u/FarFactor6062

Hi I’m Dani,
I’m pretty new to PKM and I’m building my first real second brain in Notion. It started because I’m going back to school, but I want it to eventually hold things I learn from school, work, research, and a business I’m building.
For those of you who have actually maintained a system for years, what do you wish you had done differently when you started?
I’m especially worried about collecting way too much stuff and ending up with a giant mess I never use lol.
Any advice on organization, backups, keeping old information from becoming misleading, or useful GitHub/open-source tools would be appreciated.
Thanks 😊

I’m starting WGU soon and I’m building a personal study/knowledge system in Notion before I begin.
I’m doing the B.S. Health Information Management (BSHIM) program, but I’d love advice from students and graduates from any WGU program because I’m interested in how you managed WGU overall.
Instead of just making a basic assignment tracker, I want to create something that actually helps me learn, study, remember information, and get better as I progress through the program.
For those of you who have been through WGU:
What do you wish you had tracked, documented, or saved from the very beginning?
I’m especially interested in:
Course difficulty and how long courses actually took
OA vs. PA strategies
Pre-assessment scores and weak areas
Study resources that were genuinely useful
YouTube videos/channels, Quizlet, Reddit posts, study guides, GitHub resources, etc.
Instructor/cohort tips
Things you wish you knew before starting particular courses
PA evaluator feedback and lessons learned
Study methods that worked particularly well with WGU
Active recall, spaced repetition, flashcards, or other retention methods
Tracking competencies/mastery rather than just completed assignments
Things you wouldn’t track because they eventually became unnecessary clutter
I’m also experimenting with AI to help organize my own notes and resources, create study questions/active-recall material, identify weak areas, and connect information between courses.
If anyone has built a useful Notion, Obsidian, Anki, NotebookLM, AI, automation, or similar workflow for WGU, I’d love to hear about it.
And if you know of any GitHub repos, open-source projects, templates, tools, or unusual resources that improved your WGU experience, please share those too.
My goal isn’t to build the prettiest student dashboard. I want something simple enough to use every day but powerful behind the scenes—and something that will remain useful after graduation.
If you could restart WGU tomorrow, what would you make sure your Day-1 system captured?

I’m building a long-term personal knowledge system in Notion, starting with my university coursework but designed to eventually support professional knowledge, research, projects, and business.
I’m especially interested in ideas/tools for:
AI-assisted knowledge intake and organization
Automatic tagging, relationships, and cross-linking
Knowledge graphs / connecting related information
Source tracking and citation/evidence trails
Active recall, spaced repetition, flashcards, and study workflows
Turning notes/resources into reusable workflows or “skills”
Semantic/vector search across a knowledge base
Capturing webpages, YouTube resources, PDFs, screenshots, etc.
AI agents that can safely work with Notion
Notion API automations
Backup/export/versioning strategies
Detecting duplicate or outdated information
Maintaining an immutable/raw source layer alongside AI-generated summaries
I’m particularly interested in GitHub repositories, open-source projects, APIs, automations, or architecture examples rather than just aesthetic Notion templates.
The goal is to keep the front end simple enough for everyday use while allowing the system behind it to become much more intelligent over time.
If you were building this today, what projects/repos would you study or incorporate? What am I overlooking?
What would you build differently if you knew this database needed to remain useful for 10+ years?

Mira my AI helped me write this 😂 I wasn’t sure exactly what I needed.