The Importance of Organizing Your Information in a System

  • 31 March 2025

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the volume of information that you have to manage every day in your personal and professional life? You’re not alone! In this digital age, managing knowledge has become an enormous task. Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) is revolutionizing the way we deal with information.

This text comes from the website of the European PKM Summit, which I attended on March 14 and 15. These were incredibly insightful days where everyone learned from each other, and knowledge was generously shared with the goal of collectively improving how we handle information. For more insights on the summit, you can also read this report.

In this blog, I’ll explain why PKM is essential to me and how my system has evolved. Last year, I wrote about it as my “second brain” (in dutch), but thanks to the PKM Summit, I’ve gained new inspiration and taken my system to the next level. It has now become a structured system rather than just a second brain.

PKM Summit 2025

The two-day event was overwhelming in the best way possible—both inspiring and energizing. The incredible speakers and the rich interactions between them and the attendees made it a truly valuable experience. It’s amazing to see how this initiative grew from the Digitale Fitness community, thanks to the dedication of Martijn Aslander, Mark Meinema, Lykle de Vries, Ton Zijlstra, and Bart Verheijen.

For now, I want to focus on two standout sessions: one by Nick Milo and another on ontology, which he co-hosted with Martijn Aslander.

After attending their sessions, I completely overhauled my entire system in the evening. His method, ACE (Atlas, Calendar, Effort), categorizes knowledge, time, and action. While inspiring, it didn’t quite work for me. That’s the key to PKM: the “P” stands for “Personal.” Finding a system that fits you is crucial. Starting with an existing framework helps, but ultimately, you need to tailor it to your needs. Martijn Aslander also shared his thoughts on building a personal knowledge universe.

My PKM Structure

I now work with three main categories, aligning them with the core PKM principles for simplicity:

  • Personal: This includes my daily notes, values, ideas, and issues that occupy my mind. I also keep a complete version of the Bible within this section.
  • Knowledge: This is my reference library, containing notes on topics, books, movies, series, documentaries, shows, and podcasts that I find valuable. My book list allows me to filter by what I’m reading, what I want to read, and what I’ve already finished—organized by genre, author, or rating. I also maintain notes on people and organizations.
  • Management: This tracks my projects and areas of focus. The distinction is simple: projects have deadlines and are short-term, while areas of focus are ongoing responsibilities without a fixed deadline (e.g., my role in a supervisory board, my family responsibilities, health, and sports). For more insights, check out this page by Tiago Forte. I also document meetings, discussions, and calls here, linking them to relevant people and projects.

I’ve been using Obsidian for nearly three years after previously relying on Evernote. The problem with Evernote was that I stored information but didn’t engage with it. I would save entire articles without noting which parts were interesting or why. With Obsidian, I can connect notes more effectively, making my system much more useful.

My goal is to document key insights for future reflection and use. The challenge? I don’t always know what I’ll need later. However, I’m learning to trust my notes more. At the end of this blog, you can see my Obsidian structure—"+" is my inbox, and “x” contains miscellaneous extra components.

Advice for Getting Started

My advice: just start, but don’t overcomplicate things from day one. My system has evolved over three years, and it will continue to do so.

If you’re new to PKM, begin with one of the three core areas:

  • Want to capture daily thoughts and reflections? Start with Personal.
  • Want to save interesting links, articles, and quotes? Begin with Knowledge.
  • Need to organize projects and areas of responsibilities? Focus on Management.

Start small and make it a habit to work from your PKM daily. Over time, you’ll refine it. Don’t worry if you don’t have a clear direction yet—that’s completely normal! You’ll only discover what works by diving in. The Greek philosopher Seneca put it well: “No reflection without action, and no action without reflection." Planning is essential, but you’ll only know if you’re on the right path once you take the first step.

Good luck with building your system! Perhaps we’ll meet at the European PKM Summit 2026 or at one of the monthly Digitale Fitheid meetups!


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