Obsidian is a feature-packed note-taking tool, but is it worth the time spent getting used to and customizing?
Reflection and long-term learning
On the surface, Obsidian seems like any other app, but only after a few months of use will users see its basic benefits. Obsidian is the tool that connects your notes together and turns them into a whole that is greater than the sum of their parts.
In the past, during the note-taking process, people often simply rewrote notes. They are just words and numbers, arranged on lines and easily forgotten. Only after using Obsidian will you realize that your notes are missing a key ingredient – connection (the way one note relates to another). Instead of having notes as independent discrete entities, Obsidian allows you to turn your notes into a series of thoughts.


This approach to note-taking is exactly what is missing from other apps. And the best part is that the more notes you take, the better the system becomes.
This is possible thanks to Obsidian's key features: Note links, chart views, and note tags. Note links let you connect one note to another, which you can visually see in the chart view. At the same time, the note tagging feature allows you to tag notes with a specific keyword.
Explore deeper connections between ideas

Obsidian's graph view visually maps the relationships between notes, creating a panoramic view of your knowledge network. With this feature, you not only get a reasonable overview, but it also helps you explore ideas and relationships between concepts that weren't obvious at first.
In addition, the chart view also helps you discover more things you need to research. For example, the word NATO appears in a note about the Korean War but is unrelated to the existing NATO note. With this, you quickly find a new area to explore: How is NATO involved in the Korean War?
A knowledge center that grows with you
One of the big drawbacks in other note-taking tools is that as the number of notes increases, organizing them becomes a problem, since you have to manually open folders and see what's in them, decide whether to put it in a specific folder or create a new folder. However, tagging and linking notes helps you avoid these problems.

Furthermore, to make things easy, Obsidian's search function can easily find notes for you. You just need to enter a keyword and it will output notes with that specific keyword or tag.

Obsidian also allows you to create multiple archives which can help separate different types of notes and clearly differentiate between them. For example, you can keep notes related to work, projects, and research separate from your personal diary, interests, and personal information. So even as you move into new areas and topics, Obsidian won't hold you back and will make things more manageable.
Realize what you know (and don't know)

Obsidian chart view allows you to easily gauge your expertise on a particular topic. You create a chain of related ideas when you link one note to another. However, if you can't find relevant notes to link to a new idea or are missing links, it may indicate that you lack information on that topic. This helps you realize which areas you understand well and which areas need further exploration.
Additionally, by tagging your notes, you can categorize them by topic and subject (e.g. “Machine Learning”, “Philosophy”, “Psychology”). If you notice that a tag only has a few notes, it indicates you need to dig deeper into that topic.
Is it worth spending time on the Obsidian note-taking app?
One of the downsides of Obsidian is the time it takes to learn the application, especially the Markdown format, which many people may find confusing. You'll have to deal with a lot of issues, such as learning formatting syntax, note linking, and how tagging works. However, it only takes a few days to master these, which is much easier than getting used to Notion.

Another thing that many people don't like about Obsidian is its default theme, which is not the best. However, you can install Obsidian themes with just one click, and there are plenty of free Obsidian themes to choose from. Obsidian has a diverse theme store, so you will have to spend quite a bit of time finding the right theme or even writing custom CSS code to implement the desired look.
So, Obsidian is an undeniably powerful and effective tool, but at the end of the day, it's just a tool and may not be suitable for everyone. If you want to jot down a few things, like grocery items or to-do lists, there are better apps for that purpose. Similarly, taking notes in Notion can be overkill.
But if you'll be taking a lot of notes and want to build a personal knowledge base, Obsidian will help you do that. This is an app that helps connect notes together and makes what you've learned feel cohesive.

Obsidian's real strength lies in its ability to turn discrete notes into a connected network of knowledge. While the initial learning curve and setup may seem steep, the rewards will be huge for those who invest the time.
Based on experience, Obsidian is an app worth spending time on – but only if you're looking for a tool that grows with you. For regular note-takers, setup can feel overwhelming. However, if the goal is to create a growing knowledge base that can handle your every interest and endeavor, then Obsidian is absolutely worth the effort. This is more than just a note-taking app; but also a tool to help you understand what you know and discover what you don't know.