Learn how this busy creator got up-to-speed on Roam Research in just 1 day!
(when they had never heard of Roam Before)

“This tool has literally given me hope.”
“There is a part of me that has been resigned to not ever truly bringing all of my genius to the world because I can’t organize it all. This tool [Roam Research] has literally given me hope. ”
Meet My Student: Dr. Rhoda Deon

Dr. Rhoda Deon is a multi-talented (and busy) creator.
Rhoda Deon PhD
She had previously transitioned to a new role. Where she wanted to make sure she’s was creating at her highest capacity—professionally (and personally)
Only one problem, she was STUCK!
Feeling trapped by her POWERFUL creativity locked away in her mind.
With SO MANY thoughts going on at once!
She couldn’t keep up.
She couldn’t “organize it all!”
And the consequences were severe!
The Dire Consequences of Feeling Trapped By Your Own Mind.
Dr. Deon felt like her great ideas were “dying on the vine”.
She was slowly shutting down.
Feeling as if she was “BETRAYING” her creativity —- instead of HONORING it.
Resigning herself “to not ever truly” bring all of her genius TO THE WORLD!
For someone HIGHLY CREATIVE–teeming with new ideas— this is creative death.
Damn.
She need a solution FAST!
Seeing How Roam Research “fits” – in 5 Minutes !
With that top of mind, we began our coaching call.
Reading her needs, I typed Roam Research into my search bar.
Logged in.
Shared my screen.
At first glance, Rhoda was skeptical.
Understandable.
Considering the previous HORRORS of her software forays.


For a busy executive, like her, the cost of switching software is HIGH!
However:
Within F-I-V-E minutes, she could tell Roam was different.
“A lot of times when I get these kinds of tools I don’t see, it’s not readily apparent to me how I’m going to utilize this tool to get my life right…We going at five minutes, and I already see how it [Roam Research] fits for everything else.”
Dr. Rhoda Deon on Roam Research
She IMMEDIATELY saw two things:
1. A light at the end of the tunnel.
2. Getting “up to speed” on Roam—-was going to take minutes not months!
“This gives me life like I finally, I can actually see a light at the end of the tunnel for myself.”
Rhoda Deon
I finished bringing her up-to-speed on Roam and we ended our call.
From Resignation to Hope: Bringing Her Genius To The World – Sustainably !
The next day, Rhoda shot me a text.
“Its already helping me breathe more deeply.”

Rhoda had gone from “resignation” to “hope”!
To finally be the “good steward of her creative impulses,” that she PINED to be.
[NOTE: In our followup call, Rhoda mentioned what she relished most about my coaching the hand-selected resource for her needs. Spotlighting her strengths to fit that her like a glove. If you’d like the same, we can talk more here.]
Pause!
I want Y-O-U to have the same results as Rhoda!
That’s why I created this guide.
The 80/20 Roam Research Tutorial: A Step-By-Step Guide.
In this guide:
I am going to walk you through the PROVEN STEPS I coached Rhoda to get those results.
[NOTE: Follow along by downloading the point-by-point checklist here. So you make sure you don’t miss a step.]
After each task you’ll:
- Go to the checklist.
- check off the accomplished skill
- celebrate!
Starting with what makes this guide is different than any other Roam Tutorial.
This guide focuses on:

It shows you the 20% of Roam that gives you 80% of the results.
You’ll know EXACTLY what to focus on to get the MAJORITY of your results!
Unlike other tutorials—-that overwhelm beginners (see comment below) with all of the functionality the key functionalities of Roam.
This guide was INTENTIONALLY & METICULOUSLY designed for someone just starting out!
Broken into three parts:
The Three Parts of The Guide

