Most note-taking systems fail for the same reason: they optimise for capture, not comprehension. Highlights accumulate. Folders fill up. Nothing gets used.
This workflow is an attempt to fix that. It uses a Supernote e-ink tablet as a thinking surface and Obsidian as a permanent knowledge layer. The goal is not to collect more information — it is to understand what you read and hear well enough to actually use it.
One Principle
Never copy. Always restate.
When you encounter something worth keeping, do not underline it or highlight it. Look away from the page and write — in your own words — what it said and why it matters. If you cannot do that, you did not understand it yet. That is useful information.
The Whole System
While reading or listening: write one sentence on the Supernote — what just mattered and why.
Once a week: flip back through your pages, circle anything still relevant, retype the circled sentences into Obsidian.
That is it. Everything else is optional and can be added later if you feel a specific friction that more structure would solve.
Three Additions Worth Having From Day One
These three elements add almost no overhead but return significant value. They come from a more detailed version of this workflow, distilled down to what is worth keeping from the start.
1. Pre-reading filter
Before reading a single page of a long document, spend 20 minutes on structure only: table of contents, first paragraph of each chapter, any executive summary. List the sections relevant to your work. Ignore everything else.
Your attention is a limited resource. This step treats it that way. A 170-page regulatory document becomes 60 pages of material that actually matters to you.
2. The ! marker
While writing your sentence, add a ! next to it if it signals a gap or something you need to act on. One extra second while writing. At the weekly review it instantly separates interesting ideas from actual work that needs doing.
3. Claim-based note titles
When you move your circled sentences into Obsidian, title each note as a claim rather than a topic.
- ✅
Incident reporting windows are tighter than most organisations assume - ❌
Regulatory reading notes — April
Claim-based titles make ideas findable and linkable months later. Date-based titles become a chronological diary that is almost impossible to resurface when you need it.
Why Supernote and Obsidian
These two tools serve different purposes and should stay that way.
Supernote is where you think. The e-ink screen, the stylus, and the absence of notifications create a focused environment closer to paper than to a computer. Writing by hand forces compression — you cannot transcribe everything, so you are forced to decide what matters. That decision is the learning.
Obsidian is where the best thoughts live permanently. It is a local, plain-text knowledge base that links ideas together over time. It is not a capture tool. Things should earn their place there.
The bridge is simple: once a week, you retype the sentences worth keeping. The act of retyping is one final reinforcement of the material — far more useful than an automated sync that bypasses your brain entirely.
What Good Looks Like
You finish a chapter or an episode. You write one sentence. It takes 20 seconds. The sentence is in your own words, not copied from the source.
If you cannot write the sentence, you either did not understand it yet or it was not actually useful. Both are worth knowing mid-read rather than after you have finished and forgotten everything.
What to Stop Doing
- Stop highlighting in PDFs as a primary reading habit
- Stop importing highlights automatically into Obsidian
- Stop organising your existing vault — let it sit and start fresh in one folder called
Working
The existing vault is not broken. It is full of things that were captured before the thinking happened. Leave it alone.
The system works because it makes the gap visible immediately. If you cannot say what something means for your work, you know that while you are still reading — not after. The Supernote does not make you a better note-taker. It makes the thinking impossible to skip.