Obsidian users embrace a bottom-up approach to note-taking that creates emergent structure through chaos and laziness. The author uses this markdown-based tool for thinking, writing essays, and publishing content, adhering to a "file over app" philosophy that prioritizes digital artifacts they control.

The organizational system minimizes folders, keeping most notes in the root of the vault. Only two reference folders exist: "References" for external entities like books and movies, and "Clippings" for content by others. Navigation relies heavily on internal links rather than file structure.

Heavy use of internal links creates a web of connected thoughts, even when links point to unwritten notes. This approach, combined with "fractal journaling" where daily thoughts become monthly and yearly reviews, builds a knowledge graph that grows more valuable over time.

Templates and properties form the backbone of the system, with nearly every note starting from a template. Properties capture standardized metadata using short names for quick typing and defaulting to list types for future flexibility, enabling cross-category searching while maintaining speed.