Here is the full post outline.
The 80/20 Roam Research Quick Guide
What’s Roam Research?
How to Create Your Roam Research Account
The 20% of Roam Research
Part I: The Interface the 7 Basic Roam Research Parts (You Need To Know)
1. Bullet Points
– SKILL #1: Dragging-and-Dropping A Bullet Point
– SKILL #2 : Hovering Over A Bullet Point
– SKILL #3 : Double Clicking for “Add Reactions”
– BONUS SKILL: “Expanding All” + “Collapsing All”
2. Daily Notes
3. The / Command (aka The “slack command”)
– Slack Command Tutorial: /Images
– Slack Command Tutorial: /TODO
– Slack Command Tutorial: /Tables
– Example 1: Itemized Cost Table for a ski-trip
– Example 2: Daily Progress Log for an apartment move
Bonus Slack Command: /Diagrams
– How to make a Diagram in Roam
– How to Draw Arrows in Between Items in a Diagram
The 7 “/ ” commands I’ve found most useful
4. The Side Bar
– 2 Ways to Open the side bar
– Bonus: Pinning Important Materials
5. Shortcuts (i.e The Star)
How To Find Your To-Do List at LIGHTNING SPEED!
6. The Search Bar
– Bonus: All Pages
7. Date Picker
Part II: Tips & Commands
Turn Data into Wisdom
– Roam Notes: Bullets to Published Work
– How you are taking unstructured data and turning it into wisdom
– Parenthesis
– Apply Children as Text
– Apply Children as References
– Blocks
– Scenarios: Consolidating information
Pages
– The Anatomy of a Page
– Part 1: Reference Bullets
– Part 2: The Linked References Section
– Part 3: The Unlinked References Section
Block Vs Pages
Part III: The Scenarios
– Scenario: Templates
– Scenario: Dictations: How to capture and structure your thoughts—Fast!
– Scenario: Manager TimeBuilding in Maker’s and Manager Time into your Roam Research workflow— (With GTD)
Summary
With simple, bite-sized chunks and easy commands— that you can refer back to get you up-to-speed—in minutes!
Let’s start with the burning question.
What’s Roam Research?

Roam Research is Google for your mind!
“[Roam] It’s a tool designed to work more like your brain naturally does”
Conor White-sullivan, Founder Roam Research
Anything you’ve previously written down, read, or pondered is now SEARCHABLE!

You have the ability to search your entire M-I-N-D !
Seeing ALL of the connections in your head!
(Some that you didn’t even know were there.)
It’s like having a mental switchboard operator for all your thoughts.

It’s like your own digital memory palace!

Hyperlinks for your mind
You can hyperlink your mind.
Pulling one related through and connecting it with another.
This is the main reason why I love working with roam.
I would have so many thoughts going off simultaneously and I wouldn’t know what to do, now I could bang through them.
Here’s a quick peek.

That’s Roam!
Let’s see how it works.
Starting with the basics!
How to Create Your Roam Research Account
1. Go to Roamresearch.com
2. Click the Signup Button.

3. Sign up with google.

4. Start your 31 day free trial.
Have your credit card handy (for the free trial.)

WARNING
Prices are obviously subject to change. (Duh!)
5. Create Your First Graph.

6. Name Your Graph.
WARNING!
No spaces in the name.

Now that you have an account, let me show you how to use Roam’s interface.
Let’s go straight to “the meat” of Roam: You using it.
The 20% of Roam Research
(All You Really Need to Know)
First thing:
After you’ve logged in, created your account & database.
Step 1: Type “/“timer & start the timer.

Wonderful! You just set a pomodoro timer!
We are going to go through all you need to know in just 25 minutes.
Step 2: Copy the following into your database.
[[My Coffee Shop]]
Congrats! This is your first “Page” in Roam Research! Make sure you check it off.
Step : Hover over [[My Coffee Shop]] hold down shift and click on the bullet point.


