& digital zettelkasten

Title: Digital Zettelkasten: Principles, methods and examples Author: David Kadavy Type: #litnote #todevelop #book Topics: [[ Note Taking ]] [[ Writing ]] [[ Obsidian ]]

Zettelkasten system allows you to engage your thoughts, find the most interesting things you have ever read, that you know but are beyond the reach or your consciousness. It’s like a second brain me.

We know we have short attention spans. We are easily attracted by tiny bits of information to get the neurochemical hit. Zettelkasten system can help you to be more productive in this case.

Imaging you are in a subway, what are you going to do? Research for your large project or scroll on your phone? Well, with zettelkasten you have the third option. You can create, read or edit tiny bits of information and play around with them to drive your bigger goal further.

We now live in the age of information abundace. If you don’t have a system to retain knowledge, organize them and write, you will lose yourself with information overload. That’s where zettelkasten system comes to rescue.

It helps to leverage your ideas and information. You have an external system to remember what you read and learn.

What is Zettelkasten?

It’s a method of organizing your notes in non-hierchical way. You are not restricted to put a note under certain category. You can put it anywhere and lead to that note through various routes. It was popularized by Niklas Luhmann and Sonke Ahrens.

It’s purpose is not only to store notes and find them when necessary rather explore new connections and develop new ideas. Although zettelkasten was made keeping paper in mind, use of digital system is easier and more efficient to use.

What is it for?

Here’s what zettelkasten system in obsidian can be used for:

• Retain what you read:
  • Now you don’t have to forget everything you read after finishing a book
• Retrieve it quickly
  • Easily find what you need within a matter of seconds
• Know what to read next
  • It can help you follow your curiosity. See in your zettelkasten, see what sparks your interest
• Develop your ideas
  • You can see the links between your notes and develop new ideas by trying to stitch two interrelated notes together
• Write an publish
  • The ultimate goal of zettelkasten is to shipping. It helps to turn your knowledege into writing.

Types of Notes in Zettelkasten

• [[ Fleeting Notes ]]
• [[ Literature Notes ]]
• [[ Permanent Notes ]]

Misconceptions of Note-taking

Ignorance is more comfortable than learning because when you learn you have to go through the work of changing yourself and your thoughts.

There are a few misconceptions that people have about These misconceptions are holding people from note-taking.

1. Note-taking does not take the pleasure away from reading. Note-taking doesn’t have to wear any harder than reading. When you add notes, it will. Increase the time you have to engage with your reading, writing, thinkingwithout fatigue.

2. Note-taking is not mindlessly writing everything you read. Yes, it can can be that, but it’s not the right way to do it. It will neither to remember not to undestand. When you take notes, you only write things that are important to you, things that will be helpful to you. To expand the expert. You only write things that are relevant to your work or you want something you want something to retain in future.

3. Note-taking is not boring. Yes, it can sometimes feel boring when you have to write something, rewrite something in your own words. But it’s fun. Writing in your own words, something that you have just read is much easier than fillling a blank page.

4. Google is not a substitute for your notes.Yes.There is a lot of information on the notes. We are living in the age of information, overwhelmed but our notes are much better than what you have or what you will get in Google. They are personalized just for you. Your notes are your thoughts. Your notes are you in a way.

*Digital modes are better for searchability, portability, backup, speed, mutability.

Other than fleeting notes, lecture notes, and permanent nodes, you can also create different folders, such as inbox someday or maybe or raw folder.

Literature notes

Literature notes are informal summaries that you write about, a piece that you have consumed. Well. It is something that you can review to remind you of the main points you have learned. Mainly in the form of bullet points or even broken by topic. Instead of direct copying, literature notes are your own words. To write these you willh have to think hard on what you have learned. And then explain it like you are explaining it to yourself in the future.

Permanent Notes

Permanent notes are the explanation of this single idea. You explained it like you are explaining to someone who doesn’t know the source of the note. You only take very important ideas from literature notes and turn them into singular notes that you can connect with other notes. With the help of permanent notes, you can create a rough draft or an entire article.

Permanent notes are the ultimate destination of the zettelkasten system. Everything till now is a facilitator for permanent notes.

Copying vs pasting

Instead of just mindlessly jotting down everything or just copying and pasting you have to start thinking for yourself. When you think you will see that your mind connects different pieces of information and creates something unique. You discover new Ideas

How to read

Take fleeting notes when reading. It can be best done by highlighting when you read text or writing in the margins. If you’re reading in a digital format then you can directly export the highlights. And then you can process those notes as literature notes.

Read digitally.

Having instantly-searchable, and portable access to your highlights, and being able to search your books for things you want to reference but didn’t highlight, is incredibly powerful.

Once you have exported the highlights, I want you to read them once more and highlight the most important points. Now what you’re doing is separating the most important points that you want to write. When you’re reading the book, you are just focused on reading You don’t think about deeply whether something is useful or not. Now is the time to think.

• Literature notes
  • Now, once you have highlighted the highlights, you can start creating literature notes. We don’t need to summarize everything that you have highlighted. You just need to worry about the ones that are most important to you. The ideas that you think would be useful in the future. And write them in your own words.
• Permanent note
  • Permanent Notes are the atomic notes which only contain a single idea. Now we break down the important points from literature notes and turn them into literature notes. You might also want to include detailed bibliographical information.

This process sounds complex, but once you start using it, you will find that you will retain much knowledge you will have solidified the concepts of the book instead of just flipping through books.

You don’t need to use this method for every book you read. Some books can be read just for enjoyment.

Rather than creating new notes, sometimes it is useful to review old notes and process through them.

Choosing keywords or tags?

Obsidian is a non-hierarchical note-taking method. You have to think like a writer and not archivist.

You have to stop worrying about where you will store your notes. You have to think like and writer instead of thinking like an archivist. When you are choosing keywords you should ask yourself this question In which circumstances would I wonder, upon this note? Or if I forget about this note, how can I find this note?

Don’t use generic keywords. Be specific on where you could use it in the future.

Conclusion

Maintaining your digital zettelkasten can be a daunting task but you can make it fun and easy to do.

The whole point of the zettelkasten methods is to facilitate writing. The notes you develop will help you create a rough article or even an entire book.

Don’t worry about creating a perfect zettelkasten. That would be very hard to do from the beginning. Start taking notes this way and see what changes in your workflow.

See what works or add value in your workflow and remove what doesn’t work. Take these ideas and start taking notes. Don’t worry about being perfect.