Every December, I do something that makes my friends think I've lost my mind. I open Obsidian, look at that little number in the bottom corner—10,307 notes as of last Christmas—and I review every single one. Not skim. Review. It's become my personal holiday tradition, and honestly? It's transformed how I think about knowledge management completely.
When I first mentioned this ritual in the Obsidian community, the reactions were... mixed. Some people called it obsessive. Others asked practical questions about how I actually manage that many notes without drowning in them. A few even admitted they'd love to try something similar but didn't know where to start.
If you're sitting with a growing collection of notes that's starting to feel unwieldy, or if you're just curious about what someone actually does with over ten thousand notes, you're in the right place. I'm going to break down exactly how this tradition works, why it's valuable, and how you can adapt these principles to your own system—whether you have 100 notes or 10,000.
The Psychology Behind the Annual Review
Let's start with the obvious question: why would anyone voluntarily spend their holiday season reviewing thousands of notes? It sounds like punishment, right? But here's the thing—it's actually incredibly liberating.
Most of us accumulate notes like digital hoarders. We save articles, jot down ideas, clip quotes, and create meeting notes. But we rarely go back and actually engage with what we've collected. The annual review forces that engagement. It's like having a conversation with your past self—you rediscover forgotten ideas, notice patterns you missed in the moment, and identify what's actually still valuable versus what's just taking up space.
From what I've seen in the community discussions, this is where many people struggle. They build elaborate systems for capturing information but have no system for reviewing it. The result? A beautifully organized graveyard of ideas that never get used. My Christmas tradition is essentially a forced confrontation with my own knowledge base—and it works better than any automated system I've tried.
How I Structure the Review Process
Okay, so you're probably wondering about the practicalities. How do you actually review 10,000+ notes without it taking months? The secret is in the structure. I don't just open Obsidian and start reading randomly.
I break the review into phases. Phase one is what I call "the big picture scan." I use Obsidian's graph view to look at clusters of connected notes. Are there topics that have grown significantly over the year? Are there orphan notes that never connected to anything? This gives me a high-level view of how my thinking has evolved.
Phase two is category-based. I have main folders (though I try to keep these minimal) for different areas of life—work projects, personal learning, creative writing, etc. I review one category per day during the holiday break. Each note gets one of three tags: KEEP, MERGE, or ARCHIVE. KEEP means it's still actively useful. MERGE means it should be combined with another note. ARCHIVE means it's no longer relevant but I want to keep it for historical reasons.
The key here is speed. I'm not re-reading every word of every note. I'm looking for relevance, connections, and whether the note still serves a purpose. Some notes take seconds to evaluate. Others might take a few minutes if they're complex or if I need to update them with new information.
Managing Connections at Scale
One of the most common questions from the community was about linking. With 10,000+ notes, how do you maintain meaningful connections without creating a tangled mess?
Here's my approach: I'm actually pretty conservative with links. Early on, I made the mistake of linking everything to everything, thinking more connections were better. The result was a graph that looked impressive but was practically useless for finding anything. Now, I follow what I call the "meaningful connection" rule.
A link should represent a genuine relationship between ideas. Not just "these are vaguely related." More like "this concept builds on that concept" or "this example illustrates that principle." I use tags for broader categorization (like #productivity or #programming) and save links for specific conceptual relationships.
During the annual review, I spend significant time pruning bad links. If I see a link that doesn't make sense anymore—maybe because one of the notes has evolved—I remove it. I also look for missing links. Sometimes I'll realize that two notes I wrote months apart are actually about the same core idea, and I'll connect them.
The Archive Strategy: What to Keep and What to Let Go
This is where people get emotional about their notes. We tend to treat every note as precious, even when it's clearly obsolete. My rule is simple: if I haven't referenced a note in a year, and it's not foundational knowledge, it gets archived.
But here's an important distinction: archiving isn't deleting. I have an Archive folder where these notes live. They're still searchable if I need them, but they don't clutter my active workspace. This is crucial for maintaining mental clarity. When I open Obsidian for daily work, I'm seeing notes that are actually relevant to my current projects and thinking.
What counts as "foundational knowledge"? For me, it's notes that capture core concepts in my field, personal principles I want to remember, or reference material I genuinely use regularly. Meeting notes from a project that ended two years ago? Those get archived. A note explaining a complex programming concept I use frequently? That stays active.
The community discussion revealed that many people struggle with this archival process. They're afraid they'll need something later. My response? You probably won't. And if you do, it's in the archive. The reduction in daily cognitive load is worth the occasional archive dive.
Templates and Consistency: The Unsung Heroes
When you're dealing with thousands of notes, consistency matters. A lot. Early in my Obsidian journey, my notes were all over the place—different formats, different structures, different levels of detail. Trying to review or use them was a nightmare.
Now I use templates for almost everything. Meeting notes have a specific structure. Book summaries follow a consistent format. Project notes all start with the same metadata. This might sound rigid, but it actually creates freedom. When every note in a category has the same basic structure, I can focus on the content rather than the formatting.
