*What if we used Obsidian for more than just organizing knowledge?* Instead, what if the app became a life operating system to help us unlock our full potential? I've been trying to answer this question myself, so for the past few months, I've researched and synthesized the foundational ideas across various productivity and life design resources like: - Ali Abdaal's recent book [[Feel Good Productivity Application]] - The infamous [[Getting Things Done]] task management system - August Bradley's life design system [[Pipelines Pillars Vaults]] - [[The 12 Week Year]] goal setting system - Cal Newport's [[Deep Life Philosophy]] And various other annual reviews and planning workflows to **turn Obsidian into my life operating system.** It guides my life by: - Seeing how my daily tasks are connected with my higher-order goals and values through my [vision board](https://youtu.be/sj8oJeYHTDQ?si=fB4aTTDND6lWsvAE&t=73) - Encouraging consistent reflection and planning through [daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly reviews](https://youtu.be/sj8oJeYHTDQ?si=zOfmv_nWY3uxNuYy&t=146) - Clarifying my goals through meaningful objectives through [goal notes](https://youtu.be/sj8oJeYHTDQ?si=kLaD5d0MH3tAQfWd&t=166), which are then made actionable through project notes - Establishing trackers to visualize your progress on relevant [habits and key metrics](https://youtu.be/sj8oJeYHTDQ?si=1N1QIM5VZc6Delqt&t=227) But wait, why DO I care so much about setting up an elaborate system in the first place? On my deathbed, I want to have lived a meaningful life where I worked towards my long term goals and full potential. But during the start of 2024, I realized two obstacles were restaining me from following this life path… #### I didn't always feel driven to work on my daily tasks First, sometimes I didn't feel intrinsically motivated to work on my tasks and follow through on my daily schedules. This caused me to procrastinate and seek refuge in hedonistic activities like mindlessly doomscrolling, aimlessly playing games, and binging anime. The exact opposite path from living a fulfilling life 💀 I know you can persevere through these feelings with discipline and by embracing discomfort, but let's assume that the eastern philosophy of the journey and present moment being all that we have applies to our day-to-day life. If you don't like how today went, then tomorrow comes and you also don't like how it went… Let this pattern continue, and you won't enjoy life. *Is it really worth days of unhappiness to achieve one day (or even a few seconds) of satisfaction?* Thankfully, after reading Ali's new book [[Feel-Good Productivity]], I was reminded that it is possible to make productivity as fun and immersive as my old 16-hour gaming days. It's possible to work towards my goals not in a state of frictionful survival, but one of play and growth towards the ideal life I want to strive towards. #### I had trouble remembering and reviewing long-term goals and values Next, my second obstacle was not being able to act in accordance with my long-term goals. When I revisited my goals for 2023, I couldn't even recall a single one… Instead, I felt like I was reading a stranger's goals as they were completely different from my current priorities. **I can’t focus if I’m not sure whether what I’m working on aligns with my vision for the future.** *When I'm planning my quarterly or monthly goals, how will I know when I'm off track chasing distractions or staying on track with my values?* *How can I make make sure that even in the last week of my year, my yearly goals are still meaningful to me and I'm still making progress on them?* And so, these two obstacles from last year stemmed from my disconnect between my long-term goals and my short-term actions. Thankfully, I plan on solving this through my alignment philosophy. #### My Alignment Philosophy An alignment philosophy is a system that connects your long-term visions into smaller timeframes like quarterly, monthly, and weekly, all the way until your tangible daily life. And I believe this will solve my problems as it promotes Cal Newport's idea of [[Attention-centred productivity]]. Instead of the traditional view on productivity where you emphasize accomplishments and output, attention-centered productivity emphasizes prioritization and focus. It's not about doing more at all costs, but doing less of the things that suck your energy and time. Paradoxically, this allows you to do more than you ever could. How can we implement this system in Obsidian? Let’s imagine your Alignment Philosophy as the solar system of your life.  Credit: https://4kwallpapers.com/space/solar-system-planets-galaxy-orbit-sun-moon-stars-universe-6357.html Your values acts as the sun—the central, life-giving source that everything else revolves around. It offers warmth (fulfillment), light (guidance), and gravitational pull (focus) to keep all other elements in their proper place and aligned with your core values and visions. The orbits around the sun represent different timeframes for planning and reflection through daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly reviews. Each orbit has its unique distance from the sun, which is the frequency and scope of the planning and reflection activities. The daily and weekly orbits are closest to the sun, focusing on immediate tasks and short-term actions. Their orbit paths are shorter, emphasizing rapid cycles of action and adjustment. Larger orbits like monthly, quarterly, and yearly only make one rotation after multiple rotations of the smaller orbit timeframes. Planets are the main focuses in each orbit that have their own gravitation pull (focus): - The planets in your daily orbit would be your highlight of the day or top 3 priorities - The planets in your weekly orbit would be your actionable projects - The planets in your monthly, quarterly, and yearly orbit would be your longer-term goals Each planet has moons that represent specific tasks or habits related to the planet's gravitational pull. These moons are influenced by the gravitational pull of the planet (your projects and goals), ensuring they also remain aligned with the focus of your timeframe. If you want to see this system in action, I uploaded an exclusive 75-minute video showcasing the system to see how I've used it to plan my 2024, which comes with [complementary notes in my published second brain](https://publish.obsidian.md/johnmavrick/My+Alignment+Philosophy). But if you want to take it one step further, you can start using this system yourself by checking out the [Ultimate Starter Vault](https://publish.obsidian.md/johnmavrick/My+Areas/%E2%9B%B0%EF%B8%8F+Ultimate+Starter+Vault). (The introduction contains the text you just read so you can skip to [7:30](https://youtu.be/sj8oJeYHTDQ?si=0CFCQCu8yRcOvMWf&t=450))