There wasn’t a specific reason it just kind of happened. Now I spend most of my time on social media, I haven’t put real effort into my job in months (I work from home), and I just feel stuck in this cycle. I’ve even tried making plans for myself, but I never follow through. It’s exhausting feeling like I don’t have the self-discipline to show up for my own life. I went from a 2 hour phone screen for the day to 10. I don’t hang out with anyone, no interest in any of my hobbies, and I just feel kinda lost.
Is anyone else going through this? Any advice would really help.
I’ve tried the whole “wake up early and fix your life” thing more times than I can count. And honestly, most of the time I’m just… awake earlier, not actually more productive.
If anything, I just end up being tired sooner and doing the same amount of work I would’ve done anyway, just stretched across more hours.
It feels like people treat waking up early as some kind of personality upgrade, when in reality it only works if your energy and habits actually match it.
Otherwise, it’s just you sitting there at 6am wondering why you chose suffering
I don’t know if anyone finds this relatable but lately or like for almost for the last 5-6 years I have been procrastinating everything. I know what to do how to do it and what difference it’s gonna make in my life but I still just cannot bring myself to do it I’ll wait for the last possible moment and do it with least possible effort just to get through get okayish results and I know how it has set me back , I know how bad it it but I can’t seem to just get through it
I'm about to go from a very sedentary life style to working alot of hours for hopefully the next few months that will require alot of physical movement.
I am a bit honestly scared but I'm highly motivated due to some personal life goals that I want to accomplish within the next few months to a year. This is also due to being tired of how life is, and craving a big life change.
I could VASTLY improve on my diet, mental, and sleep. I also have a habit of drinking and smoking and want to cut those out as well because I know logically cutting these would help me.
I want to stay busy, but also be healthy. Would love any tips from others
First off, Bases has completely changed the way I take notes in the best way possible. I sincerely thank the Obsidian team for making such a great product.
I use Bases to create different Bases for each subject in my life: Tasks, chores, reference, work, etc. I then combine them in a note dashboard. As I'm adding notes, I'm noticing the Dashboards are getting too long.
If I limit the number of results, this hides all other note that are not in the those results count. Can there be a limit on the height, but add a scroll bar so all notes be viewed while maintaining the height. This would greatly enhance the ability to use bases in dashboards.
The actual insight is pretty simple. for two years I knew I needed to practice speaking English more. I work in English, it matters for my career, I have clear motivation. didn't matter — I kept not doing it.
things I tried: weekly tutor sessions (kept rescheduling), language exchange partners (fell apart after 3-4 sessions every time), watching English shows and podcasts (fine but passive), Duolingo (pointless for actual speaking fluency).
I kept blaming consistency or discipline. what I eventually realized was that none of those things failed because of motivation — they failed because they all had friction. scheduling, coordination, the small mental overhead of "starting." when you're tired at the end of a day, any excuse to skip is enough.
what finally worked: I attached speaking practice to my existing morning routine. I make coffee, I open Fluently, I talk for 10-12 minutes while I wake up. the AI responds, corrects my grammar and pronunciation in real time, I finish, I go about my day.
no scheduling. no waiting for someone else. no prep. just open and talk.
it's been about 4 months. I've missed maybe 8 days. my speaking confidence at work is noticeably different — I find words faster, I hesitate less, I don't dread calls the way I used to.
the lesson I took from this isn't specific to language learning. any habit I've successfully built had one thing in common: the gap between "deciding to do it" and "actually doing it" was almost nothing. the moment it requires effort to start, it doesn't survive a bad week.
what's worked for reducing friction in habits you've built?
I’m especially interested in hearing from people who genuinely want to improve but find consistency harder than expected. Sometimes we might guilty or shy about the person we've become without the consistency to talk it out, but I really would want to hear it here.
What do you think the biggest reason for you to quit earlier? or maybe won't even start at all.
Are the things you're trying seem too complex?
Or feels like taking too much time to invest while the years pass by?
and...
If you think you've got out of this zone of mindset, let us hear what did help you? And how do you feel for future?
as for myself, removing the cognitive load sort of helped me. Less decision fatigue made it easier to begin. Instead of going for the classic "perfect or nothing" approach.
just a simple walk, cooking a basic meal, exercising basic compounds, an easy song intro on the piano etc.
What do you think about our/your main pain point? It is important for me to talk this topic with real humans instead of getting a lecture from AI models :)
Maybe even create a product that would help me and others with the same problem
I seriously spend majority of my day on the device and ik i may not see the repercussions immediately but its not good...i mostly read novel or scroll insta on the phone...i want to control the time i spend watching screen i dont want to cease using phone altogether...
i want to motivate myself in making projects for my resume and also for knowledge gain ( for the context i am in clg 2nd year cse branch)...but i am just not able to do it because of lack of motivation...
How do even anyone motivates themselves like everybody around me is doing atleast something or the other and then there is me who is dedicated to only one thing that is reading....how do i control it?????
I’ve been struggling a lot with staying focused, especially when I’m supposed to be studying. I’ll go to the library or sit down at my desk with full intention to work, and somehow I still end up scrolling for way longer than I should.
I’ve tried most of the usual things like app timers, deleting apps, even putting my phone in another room, but I always end up finding a workaround or just losing discipline after a few days.
Recently I tried something a bit different. Instead of relying on willpower, I changed how accessible certain apps are depending on where I am. So for example, when I’m at home, distracting apps are basically unusable, but when I go somewhere like the library or gym, they’re available again.
It sounds simple, but it’s been working way better than anything else I’ve tried. It feels less like I’m constantly fighting myself and more like I’ve just removed the option entirely in the wrong environment.
I’m curious if anyone else has tried something like this or has found other ways to reduce distractions without relying purely on discipline?