Congrats! You’ve opened the side bar!
(More on the sidebar here.)
Step: Now Copy the following bullet points to your the My Coffee Shop page.
- Wall Art
- Furniture Style
- Menu Items
- Lighting Fixtures
See if you can cover over to roam research.
Now in your daily Notes section. ;;image.
We are going to add a piece of Wall art.
;; add downloadable image here.
Now you are going to reference those pieces of art because you want them for your coffee shop.
;; gif
Showing the reference.
Now “x” out of the My Coffee Shop Pane.
Close the sidebar. Holding down CMD and then pressing “/”.
- type “name” into the search bar.
- hold down option over the bolded text.
- you’ve just opened the sidebar and created a new page! (More in section {{X}}})
Part I: The Interface

The 7 Basic Roam Research Parts (You Need To Know)
1. Bullet Points
2. Daily Notes
3. Slack Command
4. Side Bar
5. Shortcuts
6. Search Bar
7. Date Picker
1. Bullet Points
Bullet point are THE basic unit of Roam Research.
They are atoms.
Everything is built from these “atoms.”
- New Screenplay? Check.
- New Medium Post? Yup.
- Project Work Break Down Schedule? You got it.
In fact, this entire post was built from bullets!

So, there are 3 basic skills with bullet points you need to know.
The 3 Basic Bullet Point Skills
1. Dragging-and-Dropping A Bullet Point.
2. Hovering Over a Bullet Point for More Info.
3. Double Clicking on a Bullet Point for “More Reactions.”
Let’s go through them.
SKILL #1: Dragging-and-Dropping A Bullet Point
Dragging and Dropping different bullet points is a BREEZE.

Benefits of this function: Now, Your ideas can MOVE WITH you.
For when you find yourself saying:
“This would go better HERE, than over here.”
Just like you would move sticky notes from one place to another–or index cards.
Notice the grey bar!

That’s what you’re looking for.
SKILL #2 : Hovering Over A Bullet Point
Hovering over a bullet tells you WHO & WHEN.

When you want to know:
“When did I write that bullet point?”
Just hover over it.
SKILL #3 : Double Clicking for “Add Reactions”.
Adding Reactions make Roam FUN & PLAYFUL!

It also helps you SEE if something is completed–-AT A GLANCE!
I use this to quickly scan which tasks I’ve completed (when I don’t feel like using my /Todo command).
BONUS SKILL: “Expanding All” + “Collapsing All”
Expanding and collapsing bullets help you to see the bigger picture—FAST!
Let’s say that you want to expand all of the bullet points for a document.
You simply double-click on the top bullet that all your other notes are nested under.

That way you can see your progress.
You’ll see a menu pop-up. Click “Expand All”.

You can also do the opposite!
Close all of the bullet points to the bigger picture using “Collapse All”.


Another way:

2. Daily Notes
Daily Notes is where you’ll start EVERYDAY!

It’s your “home screen”.
Where you’ll “brain dump” your thoughts.
Then sort later.
[NOTE: The sorting will be into specific “pages” so you can reference them in real-time. Go here for more info on Pages .]
What I LOVE about Daily NOTES: You start with a clean slate each day!
It’s like fresh powder, on ski slopes, for your mind.
No new bullet points! (unless you want there to be.*)
(*See the section on Date Picker for more info on how to schedule bullet points.)
You can always just scroll down and see your notes from the day before.

Now that you understand the two main parts of the interface, now it’s time for THE key to the roam kingdom!
3. The / Command (aka The “slack command”)
The Slack Command “/” (i.e. forward slash key) is the KEY to the Roam Research kingdom.

There is A LOT of pre-built functionality into Roam.
“/” unlocks it all.

Don’t worry! You don’t have to be a computer programmer to use it.
The 1st few minutes typing the forward slash may be awkward.
But, within 10 minutes of using it, you’ll find yourself saying:
“How have I lived my whole life without this thing?!”

Since this is the 80/20 guide, I want to give you the highest frequency commands (i.e the 20% of Roam Slack Command) I’ve used:
The 7 “/ ” commands I’ve found most useful
1. /template: creates a template of the bullet
2. /pomo: starts a 25-minute Pomodoro timer
3. /todo: creates a checkbox for a todo list
4. /today: schedules the selected bullet for today
5. /tomorrow: schedules the bullet for tomorrow
6. /image: adds an image
7. /time: adds the current time.
That’s why I’m going to walk you through 3 Different Examples of Outstanding Slack Commands.
Slack Command Tutorial: /Images

Adding Images makes your life easier.


