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Mike Schmitz

@mikeschmitz.bsky.social
656 followers 84 following 414 posts

I help people apply values-based productivity principles to get more out of the notes & ideas in their PKM systems, primarily using Obsidian.

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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
For years I thought my social media problem was a systems problem. It wasn't. The real block was a belief I'd never said out loud. Most beliefs like that don't survive being written down — try it on whatever you're avoiding.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
If you've built every tool you need and still aren't doing the thing, it’s may not be a discipline problem that’s keeping you stuck. It might be a fear you haven't named yet. Write it down. Most fears don't survive being looked at directly.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Stop asking why you're so lazy about the thing you keep avoiding. Instead, ask what you're afraid it will say about you if you actually did it. That question moved me further than any productivity system I've built.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
An emergency is, by definition, the thing you didn't plan for. If you'd planned for it, it wouldn't be an emergency. That's what Eisenhower told a room of people whose entire job was planning for national emergencies, back in 1957. ”Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
You don’t have a creativity problem. You have a portfolio problem. The solution? Start becoming an investor in ideas.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I estimate that 90% of what I capture never makes it into Obsidian. That's not a problem, that’s just part of the process. The trick is to capture enough to have quality candidates to pick from.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Your Caps Lock key is doing nothing right now. But with a free utility called Hyperkey, you can use it to create custom hotkeys that won’t conflict with anything else on your system. The most useless key on your keyboard might become your most useful one. Grab the utility here → hyperkey.app/
hyperkey.app
Hyperkey
The extra macOS modifier key
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Not every card on an Obsidian Canvas has to link to a note. Some of mine are just a code blocks that I lay out to create custom dashboards. The canvas doesn't care what's "atomic." It just renders what you give it.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Not every idea has to completely original. Adding an idea to your system doesn't mean you invented it. It just means you think it deserves more of your attention than it's gotten so far.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Broken links aren’t necessarily bad. In Obsidian, an unresolved link is usually an intention, not a mistake. Think of it as dropping a thought marker for future-you to stumble onto. Just make sure you actually go back and revisit it.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
You can't beat a physical book if you actually want to read more. Try it! Grab a book and bring it with you everywhere. See if you don’t start reaching for that when you’re bored instead of your phone.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
If you've spent years building a PKM system, you've been practicing the exact skill AI needs from you: sensemaking.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
When I read a book, I don't take notes on what the author says is important. I take notes on what piques my interest. Sounds simple, but it completely changed how much value I get out of the books that I read.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
When it comes to ideas, be an investor, not an inventor. Nobody expects an investor to write the code or build the product. They simply recognize something is worth backing before it's obvious, then do what they can to help it reach it’s full potential. That’s also the whole point of PKM.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Waiting to feel certain before you start developing an idea is why most drafts never get written. But the only way to really get that clarity is to put it out into the world. Conviction comes from doing the work, not before it.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
One of the best things I ever did for my productivity was to start using Daily Questions for journaling where I rate my effort from 1 to 10 instead of the output. Daily Questions don't ask what I got done. They ask if I did my best. And that difference is huge if you’re trying to build momentum.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I built a free tool that scores your Obsidian vault's health. It can help you spot orphan notes, stale notes, broken links, average links, and more. Takes about two minutes. Check it out here → vaulthealth.practicalpkm.com
vaulthealth.practicalpkm.com
Vault Health Check — how healthy is your Obsidian vault?
Run one snippet in Obsidian, paste the results, and get a 0–100 health score for your vault — orphans, links, and stale notes — plus the highest-leverage fix. Free, and your notes never leave your computer.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
An abandoned plugin used to mean waiting for someone else to fix it. This has happened to me many times over the last 5+ years of using Obsidian. But with AI tools, now I can fix things myself when they break. The key is you still need to know what you want and be able to describe it clearly.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
You don't need to be a developer to build your own tools. AI has gotten so good that the bottleneck is now knowing what you want and be able to describe it clearly. If you want to make the most of the tools that are available, you have to shift your thinking from developer → director.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
The barrier to building your own tools is being removed in real-time. A plugin breaks, colors go dark, and instead of filing a bug report and waiting — you can open Claude Code, fix what's broken, and publish a usable version in minutes. The era of personalized productivity software is here.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
One of the things I love about Claude Code is that it explains what it’s doing as it builds. As a non-developer, that gives me a peek inside the logic so I can make better requests the next time. A small thing that makes it easy to embrace the role of director when building the tools you need.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The world's most productive process still needs an input to work with. Capture, organize, distill — none of these steps yield anything if your vault is empty. You still need notes & ideas to work with. The system just makes it easier to clarify your thinking once you've given it the raw material.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The most useful notes are the ones that show up when you need them. That's what links are for. They help you find that needle in the haystack when you're not even sure you're looking for it.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
You don't need to be a developer anymore if you want to build a software solution to the problem that has you stuck. But you need to know what you want and be able to describe the solution clearly. The ability to communicate is the real skill I'd be building right now.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
I don't know how to write DataviewJS code. But that didn’t stop me from building my dream journaling workflow in Obsidian 😍 I asked Claude to write it for me instead, and it built me custom dashboards that I always wanted but had previously only dreamed of.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Your task manager shouldn't be a taskmaster. Treat your task list as a recommendation engine, not a list of required actions. You still need to decide what's worth paying attention to today.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Taking the time to reflect is never urgent, but it is important. Miss it for a week, and nothing breaks. But continue to skip this step and before long you're overwhelmed.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