During the annual review, I also check for consistency. If I notice that a particular type of note has evolved organically, I might update my template to reflect that evolution. Sometimes I'll find that a template isn't working anymore—maybe it's too rigid for how I actually use those notes—and I'll revise it for the coming year.
This is an area where you can save yourself tremendous future pain. Spend time getting your templates right. Test them. Refine them. Your future self will thank you when review time comes around.
Practical Tips for Your Own Review System
You don't need 10,000 notes to benefit from this approach. Whether you have 100 notes or 10,000, the principles are the same. Here's how to adapt this system to your situation:
Start small. Don't try to review everything at once if you have a large collection. Pick one category or project and review just those notes. See what you learn from the process.
Schedule regular reviews. Maybe you don't need an annual marathon session. Quarterly reviews might work better for you. The frequency matters less than the consistency.
Use Obsidian's tools. The backlinks panel is invaluable for seeing how notes connect. The search function lets you find notes by date created or modified. Graph view can reveal patterns. These aren't just pretty features—they're practical tools for managing knowledge at scale.
And here's a pro tip that changed everything for me: create a "review notes" note. During the year, when I encounter something that needs attention during the next review, I jot it down there. Maybe I notice that two notes should be connected but I don't have time to do it in the moment. Or I realize a template needs updating. By the time the annual review comes around, I have a list of specific tasks to address.
Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Based on the community discussion, I see a few patterns in how people struggle with large note collections. Let me address the most common ones:
First, over-engineering the system. Some people spend more time tweaking their Obsidian setup than actually taking notes. Your system should serve your thinking, not the other way around. If you're constantly changing plugins and themes instead of writing, you're doing it wrong.
Second, the linking obsession. As I mentioned earlier, not every note needs to be linked to every other note. Meaningful connections matter more than quantity of connections.
Third, neglecting review entirely. This is the biggest one. A knowledge base that isn't reviewed regularly becomes a knowledge cemetery. You don't need to do an annual marathon like I do, but you do need some regular process for engaging with old notes.
Fourth, treating all notes equally. Some notes are temporary—meeting notes, quick ideas, to-do lists. Others are permanent—core concepts, principles, reference material. Knowing the difference helps you decide what to keep active versus what to archive.
Tools That Can Help (When Used Wisely)
Let's talk about plugins and external tools. Obsidian's plugin ecosystem is incredible, but it can also be overwhelming. Here are the ones I actually use for managing my collection:
The Dataview plugin is fantastic for creating automated summaries of notes. I have a dashboard that shows me recently modified notes, notes without links, and notes by category. This gives me visibility without manual work.
For cleaning up and merging notes, sometimes you need to work with the plain text files directly. I've found that using Apify's data extraction tools can be helpful for larger cleanup operations, though for most people, manual review works fine.
If you're struggling with templates or want a more designed system, you might consider hiring someone on Fiverr who specializes in Obsidian setups. Sometimes an outside perspective can help you see inefficiencies in your system.
For physical tools that support this kind of work, I recommend Ergonomic Office Chair for those long review sessions, and Blue Light Blocking Glasses for reducing eye strain during screen time.
But here's the crucial point: tools should solve specific problems. Don't add plugins just because they exist. Every addition to your system creates maintenance overhead. Be selective.
Adapting the Tradition to Your Life
The most common question I get after explaining my Christmas tradition is: "But I don't have time for that!" And you know what? That's fair. Not everyone can or should dedicate their holiday to note review.
The principle matters more than the specific implementation. The core idea is regular, intentional engagement with your accumulated knowledge. Maybe for you that means a monthly review of one category. Maybe it means a quarterly "cleanup day." Maybe it means reviewing notes related to each project as that project concludes.
The format should fit your life, not the other way around. What matters is that you're not just collecting notes—you're actually using them. You're building a relationship with your own thinking over time.
For me, the Christmas timing works because it's a natural break point. The year is ending. I'm reflecting anyway. The note review fits into that reflective mood. But your natural break points might be different—the end of a semester, the completion of a big project, your birthday.
The Real Value Isn't in the Number
When I post that screenshot showing 10,307 notes, I know what people see first: the big number. It's impressive in a certain way. But after years of doing this, I can tell you the real value has nothing to do with quantity.
The value is in the continuity. It's in being able to trace how an idea evolved over five years. It's in rediscovering a forgotten insight that perfectly solves a current problem. It's in seeing patterns in your own thinking that you'd miss in the day-to-day.
My Christmas tradition isn't about maintaining a large collection for its own sake. It's about maintaining a relationship with my own learning journey. Each note represents a moment of curiosity, a question asked, an insight gained. The annual review is how I honor that process.
So whether you have 100 notes or 10,000, I encourage you to build some version of this practice. Start small. Be consistent. Focus on meaning rather than metrics. Your notes aren't just information—they're snapshots of your thinking at different moments in time. And regularly revisiting those snapshots? That's how you turn information into wisdom.
This year, when I open Obsidian and see that number—whatever it's grown to—I won't see a burden. I'll see a conversation with my past selves, waiting to happen. And honestly? I can't think of a better way to spend a quiet December afternoon.