Remember Roam is a database.
So you’ll be able to refer back to your images from anywhere.
(Computer, Phone, Tablet!)
For example, I’m a big visual thinker—so I have a table of visual examples!
Slack Command Tutorial: /TODO


Imagine two scenarios: A With Roam Research B) Without Roam.
Scenario A: Without Roam. Rhoda sits down at her desk. She begins her morning pages. While writing her list of todos come to her.
- “Follow up with this founder. “
- “Register for that conference.”
- “Send the Zoom link for the meeting tomorrow.”
The challenge is- each of her todos fit into different projects. So she has different post-it notes.

She ends up spending more time SEARCHING & ORGANIZING the post-it notes—than DOING.
Soon, going from meeting to meeting- she finds herself asking:
“Where did I write that down again?”
The inefficient system leaves her frustrated and drained.
Scenario B: With Roam Research. Rhoda now uses Roam for her morning pages. She begins to write in her “Daily Notes” section. While she is writing, she simply using the slack command “/“ and creating todos.

Plus, She has a shortcut for her Todos.
So she knows EXACTLY where to find them.
ALSO, each todo is connected to a project.
She simply hit the slack command while doing her morning pages in Roam.
- She schedules them immediately.
- her mind is CLEAR!
- She’s FULL of energy!
No more spending VALUABLE mental units thinking:
Where did I put that todo list? 🧐
She knows EXACTLY where everything is!

Fast, Easy, and Most Importantly—NO Post it notes!
Which scenario do you like better: A or B?
Rhetorical question. B of course!
That’s the power of Roam Research! It returns creative energy to you!
Just like this next command.
Slack Command Tutorial: /Tables
Tables make structuring information & organizing thoughts a breeze!


The table command to be EXTREMELY valuable for back of the envelope calculations to itemized cost tables.
It’s a No-brainer!
Here are two examples.
Example 1: Itemized Cost Table for a ski-trip

You and your co-founder are planning a ski trip to Vermont.
To breakdown the costs, You simply list out the items.

THEN you nest the costs underneath each “line item”.
FINALLY, You create your table.

BOOM! All of the costs listed. Ski Trip planned!
Moving on the next example.
Example 2: Daily Progress Log for an apartment move
Let’s say you want to track your daily progress moving to a new apartment.
Since you’re familiar with the table structure from the ski trip,
You just need the outline for the table.
Here it is.

Now you can plug in the data, tracking your move.
This is what the table would look like filled with data.

CHALLENGE: CREATE YOUR OWN TABLE
Copy and Paste the bullet points below into your Roam graph.
Create a table using them.
(Make sure each of the bullet points is the column headers.)
– Date
– Item
– Comments
Tables are an excellent way to structure information in Roam.
Here is a BONUS way to structure information!
Bonus Slack Command: /Diagrams
If you’re an avid Draw.IO or LucidChart user, you’ll love the diagram feature in Roam.

Quite simply, the Diagram functionality is AWESOME!
When you are mid-thought and SEE a workflow diagram (or decision tree) in your head the LAST THING you want to do is switch to another piece of software to draw it out!
Before Roam: I was using Draw.io and Lucid Chart.
After Roam: I consolidated tens of diagrams into one place.
(Soon to be hundreds.)
That’s where /Diagram comes in.
How to make a Diagram in Roam

You simply use the “/diagram” command.
Then nest bullet points underneath.
How to Draw Arrows in Between Items in a Diagram

This function took me a WHILE to hunt down.
So I want to show you immediately— to save you time!
The Steps:
- Type “/diagram” to create a diagam.
2. Double Click in the blue background to make box items.
3. Hold option key and drag between the boxes to create arrows.


4. The Side Bar

Roam’s Sidebar is a super power!
I went WEEKS— WEEKS! Without knowing the side bar existed.


