Ali Raza Zaidi

A practitioner’s musings on Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations

Personal Knowledge Management

How to implement Tiny Experiment in Logseq

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Hello friends,

Recently, I came across a new technique for goal-setting and its implementation — and it’s been a game-changer for me.

I discovered the concept of Tiny Experiments, and it helped me shift from a linear mindset to an experimental mindset. The core of this approach is curiosity — the genuine desire to see what happens if I try something new. It’s no longer about “achieving a goal” but rather asking, what can I learn from this experiment?

This idea may have existed before, but I recently discovered it through Anne-Laure Cunff’s book Tiny Experiments. (Disclaimer: I haven’t read the full book yet, but I picked up the essence from her podcast and various blog posts.)

Here are a few key insights I gathered:

  • Long-term goals are often linear — we set a vision, but over time, we lose interest or life takes us in different directions.
  • Instead of big, rigid goals, Anne suggests setting short-term, curiosity-driven experiments.
  • The magic lies in small iterations and consistent reflection — this helps us either continue with what works or pivot to something new.

Her core formula:

“I will do this action for X number of iterations.”

She herself wrote 100 articles in 100 days, using this method — not to go viral, but to learn what worked and what didn’t.

Here’s the simple yet powerful workflow:

Observation → Question → Hypothesis → Pact → Reflect (Repeat)

Or in even simpler terms: Do and Learn — or as we say in Urdu, “کر کے دیکھو” (Kar ke dekho).

Let’s break it down:

1. Observation

Look at any area of your life: personal finance, health, relationships, career, etc.
Ask yourself: What’s going on?
This is a form of reflection — remember, we don’t learn from experience, we learn by reflecting on experience.

2. Question

Ask yourself:

  • What needs to change?
  • What’s not working right now?
  • What’s possible if I approach this differently?

3. Hypothesis

Make an assumption: If I take a specific action, what result do I expect?
It’s not about being right or wrong — it’s about testing and learning.

4. Pact

Define the experiment:

  • What action will I take?
  • For how long? (e.g., 10 days, 30 iterations, etc.)

5. Reflect

After your experiment, reflect on:

  • What worked?
  • What didn’t?
  • What should I try next?

Example: Health & Fitness

Let’s say you want to feel healthier and look more fit.

Observation

I feel overweight and not in good shape.

Questions

  • Do I need to change my lifestyle?
  • Should I join a gym or just walk daily?
  • Should I change my diet?

Hypothesis

If I walk daily and reduce my food intake, I’ll lose 20 kg in 2 months.

Pact

  • Walk 40 minutes daily for 30 days.
  • Reduce roti intake to 1 per meal or 1 thali of rice, no refills, for the next 30 days.

Reflect (after 30 days)

What worked:

  • I feel better
  • My energy levels have increased
  • I feel more active

What didn’t:

  • My shape hasn’t changed much
  • Weight hasn’t reduced significantly

So now, you can design a new tiny experiment based on this reflection — and repeat the cycle.

Hope you found this helpful!
Try it out with an open mind. Start small, stay curious, and remember:

Don’t chase goals. Run experiments.

You can use logseq tempate and implement this in following ways.

And How we use this template something similar

Simple PKM with Obsidian

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Hello friends, welcome to this video!

In this video, I’m sharing a simple Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) System in Obsidian. It consists of three main folders:

1. Inbox

This is where all your notes are initially stored—whether it’s your daily journal, work-related notes, ideas, or anything else you capture throughout the day.

2. MOC (Map of Content)

This folder contains Table of Contents (TOC) notes—a central hub where all notes related to a specific category are linked. Think of it as a gateway to easily access and organize your knowledge.

3. Specific Folders

Once a note is finalized, it gets moved into a relevant category folder. Examples include D365, Excel, and Consulting—but you can create folders based on your own needs.

This is my simple yet effective PKM system in Obsidian. I hope you find it helpful!

How to use Todoist with Roam Research

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Hi all, what if you create your todo in Todoist and those sync to your Roam Research daily post and vice versa.

The step by step walkthrough is mentioned in following video.

In my workflow I create task in Todoist and then these will sync in my daily note.

Obsidian folder settings and PKM Best practices Evergreen Notes

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Hi and hello, everyone.
My personal knowledge management workflow is evolving. I’m a big fan of creating new notes in a predefined folder. These folders focus on specific topics. For instance, I can compose or annotate pre-existing notes on D365 Community or LinkedIn. However, the issue arises when you copy and paste or use a web clipper. And left unfinished or partially modified. These are not completed when you need them.

Best Practices says that you need to convert them into evergreen notes.

