Quartz 5

Why 'Just Start Writing' Backfires in Obsidian — And What to Do Instead

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tagsblog, productivity, obsidian

3 min read

Summary

The author pushes back on the popular “just start writing, figure out the system later” advice for Obsidian, arguing it is the right antidote to over-engineering perfectionism but the wrong default for many people. Writing without any system is still a system — one designed by no one — and it leads to scattered, unfindable notes that don’t help you publish. The proposed alternative is apprenticeship: rather than inventing a custom workflow, adopt a proven one from a master (the author’s choice is Luhmann’s Zettelkasten, a writer’s system that produced 55+ books) and improvise from that foundation.

作者反駁 Obsidian 圈流行的「先寫再說、系統之後再弄」建議：它對抗完美主義過度建構是對的解藥，但對許多人並非好的預設。沒有系統地寫，本身也是一種系統——一個無人設計的系統——會導致筆記散落、找不到、無助於產出。作者提出的替代方案是「學徒制」：不要從零自創流程，而是借用大師已驗證的系統（作者選擇 Luhmann 的 Zettelkasten，一套產出 55+ 本書的寫作者系統），並在此基礎上即興發揮。

Key Points

  • “Just start writing” is medicine for perfectionists who build endless vaults but never write — but it is not universal advice.
  • The opposite extreme (no system at all) is equally unproductive: notes scatter and stop serving publishing.
  • “Not using a system” is itself a choice — a system designed by no one — and when it fails, people app-hop instead of fixing the root cause.
  • The fix is not architecting a custom workflow but apprenticeship: mimic a master who already used notes to write.
  • Luhmann’s Zettelkasten is presented as a writer’s (not collector’s) system worth adapting into Obsidian.
  • A foundation in how ideas are collected, transformed, and published must precede improvisation.

Insights

The sharp observation is that “no system” is an invisible default that still has consequences, so the real choice is between an unexamined system and a borrowed-but-proven one. This is a useful counterweight to the low-friction daily-note article in the same batch: one optimizes for frictionless capture, this one warns that capture without a publishing-oriented structure produces an unusable pile. Both agree the answer is borrowed infrastructure, not raw discipline.

Connections

Raw Excerpt

You think you’re NOT using a system. But this IS the system you chose. A system designed by no one.

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