This 3 pane view in Roam Research is where all of the magic happens!
Say good-bye to fragments of thoughts—everywhere!
You can go back-and-forth between different thoughts easily!
- Working on a new blog post? Pull up all of your sources in the sidebar.
- Multiple Projects at once for work? Manage them ALL in the sidebar.
- Writing A Conference Presentation? Have your template slide deck in the sidebar so you can refer back to them.

My favorite part:
You can move the panes up and down!
Now you can structure your workspace how YOU want it!
For you to learn how the sidebar opens, follow these steps.
- Copy this word “Tests” into your Search Bar.

- While in the search bar, Hold down shift, hover over “New Page: Tests” and click on it.

Congrats! You now know how to open the side bar.
Here’s the keyboard commands.
CMD + /
Congrats you just opened the sidebar (and created a new page).
Just to be thorough, I am going to EXPLICITLY show you the 2 ways to open the sidebar.
2 Ways to Open the side bar
1. The Three Dots


2. Search Bar

Bonus: Pinning Important Materials
Working on something you want to stay “top of mind”?
Use the “pin” in the Roam Research SideBar so it stays in place.

5. Shortcuts (i.e The Star)
Shortcuts allow you to find pages—FAST!

It’s the star symbol.

How To Find Your To-Do List at LIGHTNING SPEED!
A.K.A. How to Create A Shortcut to a Page
I HATED looking for my todo list!
Because I had to find a separate to-do list that for each project.
Sticky notes everywhere!
What was worse:
out of context the todos didn’t make ANY sense.
Problem solved in Roam.

It’s just 3 easy steps:
- Go to the TODO page via the search bar.
- Once there, click on the star ⭐️
- Check the sidebar for the shortcut!
That’s it!INSTEAD OF:
“oh where did I put that F*@KING to-do list??!”
– Frantic, angry frustrated scrambler
IT IS:
AH! Let me just go to my TODO’s.
– Calm, Cool Collected 1-clicker
They are all just in one place!
Mustafa Recommendation
Don’t add more than 9 shortcuts. (It becomes unruly!)
6. The Search Bar
The search bar is what makes all of your thoughts SEARCH-able!

{{inc}}

How do you search using the search bar?
Just like any normal search bar. 😎
Simply type in the notes or the topics you’re looking for and watch the results come up.
Also recent searches come up! Which I’ve found to be SUPER USEFUL!
Bonus: All Pages
If you want to get granular in your searches, go to ALL PAGES.

Every single time you type in a word- it’ll come up.
You can SEE how many times you’ve made a reference.

7. Date Picker
Date Picker allows you to schedule WHEN you want to revisit an item.

Found an awesome book BUT you don’t want to read today?
Don’t worry, Just schedule it for tomorrow!

It’ll automatically pop-up.


{{inc}}

Now that you’ve covered the basic interface of Roam research.
Let’s get into the commands.
Part II: Tips & Commands
The 80/20 Roam Research Quick Guide
Part II: Tips & Commands
Turn Data into Wisdom
– Roam Notes: Bullets to Published Work
– How you are taking unstructured data and turning it into wisdom
– Parenthesis
– Apply Children as Text
– Apply Children as References
– Blocks
– Scenarios: Consolidating information
Pages
– The Anatomy of a Page
– Part 1: Reference Bullets
– Part 2: The Linked References Section
– Part 3: The Unlinked References Section
Block Vs Pages
Part III: The Scenarios
– Scenario: Templates
– Scenario: Dictations: How to capture and structure your thoughts—Fast!
– Scenario: Manager Time Building in Maker’s and Manager Time into your Roam Research workflow— (With GTD)
Summary

The more you add to your database, the more valuable it becomes.
The Best Part of Roam Research’s daily use is: Compounding Knowledge.
This section is the tips the day-to-day use of Roam.
Meaning:
you can reference thoughts from the past and use them in the present.
So HOW do you reference your thoughts in Roam?
With two things: 1) Pages & 2) Parenthesis.
BUT BEFORE pages and parenthesis, there’s a bit of foundational knowledge you and I must cover.
Turn Data into Wisdom {{MESS}}
Taking your daily observations (in Daily Pages) and turning them into Wisdom (Pages)!
“To get a good paper written, you only have to rewrite a good draft; to get a good draft written, you only have to turn a series of notes into a continuous text. And as a series of notes is just the rearrangement of notes you already have in your slip-box, all you really have to do is have a pen in your hand when you read.”
FRom the Chapter on “How to Write A Good Paper“
A published work starts with a simple bullet point!