AI will change the way we creators work, but it won’t replace the actual work. The labor of writing was never the part that was ours. People used to cling in fear to their typewriters because they didn’t want computers to be involved in the sacred creative process.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Point AI at a blank page and you’ll get something very average (”AI slop”). But point intentionally it at your own notes & ideas and it amplifies voice & taste into great creative work that only you could have made.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Stale notes can make creative thinking difficult. But a note you haven't opened in six months may not necessarily be a note that’s neglected. It might just be finished. If you want to see which metrics are worth paying attention to, run my free vault health check → vaulthealth.practicalpkm.com
vaulthealth.practicalpkm.com
Vault Health Check — how healthy is your Obsidian vault?
Run one snippet in Obsidian, paste the results, and get a 0–100 health score for your vault — orphans, links, and stale notes — plus the highest-leverage fix. Free, and your notes never leave your computer.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
A tidy vault is not a signal of strength. Often, it's a warning sign. A pristine vault usually means you're maintaining it instead of using it.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Orphan notes. Stale notes. Broken links. You may see these and feel like your PKM system is falling apart. It's not. Each one tells a different story, and you have to know the story before you know if it's actually broken. Find out how healthy your vault is → vaulthealth.practicalpkm.com
vaulthealth.practicalpkm.com
Vault Health Check — how healthy is your Obsidian vault?
Run one snippet in Obsidian, paste the results, and get a 0–100 health score for your vault — orphans, links, and stale notes — plus the highest-leverage fix. Free, and your notes never leave your computer.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Taste is having the conviction to say something the LLM wouldn't.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Most people don't plan their week. They triage it. Designing a week works differently: → Start with a blank grid → Decide what shape the week should hold → Protect that shape before any specific task or meeting gets in I built a free tool to make this easier: idealweek.practicalpkm.com
idealweek.practicalpkm.com
Plan Your Ideal Week — Free Tool by Mike Schmitz
Block out your ideal week, then export it as a PDF, PNG, calendar file, or printable page. A free time-blocking tool by Mike Schmitz.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
We're recording Bookworm LIVE right now! Come join as we consider what it means to live a meaningful life: www.youtube.com/live/rEjlcE...
youtube.com
Bookworm
How to Live A Meaningful Life
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
We're recording Bookworm LIVE right now! Come join us as we talk about excellence: www.youtube.com/live/LKXDv8...
youtube.com
The Way of Excellence
Mike and Cory discuss Brad Stulberg's book The Way of Excellence. In this episode, we'll consider the foundations of excellence as well as mindsets, habits, ...
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 11/03/2026
We're recording Bookworm LIVE right now! Come hang out and talk about storytelling with us: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dor...
youtube.com
Science of Storytelling
Are you a storyteller? Do you want to better understand how captivating stories are constructed and told? Have you considered how things like human psycholog...
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Latest video is going crazy 🎉 It only took 102 videos to get there 😂 I don't mind though. I tell people all the time that quantity is the path to quality. You have to ship enough to learn what that looks like. If you're frustrated by a lack of results, just keep shipping!
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
We're recording Bookworm LIVE right now! Come hang out and talk about The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iP_...
youtube.com
Bookworm Livestream - The Coaching Habit
Join Mike and Cory live as we discuss The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier. We'll consider the "Seven Essential Questions" and how they impact our ab...
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Recording Bookworm LIVE! Come join us as we talk about burnout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYQ...
youtube.com
Livestream - The End of Burnout by Jonathan Malesic
Have you ever thought that you might be experiencing burnout? Today's author shares his experience with burnout and explores a new way to think about work, i...
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Frustrated by macOS Tahoe putting your favorite app icons in "squircle jail?" Here's how to bust them out:
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Yet another reason why libraries are awesome
Speed test display showing 474.61 Mbps download and 459.14 Mbps upload speeds with teal download and purple upload icons.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Currently working on my 2026 Obsidian Report Card. This year I'd like to incorporate some feedback from the Obsidian community. Have 5 -10 minutes and want to contribute? 😉 👉🏼 forms.practicalpkm.com/report-card
forms.practicalpkm.com
Obsidian Report Card
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Had some technical difficulties, but recording Bookworm LIVE right now! Come hangout: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg_...
youtube.com
Welcome to our live show!
Thanks for joining our exclusive live broadcast. Feel free to share your questions and interact with other participants in the chat.
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
@blakestoffel.bsky.social this is your fault
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Ever since I launched LifeHQ a year and a half ago, I've wanted a way to visualize data in a LifeOS Dashboard. With an assist from Claude, I think I finally have it 😍
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
The Practical PKM cohort kicks off in just under 2 HOURS! Still time to join 😉 Get instant access by joining The Library 👉🏼 library.practicalpkm.com
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Does your PKM system need a tuneup? My Practical PKM live cohort kicks off next week! You can join now for only $147. Details here 👉🏼 practicalpkm.com/cohort-5/
practicalpkm.com
The Practical PKM Cohort is Now Open!
The Practical PKM Cohort will help you build a personalized knowledge management system you can actually trust to turn chaos into clarity. This is for you if you want to: * Turn your notes into actionable insights * Build a PKM system that works the way you think * Free yourself to do
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Mike Schmitz @mikeschmitz.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
In February I'll be going to the New Media Summit (Newsletter Marketing Summit last year) in Austin, TX. If you want to join me, they just increased the referral discount from 10 to 20%. So with my code (MIKE10), you can actually save 20% & get a general ticket for under $500: newmediasummit.com/
newmediasummit.com
New Media Summit | Feb 26-27, Austin, Texas
The event for founders and creators building the future of media and education. Meet experts in the newsletter, media, and education industry. The conference is coming back to Austin, Texas on Feb 26th & 27th, 2026.
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