You can rewrite Evergeen notes into your own unique ideas or use them as automatic notes on a single topic or concept. You can read more about it at the following link.
https://notes.andymatuschak.org/Evergreen_notes

The Evergreen Note is a finished product. For example, I copied the whole article from LinkedIn. That is from the topic of “Who to User Chain of Command Instead Event Handler.” I copied it into a designated folder. After that, it remained unchanged.
This is not my note. It is a reference note. What should I do? I made changes. Remove unnecessary points from it. Next, I will incorporate my personal experiences into it. Some people suggest that we must modify and rewrite it.
The end product moves into a specific folder.
Copying the entire article for future use is a good practice. Instead of searching the internet, you can find these references in your own note-taking app. You can use these references in your work and share them with your colleagues.
You cannot share or publish these articles on your blog. But the evergreen notes can be.
Remember the simple rule “Document Not Create”? Most of the time, people like me are not capable of creating something new. There is always inspiration.
This past weekend, when I began reviewing each folder, I discovered a significant number of incomplete notes.
So I decided to change my approach. I should move my modifications, rewrites, or final comments into a separate folder. This is the best practice.
I think there are two types of people. One type of person learns from others’ experiences by adhering to best practices or recommendations. The second individual gains knowledge through experience. In Sufi called this Marfat. This refers to the moment when practitioners begin to understand the rationale behind the rule’s creation, also known as best practices.
And third one who never learns.
The two note-taking methodologies, Mike Millo’s ACE framework and Tigo forte’s Para Method, both recommend these best practices.
Now I decided that all my new notes will go in folder “Inbox.”

As Obsidian is my core PKM software, here is a walkthrough to create a separate folder, and all notes go directly in that folder.

Click on Settings in Obsidian.

From setting page select the options select the files and links. following two settings need to update.

You can select Default location for new notes as “In the folder specified below”.
Second you can set your own folder name.

Third option you can set here is default location for new attachment.
In default setting in obsidian, you have to copy paste images from specific folder. and it shows and copied into Obsidian Vault.

Another best practices you can use that you have to built template. as I mentioned in my last post
https://www.tech.alirazazaidi.com/how-to-add-template-in-obsidian-pkm/

You have to use Tags for category to identity your notes in your inbox folder.
You can use Tags for more detail identification for the category for note.

When each note is processed, You can move them into specific folder.

Hope you like this post.

My quest toward better Personal Knowledge Management (PKM)

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I started adding my notes, and I found it helpful during my career as a consultant. I started writing, collecting, and compiling my notes after a long time. I already shared my notes on this blog about D365 finance and operations.

I still believe Gary Vee advises, “Document, don’t create.”. Creation is not easy.
You can find this post here.

Document, Don’t create: Creating Content that Builds Your Personal Brand

What is PKM, or Personal Knowledge Management? The term gained popularity in Pendamic, particularly with the emergence of digital note-taking applications.

To me, its personal notes, experience, extraction form different blogs, websites, webbastes, podcasts and then rewrite them for your future references. As time progresses, we transform into knowledge workers. All consultants are actually knowledge workers.
It is a hub of knowledge based on which you can recall any past experience and compile that knowledge to solve the current problem.

I am doing this form couple of years, and from the starting of my career.

Let’s discuss how my journey started and how I am still learning and experimenting with my personal knowledge management.

Now I am facing the problem of organizing my notes.

When I started writing notes, I used Evernote. However, as time went on, I decided to move away from Evernote. Then I started writing my blog post in Word documents.

Then start using OneNote. It felt awkward initially, but the folder and file structure really helped me there.
Later, I will start using Notion and then move towards the Personal Pro version, which has cost 5 dollars per month for the last 4 years.
As Pakistanis, we often find ourselves thinking about saving money. Surprisingly, I am currently experiencing a severe financial crisis. However, this $5 is still worth it because my growth notes with images go beyond the free version.
I worked in a little hierarchical folder. My basic structure is quite similar.

I used to write daily logs under the logs, year, and month folder structure. On the month page, I recorded all my thoughts, findings, challenges, plans, and ideas for a specific date, separating them by simple division.

I returned to Pakistan this year and began working as a principle consultant for an organization. On Logseq, I found one video. After watching that video, I love the way LogSeq works.

I love its graph view. That graph view is a game changer for me. 
It helps me connect my notes. That helps me to avoid repeating the same thoughts, notes, and ideas over and over again. Initially, I encountered a problem where the notes were stored in folders and were not connected to each other. Additionally, Notion does not offer a graph view. Notion later provides the back linking functionality. However, it lacks the power of Obsidian and Logseq.
The grap view was created after working on it as a daily log after using it for the last 7 months, as follows:

This graph is game changer for me. I think human mind also have evulation stages. Couple of years back. I saw similar network graph in obsidian, but that time, I can not understand what is network of notes and did not feel this idea right.
But now my notes are huge. From almost more then 5 years notes. Some shared on my blog some are not.
One of the best thing I found in log seq is task manager.
In the morning, when I reach office. I just add a few task something similar

In this I make notes and todo. It is really easy for me that I can get all information for single project in screen for example

Now I face two problems. Logseq is file-based; Notion is cloud-based. Logseq has the strength to store all files in a local folder. 
The second problem is that Logseq is an outliner. You can make logs. Bullet points. sub-bullet points. It’s good for making meeting notes. However, it’s not ideal for writing lengthy articles. It’s good for brainstorming.