Writing something could be a daunting task.
Because you’re thinking of the end-product.
The giant elephant that could be a:
- book
- detailed blog post
- journal article
- white paper
- novel
- memoir.
What’s nice about roam research is that everything starts with a single bullet point.
Naturally as you take notes, you’ll start to have content you can share.
Since, your knowledge accumulates over time.
Almost effortlessly after a few days of showing up and doing the work you’ll have multiple bullet points.
Those multiple bullet points then turn into that outline
That outline then turns into a page.
that page can turn into an article that you publish on a blog or on a vlog.
this method of taking your notes and turning them into a larger narrative is based off a slip box method.
It’s like you are creating your own personal writing flywheel.
One step can’t HELP but lead to the next step.
and it’s the underlying mechanism for how roam research works.
let me tell you more.
The Philosophy Behind Roam Research
the Zettlekasten (or the “slip-box”) method.

Pioneered by Prolific German sociologist Dr. Niklas Luhmann, born in Lüneburg, Germany, the Zettlekasten method allowed him to publish:
- 70 books
- 400 scholarly articles
- 90,000 index cards for his research
Here’s how the method works in Roam.
[Note: You’ll find a wonderful overview of the Zettlekasten system in a book called How to Take Smart Notes.]
Roam Notes: Bullet Points to Published Works
Bullets to Outline.
Outline to Page
Pages to Draft.
Draft to Published Work.
Basicall,y the idea here is simple
How you are taking unstructured data and turning it into wisdom

Don’t be intimidated by the diagram.
You take information that you read at first it is unstructured in your mind.
Then you start to process the data (ie. bullet points in Roam) creating structured information (i.e. daily notes) from there you develop knowledge (i.e pages) until you’ve developed have VALUABLE wisdom.
Now that you understand the philosophy, let’s get into the HOW.
Parenthesis
The Double Parentheses allow you to search any bulleted note while you are typing.

This command is what brings all of your thoughts to life!
Let’s say that you’re writing a white paper on {{Blank topic}} and you’ve just recently read an article that you want add to your research. You remember it said {{}}.
You want to cite it in line now. Well, here it is {{Gif}}.
Boom! Now all of your notes are fast, easy, accessible, and at the touch of your fingertips.
//comments: Move this section up. show the parenthesis as soon as possible.
- Example
Once you type these two ((
and poof a sound of magic.
Remember when I said, “Roam is like google for your mind.”
Well, here is it!
Have fun searching through your mind!
ACTION STEPS: SEARCH YOUR GRAPH
Copy and Paste the bullet points below into your Roam graph.
(Make sure each of the bullet points is the column headers.)
– Date
– Item
– Comments
Now Reference them using double parenthesis
Two Cool Features: “Apply Children as text” & “Apply Children as References.”
The benefit of these two features is, you can place the exact quotes that you need while you’re typing.
When you reference Children as “text” => You simply get the text from that quote.
If you apply children as “references” => You can change the text in one area and it’ll change the main text.
Apply Children as Text {{IC}}

Cookie cutter
Apply Children as References {{IC}}

Reference document
Blocks {{MESS}}
What is a Block? A Block = Bullet Point.
- {[ADD]]}} aka freeze frame
A detailed definition from Roam Tips:
“A block in Roam Research is any single bullet-pointed entry in a Roam outline.”
Blocks (and Parenthesis) are the bread and butter of roam.

