20 Comments
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Nicola Vitkovich's avatar

Thank you, this takes what I do with reading to retain (write out a quote/highlight and put it in my own words) and gives me some solid gold new steps to take that and create content easily. I love it!

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Glad it was helpful :)

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Deborah Kane's avatar

Thanks Matt, This is such a simple thing that many of us don't even consider. I can't tell you how many wasted, highlighted passages I could have turned into my own unique articles – even books. 📚 💛

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Glad it was helpful :)

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Charles R. Lightner's avatar

This is a great idea. It expands on the original Obsidian strategy by coupling the note with a personal experience, which magnifies the value of the note. No matter what the note is ultimately used for. Thanks.

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

You're welcome, Charles

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Dax Vale's avatar

I love this. There's no problem in using templates.

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

glad it's helpful

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Larry C. Brown's avatar

I've been doing that a lot lately since I started consuming marketing and copywriting books. Every time I come across a great idea, I make a note of it. Depending on the concept, I may ask ChatGPT how it applies to my service, and I usually end up with several content ideas.

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Glad to hear that, Larry

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Remembering to Laugh (Ginny L)'s avatar

Unfortunately my reading is done by audio books these days; I may have to go back to book in hand reading, even digital reading so that I can use this method. Although, I find myself doing this same process as I read Substack posts!

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

That's the pain with audiobooks!

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Remembering to Laugh (Ginny L)'s avatar

Yeah, I am old and kinda crippled up. It’s hard for me to hold a book up for a long period of time. So, I have been lying down and listening to my books as I go to sleep. But, I’ll figure it out. Thanks for your post.

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Sorry to hear that

But yeah, that makes sense.

I found that using an AI voice-recorder to be helpful in those cases.

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Remembering to Laugh (Ginny L)'s avatar

Oh as in recording your notes? Good idea!

Does the voice recorder transfer to text on your computer then?

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Matt Giaro ⚙️'s avatar

Yes, you can access them on your computer

You could give otter.ai a short (free up to 300 minutes)

I’ve used it for years.

Today, I’m using letterly (mattgiaro.com/letterly) if you want to try it out

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Daniel's avatar

"Action: List three recurring decisions you can automate this week."

This made me curious - what do you mean by automating decisions? Can you give an example of what it might be?

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Therapy Truck's avatar

Excited to try this method. Sort of what I've been doing but in a much cleaner and reproducible way. Thanks for sharing, Matt❣️

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Creative Jessi's avatar

This is such a helpful article! Thank you for sharing a tangible, actionable step.

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David (J) Vranicar's avatar

These are great ideas, Matt. I’ve tried Obsidian for note taking and hated it. Now I use Heptabase and love it. So much easier, more flexible, and versatile!

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