For file-based, I found one plugin that helps sync my logseq daily note to Notion. That helps me a lot.
But the network graph makes me more hungry. I start to read more about personal knowledge management systems. Finally, we get to Obsidian.
Obsidian did not provide the same functionality as Logseq, such as a single page with all of the back link’s details. However, this platform allows us to create MOC pages on our own.
Backlinking and network graphing are its core powers. File-based did not attract me. I already have all my notes organized by topic. And nothing personal. These are just my day-to-day problems, solutions, and personal dairy, and I don’t care if they come to light.
When I exported all my concept notes in markdown format and imported them into Obsidian, I discovered the following graph view:

Now, my notes or personal knowledge are making things more messy.
I wrote my daily notes in Logseq. That sncy to Notion. Notion doesn’t sync images or uploaded files.
My details, or long notes, which I wrote in Obsidian, also sync with Notion.
But my daily workflow for notes starts to get messy. Backlinking creates a problem.
I have left my notes unstructured, copied them from a concept, and included images as links.
I need to organize and structure my notes, so these will be helpful for me. If I create something well, I can share it on the internet.

Now I start reading notes them comes different methodlogy.
Building a second Brain by Tiago Forte:
First is Para method or Building a second brain. By Tiago Forte.

Diving organize folder structure by following way.

I used that method in notion. However, I typically store my notes in subfolders, such as Area. 
The project will incorporate office work notes. 
People who are well-organized, especially knowledge workers, typically use this method. 
I am both a knowledge worker and an ERP consultant. Tage Foritor is also a business analyst. 
I was unaware that Tage Foritor specialized in software-related business analysis and management consulting. 
This structure helps me organize my old notes effectively. As you start to develop your “second brain,” store everything that you previously had in the Archieve folder. 
All non-professional articles, blogs, screenshots, and notes go into the resources folder.

The Areas folder can contain notes related to personal finance, health, or habit tracking activity.

Zettelkasten Method
This is one of the traditional methods of organization. Whenever you visit a public library, there is a separate section with a slip box, where each card contains a book reference and indicates the book’s placement on the bookshelf. More than that, I can’t understand. Only what I understand is thatBuild your notes in a common place, refine them, and finally make permanent notes.
Those with a more organized mind typically reserve this for themselves. This certainly did not fit my mindset.
There is also a famous book on how to take smart notes by Sonke Ahrens.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Take-Smart-Notes-Nonfiction/dp/1542866502

Johnny Decimal method.

Let’s talk about Johnny’s decimal way of personal knowledge management. It’s similar to the traditional method we use for creating accounting charts. I did not use this method, but it is in use. I think if you have an accounting or finance-related job, this method certainly works for you. This can be found by following the link.
https://johnnydecimal.com/

Linking your thinking by Nick Milo
Initially, when I started using Obsidian, I saw some of his videos on YouTube, but I did not consider him.
However, as my notes become disorganized, Instead, these help me to make myself more stressed.
I discovered a new way to connect your thoughts. You can get more detailed information from this link, or you can follow him on his YouTube channel.
https://forum.obsidian.md/t/linking-your-thinking-resources/6177

He also provide a sample obsidian Vault. You can study PKM after download and connect with your Obsidian. download link is here
https://www.linkingyourthinking.com/myideaverse/start

I am studying this and organizing my notes, inspired by the “linking your thinking” methodology.

I learned from his concept of MOCs. I applied the concept of the map of contents to my own understanding.

Now let me share with you how I started organizing my mess.

I start making notes in folders. There is one folder that contains all of my MOCS.
For example, the article I am writing in Obsidian is in the “PKM” folder, but I have one in the MOC folder.
note with the title  PKM_MOC. 
Instead of making generic folders, I make specific folders, and all relevant notes will be there.

Both the Second Brain and the Zettelkasten Method encourage students to write down notes in a specific folder. Move your finalized notes to a specific folder. I did not follow that methodology. Using the second-brain method, I kept my notes in daily logs without ever moving them or purifying them.

I make it a practice to write a note in its relevant folder. It’ll be there even if incomplete or uncompiled.

I sync my notes to Notion after finishing them.

I didn’t realize that all incomplete notes would go into a specific folder and then move there once finalized. I have to work in a specific folder. When the note is complete. I sync it to notion.

The purpose of PKM is to generate personal knowledge, which you can then use to compete with other knowledge workers.

My journey to Personal knowledge Management is still in progress. How about yours?