Scenarios: Consolidating information.
Having all of my notes “ALL IN ONE PLACE” is so valuable!
When I first got the hang of Roam research, I RAPIDLY brought all the different pieces of information I had all over—together!
The different places (i.e. apps) included:
- Workflowy
- Phonto
- Evernote
- My notes on my iPhone
- Day 1 Journal
Finding everything became a BREEZE!
You’re going to do the same in this section!
Let’s walk through this together.
Step 1:
- Take five minutes.
- open your Notes app (or wherever you keep notes).
- Copy and paste in two notes that you’ve been meaning to sort into Roam Research.
{{Gif}}
Complete
[TIP: If it isn’t your Notes app, you can use any other app that you’re using to take notes that you wanted to bring together in one place.]
Great! Now that you have them in one place. Start sorting them by creating individual pages for them.
For example, if you are working on a project with a T-shirt Company, you can create the [[T Shirt Company]] page.
Speaking of all in one place—let’s cover pages!
Pages
A page is a collection of all your notes on a topic.
Described by {{RESEARCH}} as: {{insert the definition here}}
Let me give you sa simple example of this.
Thomas Jefferson was FAMOUS for doing a proess simar to Daily Notes and sorting to Pages.
The Anatomy of a Page
A Page has 3 parts.
The first thing you’ll see is the Page Name.

This is what you’ll call the page by.
For example [[Systems Dynamics]] would reference the page below.

This tells you what the page is about.
Part 1: Reference Bullets

These are bullet’s that travel WITH the page.
Think of them as permanent notes.
That you can reference at all times.
Part 2: The Linked References Section.
Anytime you “reference” a page, you’ll create a link to it.
It’s nice because you can keep track of how many times you’ve referenced something and WHERE you’ve referenced it.

Part 3: The Unlinked References Section.
Unlinked references are…{{Finish}}
This is the MAGIC of Roam research.
Like I said early roam is like Google but for your miind.
In this case, unlinked reference automatically searches all of hyour notes in refernce to an existing page you are writing about.
That way you are never asking yourself “Where did I put that again?”
That way when you are compiling your thoughts on something they are all in one place.
What is a page?
The page will have all of your references on that page.
It’ll look like this.

The method is called the Zettelkasten method.
I absolutely ADORE this feature!
It’s a passive way for me to build my thoughts.
Because it doesn’t matter what page I’m writing in—-I can add a reference to another page—
MID-SENTENCE!
Then I just keep going!
Roam then does all the hard work of putting all of the connections in one place!

Talk about leveraging the power of thinking by association.
Those of you familiar with Mindmapping will know this feeling!
{{SIDEBYSIDE => Mind Map Next to A Graph of This


A truly powerful feature from Roam!
Once you make a reference to a bullet point (aka “Block”). You can pull that information underneath that specific bullet point.
[[Examples]]
Block Vs Pages
- Now you’re asking yourself:
“Moose, what’s the difference between a block and a page?”
I find these diagrams from JesseMS blog to provide a wonderful clarification.


Here’s a break down.

Let me show you what the process will look like.
Pages become like Reference Pages.
Where you can find everything you want on that topic.
See Here.

{{transition-sentence}}
Part III: The Scenarios
This section of the guide is to show you the realm of possibilities you have in the world of Roam.
Just like a chef showing you want you can do different ingredients.
So you can Roam around and explore !

The 80/20 Roam Research Quick Guide
Part III: The Scenarios
– Scenario: Templates
– Scenario: Dictations: How to capture and structure your thoughts—Fast!
– Scenario: Manager TimeBuilding in Maker’s and Manager Time into your Roam Research workflow— (With GTD)
- Templates: How To Make Them
- Dictations: Using Roam Research and Otter.AI
- Blog Posts: Writing Blog Posts Using Roam
- Manager Time:
SCENARIO TEMPLATES
How to set up templates make your life easier —INSTANTLY!
{{MOVE: place higher up in the order so someone can reference it fast}}
This is a new feature in Roam Research as of Oct 2020.

All you do is:
Example
Step 1: Use the /Templates command.

Step 2: Hit the semi-colon twice.

