What is the goal? Take the input I consume and turn it into output.
Big picture - goal and process
Don’t reinvent the wheel, doing it systematically. Stop going back to the same source trying to find a point.
5 step process:
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Capture notes
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Process notes
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Connect notes
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Produce output
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Gather reactions & conversations
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Capturing notes
Two types of notes:
- Fleeting notes Anything that pops up … shower thoughts that disappear fast.
- Literature notes Anything that I consume, I want to take notes and record sources!
Take notes, without judgement, on anything that I find interesting.
Become aware of having fleeting thoughts..
- We can actively practice observing thoughts.
- We can’t judge the usefulness of an idea statically.
If it interests you, it’s a good signal that it should be in your Zettelkasten. If it’s an orphan idea, you can purge it… but you may find a connection later on.
Folders? How you organize vs how you retrieve.
She retrieves via tags & search.. not folders, so she doesn’t organize that way. Everything is in the root folder.
Processing notes
- Make notes atomic
- Make notes search friendly
When capturing notes, not necessarily atomic off the bat.
Atomic … idea fit on an index card?
To make sure it’s atomic… 3 ways:
- Questions
- Ideas
- Supplementary tools
Main idea, then supplementary info.