My Ultra-Simple PKM-System (2023)

That helps me to make a new video by myself every single day

This article is a transcript from one of my Youtube-videos. To watch the YouTube version (which comes out roughly a week later after this article is published), you can click here.

Welcome back, so happy to see you again over two months ago, I made a video about my ultra-simple PKM system I use to turn information into videos like these super fast.

But things have changed drastically since then. I’m using different apps, tripled my output from twice a week to every single day, and have learned many lessons because of that.

So in today’s article, I want to share with you my updated PKM version that is applicable to everyone who wants to make things happen, not just move text. If you are also interested in personal knowledge management, I think you will find great value in this.

How I gather information

As a quick definition of PKM, it is a system that helps you transform inputs (everything you consume and learn) into outputs (action and results) faster. Since the definition of intelligence is the same, we can say that having a working PKM-system literally makes you more intelligent. Pretty cool right?

In terms of inputs, I separate them into two groups: others’ observations and my own observations. For the first group, I’m a big fan of YouTube. I subscribe to the channels that give me the best return on attention and then I simply consume their new videos when I am moving around or eating. For me, podcast episodes fall into the same bucket as videos since I am listening to all of them anyway.

Sometimes, I also listen to an audiobook or even take a course on Skillshare if that is necessary. I’m always guided here by my interest in the moment so to me, this kind of learning is a form of entertainment and relaxation. Can be good to have after many hours of focus.

Then we have my own observations which are everything from ideas to reflections. I do not brainstorm, or try to generate ideas because I do not need to. Because I do these long meditation sessions 2 hours a day, I get the opportunity to get some perspective of what I am doing and then brilliant ideas pop up on the fly. They can happen anytime, and often before I fall asleep.

What I also do now that has worked beautifully for me is paying attention to pain and negative emotions. Yes, it might sound crazy, but when I actively seek them out, I get the answer needed for me to level up. Could be a decades-long tension that finally can be lifted. Or I need to make some process more efficient. It’s well documented btw that in order to learn, and thus get ahead, we have to pay attention to errors and things we do not like, something I will go more in detail in a couple of days.

So in terms of input again, YouTube, podcasts, and sometimes audiobooks, barely reads because I do not need to, get ideas, and also pay attention to my frustrations and pains. Before I tell you my current output process, let’s cover the juicy part, the apps I use.

The notetaking apps

Two months ago, I used Evernote and Mem.ai as my two note-taking apps. Now I do not use them anymore but use instead 4 other note-taking apps. Notion, Reflect, Apple Notes, and Google Tasks.

When I prepare for these videos, I use Notion for it. I have a table where I can see what videos will be made during this week, and can also change status from Prep to Ready to Finished. I also have a particular filter so whenever I set something to finished, it disappears. Then I also use Notion for my day job, and for tracking my gym progress.

What I like about Notion is its more advanced features and that it acts as some kind of giant sidebar. I have this “Youtube database” plus some other notes and that’s it. It looks well across all devices, and if it was not for the fact that it is slow to load, it would be the best note-taking app.

Next up, we have Reflect. Normally, Reflect costs 10 dollars a month but because I made this review video, which you can check out right here if you want, the founder of Reflect reached out to me via Twitter and offered me a free subscription, which I accepted of course, so expect more coverage of Reflect over the next few months as it is a very underrated app.

What Reflect is exceptional at is the daily note feature. I go in, and immediately I am at today’s date. Then I can focus on spontaneous journaling and all that stuff without needing to do any extra work. In the rare case that I read a Kindle book and highlight, it will automatically sync. No Readwise needed.

But that is pretty much it. Although Reflect has MANY cool features, I pretty much use Reflect only for this since I do not link notes.

The third note-taking app is Apple Notes, which is one of my favorites because of its simplicity. Here is where my true “second brain”. Whenever I come across some sources through the videos I watch, I save them here, together with other articles. Also if I want to make a note about a certain topic, I go to Apple Notes for it. Since I use a Mac almost all the time, it of course integrates extremely well with it.

But then you might ask “why don’t I use Reflect for this as well?”. Although I definitely could that, I just find it much easier to switch between different apps rather than tapping within an app. It is these small things that makes a huge difference, but I’ll make a video in a future where I truly compare all of the three side by side, stay tuned for that.

The last one is Google Tasks. Although it is technically a task manager, I use it as a note-taking app and Todoist as my task manager instead. Here is where all my video ideas come in since it is SO easy to just make a new entry on this very long list. I also keep track on my groceries as well as a travel checklist when that happens. Two improvements to that app would definitely be a search function plus a dedicated app on the computer and not just being on the side of other Google services. But aside from that, it’s extremely reliable.

Now we have discussed the input process but any PKM-system is utterly useless if it does not help us produce quality output which I’ll end this video with.

The output process

Of course, the output process will totally depend on what you do in your profession. For me, I base my entire life on showing up and giving as much value to the wonderful amazing you as every day.

To accomplish this, I set aside time each Saturday to go through all the ideas I have and select the 7 best ones into the Youtube database in Notion. Then I can relax, knowing that I do not need to reinvent the wheel every day.

Once I know what to make during the week, I often find myself getting ideas on how I want to present these topics, which I do in Notion. Just open them as a page and adding some notes. I also search within my Apple Notes to get some sources and facts that I can use in the video.

Then every single day, I go to the page on the top and start to write some kind of a script. Unlike anyone on this planet I guess, I do that primarily on the phone, and I do it on the bus. Yes, I take a bus four times every day to the gym every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, and the other rides, I take the bus to the beautiful Gdynia beach and the ride itself takes around 8 minutes Previously I used to write while walking but now I try to not do it since I am super productive on the bus now. Now I rather look out in the horizon so I can preserve my good vision and offset looking down on my phone and my computer every day.

But if it is a long script, which to me is more than 700 words, and I am not finished, I take roughly a quarter to finish on my computer and I’m very fast at typing there. After that, the daily script is done and then it’s just record, edit and publish the day after. This all repeats every day.

Now I have to admit, I want to go from using a script to only using bullet points when talking to you, but right now I am extremely bad at just improvising what to say. So what I do every evening now is a practice session where I simply grab my phone and talk about whatever comes to mind, and hopefully I am able to train my ability to talk good sentences without these filler words, and thus be more relatable. So I am working on it, just to let you know.

Final words

So as you have heard now, my PKM system is extremely simple and practical, because it has to. Because I make these videos every single day, I do not have time to make links and play around with the system as a whole. You are much more important than some text on the screen after all.