Daily Notes Skill

Workflow Position

[Start of day / Planning session]
        |
    personal:obs-daily-notes     <- YOU ARE HERE
        |
    [Gather Context] -> Active projects -> Recent notes -> Upcoming meetings
        |
    [Generate Daily Note]
        |
    [User reviews and customizes]
        |
    Output: Daily note in 5-Daily/ with proper links and tags

Overview

Contextual daily note generation that pulls relevant project context and enforces consistent structure. Prevents future linking/tagging inconsistency by providing structure at capture time.

Key Features:

• •Structured sections: Priorities, Meetings, Tasks, Blockers, Notes
• •Pulls context from active projects (status: active in 1-Projects/)
• •Links to recent relevant notes
• •Enforces PARA tag conventions
• •Prompts for project links and proper tagging
• •Optional: Pull tasks from connected systems

Primary Value: Prevents future inconsistency by enforcing structure from the point of creation.

When to Use

• •Start of each work day
• •Beginning of a planning session
• •After a break to re-orient
• •When starting a new week (weekly review mode)

When to Skip

• •Already have today's note - Just update existing
• •Quick capture needed - Use inbox instead
• •Not a work day - Personal notes may need different structure

The Process

Step 0: Check for Existing Note

Check if 5-Daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md exists:

• •Exists: Offer to open/update it
• •Doesn't exist: Proceed with creation

Step 1: Gather Context

Active Projects:

• • Scan 1-Projects/ for notes with status: active
• • Extract project names and recent activity
• • Identify any with upcoming due dates

Recent Notes:

• • Last 3 days of daily notes
• • Recent meeting notes (this week)
• • Recently modified project notes

Areas of Responsibility:

• • Ongoing areas from 2-Areas/ with status: ongoing

Present context summary:

## Context for Today

**Active Projects:**
- [[LeanIX]] - Last activity: yesterday, Due: 2024-02-15
- [[BCBS239]] - Last activity: 3 days ago

**Recent Meetings:**
- [[2024-01-14 - LeanIX Standup]]
- [[2024-01-12 - BCBS239 Review]]

**Yesterday's Blockers:**
- API integration issue (from yesterday's note)

**Upcoming:**
- LeanIX deadline in 5 days

Step 2: Generate Daily Note

Create note at 5-Daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md:

---
tags: [daily]
date created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
date modified: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
---

# YYYY-MM-DD (Day of Week)

## Focus
> What's the ONE thing I must accomplish today?

- [ ]

## Priorities

### Must Do
- [ ]

### Should Do
- [ ]

### Could Do
- [ ]

---

## Projects

### [[LeanIX]] `#p/leanix`
-

### [[BCBS239]] `#p/bcbs239`
-

---

## Meetings
- [ ] 09:00 -
- [ ] 14:00 -

---

## Tasks
<!-- Pull from task system or manual entry -->

---

## Blockers
<!-- Anything preventing progress -->

---

## Notes
<!-- Capture throughout the day -->

---

## End of Day
### Completed
-

### Carried Forward
-

### Tomorrow
-

Step 3: Customization Prompts

Ask the user:

Customize your daily note:

1. •Main focus for today? (I'll add to Focus section)
2. •Any scheduled meetings? (I'll link them)
3. •Carry forward from yesterday? (I'll check blockers)
4. •Which projects to highlight? (Default: all active)

Update the note based on responses.

Step 4: Link Hygiene Check

Before finalizing, verify:

• • All project mentions have [[wiki-links]]
• • Project sections include #p/ tags
• • People mentioned are linked
• • Meeting references include dates

Prompt if issues found:

**Link Hygiene Check:**

⚠️ Found mentions without links:
- "Alice" → Should this be [[Person - Alice Smith|Alice]]?
- "standup" → Link to [[2024-01-14 - LeanIX Standup]]?

Would you like me to add these links?

Templates

Standard Daily Note

See Step 2 above for full template.

Minimal Daily Note

---
tags: [daily]
date created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
date modified: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
---

# YYYY-MM-DD

## Today
- [ ]

## Notes

Weekly Review Note

---
tags: [daily, weekly-review]
date created: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
date modified: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
---

# Week of YYYY-MM-DD

## Week Overview
- **Projects Active:** X
- **Meetings:** Y
- **Notes Created:** Z

## Wins
1.
2.
3.

## Challenges
1.
2.

## Project Progress

### [[Project 1]]
- Status:
- Progress:
- Next week:

### [[Project 2]]
- Status:
- Progress:
- Next week:

## Learnings

## Next Week Focus
1.
2.
3.

Context Integration

Project Context Pulling

For each active project, extract:

• •Recent notes (last 7 days)
• •Open tasks/blockers
• •Due dates from frontmatter
• •Last meeting notes

Meeting Integration

If meeting notes exist for today:

• •Pre-link them in Meetings section
• •Pull agenda items if available
• •Note participants for linking

Task System Integration

If using Todoist or similar:

• •Reference the obs-plan-my-day skill for full integration
• •Can manually list top tasks

Output

Success Message

> "Daily note created: [[2024-01-15]]"
>
> **Included:**
> - 3 active projects linked
> - 2 meetings pre-populated
> - Yesterday's blockers carried forward
>
> **Reminders:**
> - LeanIX deadline in 5 days
> - Add meeting notes after each call

File Location

5-Daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md

Naming Convention: YYYY-MM-DD.md (e.g., 2024-01-15.md)

After Creating Daily Note

1. •Review Focus section - Ensure ONE clear priority
2. •Add specific tasks - Break down priorities
3. •Update throughout day - Capture notes as you go
4. •End of day review - Complete the End of Day section
5. •Run obs-backlinking - On the completed note (optional)

Key Principles

• •Structure prevents chaos - Consistent sections = consistent habits
• •Context saves time - Pre-loaded project context speeds planning
• •Links from day one - Enforce linking at creation, not later
• •One focus - Daily note should answer "what matters most?"
• •Living document - Update throughout the day
• •Review completes the loop - End of day review captures learnings