7 Oct 2025
This text details a highly technical approach to starting a blog in 2024, leveraging Tiago Forte's "Building a Second Brain" principles to facilitate the capture, organization, and expression of ideas. It outlines a custom pipeline integrating Obsidian for note-taking, Hugo for site generation, Git/GitHub for version control, a Python script for image management, and Hostinger for deployment, aiming for a frictionless content creation workflow.
Tiago Forte's "Building a Second Brain" profoundly influenced the author, emphasizing that the human mind is better suited for generating ideas rather than merely retaining them, and that true wisdom stems from processing and expressing information rather than just consuming it.
The approach involves systematically capturing, organizing, and distilling consumed information into a personal "commonplace book" or "second brain," ensuring all knowledge and insights are readily accessible to foster original and impactful work.
Expression is highlighted as a crucial step, affirming that genuine understanding comes through creation, and the value of ideas is realized only when shared; the unique perspective offered can specifically resonate with and serve diverse audiences, encompassing both technical expertise and personal life lessons.
The author's blogging solution is an elaborate, highly technical yet streamlined pipeline designed to facilitate frictionless content creation by integrating note-taking with automated publishing.
Obsidian serves as the central hub for note-taking and initial blog post drafting, with all content securely stored in Markdown files within a dedicated `Post` folder, while maintaining the privacy of other vault contents.
Hugo is employed to transform the Markdown files from Obsidian into a polished, functional static website, efficiently converting text into HTML and applying chosen themes.
The static website's code is managed via Git and hosted on GitHub, enabling robust version control, facilitating potential community contributions through suggestions and pull requests, and securing operations with SSH key authentication.
A custom Python script is crucial for correctly transferring and formatting images from Obsidian's `attachments` directory to Hugo's `static/images` folder, resolving complex pathing issues for proper display on the live blog.
Hostinger acts as the website hosting provider, configured to automatically deploy the blog by pulling the `public` folder's contents from a specific "hoster" branch on GitHub via an automated webhook.
A single comprehensive script (PowerShell for Windows, Bash for Mac/Linux) orchestrates the entire publishing process, encompassing folder synchronization, image processing, Hugo site building, and all necessary Git commands to ensure seamless content updates.
The text concludes with a powerful encouragement for individuals to actively express their ideas through platforms like blogging, asserting that this act, regardless of technical complexity or initial perceived expertise, fosters personal growth and can unexpectedly impact others.
We only know what we make, and it's only by sharing those ideas that we find out what's valuable.
| Insight | Principle | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Mind's True Role | Minds are for having ideas, not merely for holding them. | Encourages active information processing and externalizing knowledge into a Second Brain. |
| Power of Expression | Understanding and valuing one's ideas comes through creation and sharing. | Drives the act of blogging and sharing personal perspectives to refine thoughts and serve others. |
| Automation for Flow | Automating technical workflows reduces friction in creative processes. | Enables a seamless blog creation experience, converting complex steps into a single command. |
| Unique Voice Matters | A singular perspective can uniquely reach and impact specific individuals. | Motivates sharing diverse personal experiences and hobbies beyond just technical subjects. |
| Start Writing Now | Beginning the act of writing, regardless of perceived readiness, is crucial for growth. | Fosters personal development, formulates ideas, and opens opportunities for unexpected connections (serendipity). |
