Outlining is one of the best ways to develop your thoughts.
Let’s dive in!
What’s an Outliner?
It’s an app you use to create text files having a “tree structure”.
That parent-child relationship helps you structure your thinking process.
In brief, it helps you to think.
Why an Outliner Helps You to Think?
Because it moves you from abstract to concrete.
You throw out ideas and begin creating a structure that makes sense. You move things up and down. You start (physically) seeing ideas and relationships between them.
You move from chaos to structure.
Roam and Logseq
For me, the best outliners.
I love their simplicity, GUI, and UX. I adore how I move quickly between bullets just using my keyboard. I can go up and down, zooming in and out at my brain’s speed.
I don’t lose momentum.
Why Am I Not Using Roam or Logseq?
I always try to simplify my PKM (my life).
Reducing the number of apps I use is an essential strategy. I’ve built my outlining process inside my core app: Obsidian.
I’ll tell you how.
How to Create a Nice Outlining Experience in Obsidian
You just need to install 3 plugins.
5 minutes, and you’re done!
Plugin 1: Outliner
It’ll bring the outlining experience to Obsidian.
It’ll allow you to:
- Move lists back and forth.
- Stick the cursor to the content (forget about bullets).
- Make the enter key behave as in outliners.
- Fold/unfold your lists.
Plugin 2: Zoom
Zoom in and out just with a hotkey.
Hide everything except the list/heading and its content. Forget about distractions.
It’s focus at the highest level.
Plugin 3: Obsidian Indentation Guides
The cherry on top.
This plugin adds vertical lines to the editor denoting the indentation level of lists.
Visual clarity to your thought structure.
Why Life’s Not Perfect?
Yet, I have to admit it: I still prefer Roam’s or Logseq’s GUI.
But having all the outlining process in Obsidian radically outweighs this GUI’s perception.
I’m really delighted with it!
Takeaways
- Outlining and expanding your thoughts, ideas, and content within the same app is priceless.
- It’ll allow you to perform at your highest level.
Give it a try!
Photo by Edvard Alexander Rølvaag on Unsplash.