Through my coaching and courses, I’ve had the privilege to work with lots of @RoamResearch users over the past 6 months. I’ve noticed their difficulties tend to fall into one of two categories: 👇🧵 1/
Either
1. They know what they want Roam to do for them but they don’t know how to make it happen, or
2. They understand the fundamentals of Roam but can’t find useful ways to harness it in their own workflows. 2/
And many, if not most, new users struggle with the graph-and-nodes concept of Roam vs. the forced hierarchies of apps they’ve used in the past (e.g., Notion, Evernote). If you’ve ever asked yourself “But where do I PUT this note?”, then you know what I mean. 3/
Thankfully, for ALL these concerns (and more!), the Roam community is positively TEEMING with amazing people who can be your guide. You’ll find—if you haven’t already—that #roamcult is supportive and responsive to questions, especially on Twitter and Slack. 4/
Or if you want Roam to expand the way you work with knowledge—and revolutionize the way you think—check out what the @RoamBookClub and gurus @beauhaan, @Jeanvaljean689, @RaygunIcecream, and others are doing. 6/
If you want to put Roam to use for teams and organizations to get things done together, follow people like @brandontoner and @MatMcGann to see what they’re discovering with their multiplayer graphs. 7/
And when you know where you’re headed with Roam, check out the mindbending power of tools from @roamhacker, @dvargas92495, @zsviczian, and so many more. Anyone building Roam extensions, feel free to respond to this tweet and tell us how to get it! 9/
Roam’s community amazes me with its kindness, support, & commitment to discovery. If you’re just starting out—or even if you’ve been here a while—be bold and dive right in. Roam can take you to amazing places when you have the right processes in place. 10/
I've been grappling with something two of my clients—who collaborate together—said during a coaching a few weeks back. "Writing for a collaborator is great, because it has to be clear—and writing for your future self in a Zettelkasten has to be just as clear." 👇 🧵 1/
A Zettelkasten (henceforth "ZK") is a system to take in knowledge, develop it, connect, combine and compound it, and publish it in some form. The mechanism for processing the knowledge is a conversation with your ZK—effectively a conversation with your past and future selves. 2/
For years, I've coached that productivity is communicating with yourself. Leaders and colleagues recognize that clear communication is central to effective collaboration, but we are almost NEVER clear with our future selves. And that keeps us from getting important stuff done! 3/
If you're new to Roam, or just need a refresher, here's a thread on what that means. 1/
1. "Content dictates form." This is a favorite quote of mine from composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Roam helps you discover the shape of your thoughts rather than imposing a shape on them. 2/
2. @RoamResearch has no "rules" (that I know of). But if you follow a few best practices, your simple input will yield surprising insight.
- Use [[pages]] to identify important topics
- Use indenting to structure ideas
- Use block references to "optimize" specific thoughts
3/
When I first started using @RoamResearch, I struggled to find a good workflow for writing multiple drafts. This 10-minute video shows the solution that works for me. It combines tags/filters, versions, focus on block, and more!
The key to this writing workflow is differentiating "brainstorm" & "organize" passes from drafts.
I want brainstorm & organize passes to always be accessible. But I want drafts to be version-controlled.
@RoamResearch makes this simple. For early passes, I use separate blocks:
If you log your meetings in @RoamResearch, you'll always have the right info at your fingertips. You'll bring greater value to clients and colleagues—and to yourself! It's like the "interactions" section in your CRM, only WAY better. Here's how I log interactions in Roam. 1/
First, the fundamentals involved. This method relies on Daily Notes, [[pages]] as tags, smart indenting, Linked References, and filters. I mention this because it's critical to recognize how Roam's features interact to facilitate your workflow. 2/
In my work, I wear many hats. I coach entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals. I teach actors to sing. I write music. I conduct a church choir. So I have a variety of meeting types that I track in Roam. 3/
As a @RoamResearch [[true believer]] (philosophically since March, financially for a month), I obviously admire the work and the approach of @Conaw and his team. I get amazing personal value from Roam. But it's the Roam community that blows me away even more. 1/
The community around Roam is welcoming and non-toxic. Roamans agree with passion and disagree with grace—the opposite (or worse) is often the case in other corners of the web. While the name #roamcult is understandably offputting to some, the nature of Roamans is wholesome. 2/
If "ye shall know them by their fruits" is true (and I think it is), the @RoamResearch community demonstrates the deep worth of Roam itself. 3/
The case for building your CRM in @RoamResearch. Here are three reasons, with examples, for why I moved my CRM from Notion to Roam. 1/
First, the bi-directional links in @RoamResearch are IDEAL for focusing on relationships. This is the killer feature: if I type, e.g., "Talked to [[Tom Smith]] about a [[collaboration with Roam Research]]," that will show up on Tom's page. 2/
Wherever I am, I can make a note (or a to-do, or whatever) that develops my relationship with Tom. When I need that information, it's in the [[Tom Smith]] linked references, and it's easy to filter to the info I need. 3/