You’ll see this pop-up:

All of your templates—searchable!
Congrats! Your workflow has now just gotten 1,007x easier!
For example: Running a startup, there are meetings that are brief I must run. The template agenda comes to the rescue.
- {{[[TODO]]}} {{screenshot}}
- of: template
- Rules: No Extra Tabs; Make sure you have the address bar;
- Caption:
- Alt Text:
SCENARIO DICTATIONS:
How to capture and structure your thoughts—Fast!
Speak faster than you type? Dictate!
Drag in text from Otter.AI
If you’re a big fan of Otter.AI, you’ll LOVE IT with Roam Research!
{{Task.redo}}

Unfortunately Roam doesn’t have a dictation feature.
BUT you can use Otter.AI to dictate in real time your thoughts.
Then copy and paste into Roam.
In fact, I wrote part of this blog post copying the transcription from a call provided by Otter.
NOTE: For Mac Users I find this more helpful than a dictation button.
DOUBLE NOTE: For Google Docs users, I still find the Otter & Roam combo better.
Rhoda tried it earlier!
Experimenting with an Otter to Transcript to Roam process. I’m loving it.
SCENARIO BLOG POST WRITING
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If you are looking for how to write blog posts in roam, here are a few great posts on it.
Writing a Blog Post in Roam
Let’s say you’re writing a blog post.
But there’s an issue.
THE ISSUE:
- The post doesn’t come to you as a full paper.
- Instead:
A quick idea here.
A scrap of thought there.
Before you had scraps of thought ERRYWHERE!

FUCK!
how am I going to get this all down?
Its like a pinball from space invaders bouncing around your mind.

Your solution.
Pulling from How to Take Smart Notes
“To get a good paper written, you only have to rewrite a good draft; to get a good draft written, you only have to turn a series of notes into a continuous text. And as a series of notes is just the rearrangement of notes you already have in your slip-box, all you really have to do is have a pen in your hand when you read.”
FRom the Chapter on “How to Write A Good Paper“
What’s nice, you can do all of that in Roam.
You just make a page reference.
Then you start nesting the bullet points underneath.
It’s the Zettlekasten Method of Notetaking:
Now you don’t have to move from one section your writing in.
While updating another.
It makes life easier!
A true win!
Bonus: Blog Post Exporting
So if you are like me you like to see your posts withiheadings and highlights so you can SEE where you are going to add emphasis.
Thus youll export your post using markdown.
Here is my workflow to take your export and reformatting time from x amount of time to y amount of time in minutes.
Roam Research Export Markdown => Plugin wordpress => plug in roam research => export => upload
SCENARIO MANAGER TIME
Building in Maker’s and Manager Time into your Roam Research workflow— (With GTD)
For those of you who implement “Makers time” vs “Managers time.” from the famous Paul Graham essay, this section’s for you!

I created a Manager time block. With David Allen’s GTD method nested in.
You can download the template I created below.
Now, You can add a section into your Managers block to answer Emails.
So those managerial tasks go into an admin block & You call them a day.
Other Roam Research Resources
There are some FANTASTIC sites solely dedicated to explain roam research.
Here are 5 that you’; find helpful immediately.
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- Dedicated Subreddit for Roam Research: “This is the official subreddit for Roam Research.”
Summary {{IC.TillEnd}}
Overall—Roam is amazing tool!
In this guide, You’ve covered SO MUCH!
[[Teaching Tool]] [[]]Summary
If you haven’t already—check off everything you’ve learned on the checklist.
Through bite-sized chunks & simple visuals, you covered the major benefits of Roam.
- Breath deeper!
- Be a good steward for your creativity.
- Produce prolifically, reliably, & systematically!
- Have your personal genius shine.
- Bring all of your information into one place!
- And Most important, Get rid of all of your post it notes/sticky notes.
Allow Roam to bring your creativity together!
At the end of the day— this is a tool to help you create.
And to be more creative.
So…Create!
…And share this with your friends to help them create too! And change the world!