Incorporate or separate personal development from research topics?
It was research for a business-related blog that led me to recently discovering the ZK method, and I am very excited to watch this web grow.
But this journey also became one of very personal development as I continue to find additional productivity techniques, psychological insights, etc. that are helping me be a better me. And the ZK method seems well suited for also keeping track of those things.
Is there some wisdom in keeping the things separate? Or do you just let it all live together?
What about journaling? I ask that because my "personal development" stuff can veer closer to "journaling" than "business research," but journaling (and dream journaling) feels like it shouldn't be anywhere near my ZK.
Howdy, Stranger!
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I include it all; I keep nothing separate from my ZK except for specific work projects.
I also include dream journaling, as it connects to ideas that I have about writing fictional stories.
It depends on how you journal and your goals with your ZK.
I want my ZK to be sharable. If it contains inappropriate content, things get messy. Look at the problems @ctietze describes in the post Graph theory: Contraction, applied to the Zettelkasten about Phil and his puny cucumbers.
Your inkling about "journaling (and dream journaling) feels like it shouldn't be anywhere near my ZK" is correct. Keep your journaling separate from your ZK. Modern software allows linking back and forth where appropriate.
Create your ZK as if your mother was reading it. With your journaling separate, you will be proud to let friends and coworkers peek into your ZK.
Will Simpson
My zettelkasten is for my ideas, not the ideas of others. I don’t want to waste my time tinkering with my ZK; I’d rather dive into the work itself. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon, I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
kestrelcreek.com
Hah, lucky for me that this was already a topic of discussion yesterday.
I realize that I never got around to the question that prompted my post in the first place — but instead of my hypothetical, I'll just ask you directly @Will: do you actually maintain two separate ZKs, one for PKM and one for "personal development" slash journaling?
edit:
I came upon this thread Revisiting Daily Notes, which provided a bit more guidance. And I agree with @GeoEng51's endorsement of NotePlan for daily task management, it's been huge for me.
I've also been using it for my journaling, but I've not been doing a good job of it, it's new territory for me.
How does one journal in a way that they can revisit a day from years ago that might be relevant to current life? Is it just about developing a reliable system of tags rather than an outright ZK?
Also -- I've come across a couple nice tools that Obsidian users might appreciate. Both are designed for the simple, frictionless sort of idea capture discussed in the "Revisiting Daily Notes" thread: a browser extension called Fleeting Notes, and a single-purpose iOS app called Bebop.
Ray, I do not maintain two ZKs. All my knowledge work goes into my one ZK. I can endorse NotePlan and other software for journaling and as a day planner. I use Bear because its features appeal to my journaling style. Its editor uses Markdown, it has a web clipper, and it has a URL call-back system just like my ZK (The Archive). My journal is where I make fun of Ron's array of patriotic flags and Susan's barking dog. It's also where I do project management, habit tracking, contemplate 'Deep Life Bucket Strategies,' track my medical history, keep track of my internet subscriptions, and do other non-knowledge work.
I can only answer by showing what I do. I use a daily journaling template, creating a note with a list of constantly evolving prompts. These prompts have links to historical journal entries, status notes, Google Docs, and my ZK.
Here's a copy of my blank daily journal template. I call my daily journaling "Writing Lab." Laugh all you want.
"Yesterday Review" links to yesterday's journal entry.
"4-Day Lookback as ZK" is just what it sounds like.
In the past, I've had links that presented ZK notes created 10, 100 days ago, and annually since the beginning of my ZK adventure. This brought what I had been working with back into my awareness. I've dropped this because I want to focus on the new and found I was spending too much time with my history. It was exciting, and I may reinstitute it. I also have a script that presents a random note. This could be set up for reviewing and revisiting my journal, but so far, I've not seen the need.
The Super Slogan is random from a self-curated list.
Will Simpson
My zettelkasten is for my ideas, not the ideas of others. I don’t want to waste my time tinkering with my ZK; I’d rather dive into the work itself. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon, I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
kestrelcreek.com
My parents are gone. I include everything in my ZK that isn't a grocery list. Fortunately, I have developed so little personally that the notes on personal development have nothing to do with my person, no matter how many notes of this kind I add. I almost said those notes were "orthogonal" to my development, but I consider this an embarrassing, precious, and somewhat fatuous intellectualized usage. Perhaps this is evidence of "personal development." I have a few personal growths that require plastic surgery, as well.
GitHub. Erdős #2. Problems worthy of attack / prove their worth by hitting back. -- Piet Hein. Alter ego: Erel Dogg (not the first). CC BY-SA 4.0.
I have always considered intellectual development and personal development as very closely intertwined in a personal knowledge base, so I have been like those above who are liberal about what they put in their note system.
Zettelkästen have been used most famously by authors, who usually create publications for the public and keep their note systems to themselves. This was also how I viewed my note system in the past: it's a tool only for me, so I can put whatever I want in it and keep it to myself.
But now I can see the advantages of "working with the garage door open" and sharing the note system/knowledge base that was used to create publications, thereby treating the whole note system and creation process as open data. This is an especially relevant approach in scholarly and scientific work.
If you already know that you want to be able to share your note system, then it is advisable to follow @Will's advice and separate the personal stuff. If I were to start over with a new note system today, I would do it that way. I may start over for this reason. But I don't agree that "knowledge work" or intellectual development is separable from personal development in principle. I still see them as closely intertwined, but when you have good reasons to share your note system (like in the previous paragraph) and don't want to include the personal stuff, keep the personal stuff separate.
When you say it that way, I agree with you. I don't think "knowledge work or intellectual development is separable from personal development in principle." In practice, my ZK is pollinated with many notes from my journal and vice versa. This is a selective process that keeps my ZK cleaner. One of the reasons I love The Archive and use Bear is the ease at which I can cross-link using URL call-backs.
Will Simpson
My zettelkasten is for my ideas, not the ideas of others. I don’t want to waste my time tinkering with my ZK; I’d rather dive into the work itself. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon, I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
kestrelcreek.com
@Ray asked:
@Will's comment above about using journaling prompts is a good idea. More generally, I'd say that the same standard features of a ZK apply just as well to journaling: keep the journal entries atomic/granular (with the date in the UID or timestamp) just like zettels, and use tags, links, and searches. Any software that can show you similar files, as was recently discussed in "Poll: Which AI feature would you prefer for your workflow?", can also help uncover relevant past journal entries.
These are good questions, the answer of which varies by individual. My journal entries are so dull and repetitive in my ZK and elsewhere that they have never lost their irrelevance, lack of interest, and capacity to embarrass their author. But this is no reason to exclude them. Locating a pre-existing note to link with new self-indulgent driveling is enough to exclude the new note altogether, if not prevent the note from being written.
GitHub. Erdős #2. Problems worthy of attack / prove their worth by hitting back. -- Piet Hein. Alter ego: Erel Dogg (not the first). CC BY-SA 4.0.
I can't emphasize this enough: what you include in your ZK will depend on its purposes and your preferences and style of work. There is no "one size fits all"; everyone will make their own choices about what works best for them. As mentioned earlier in this post, my ZK accepts almost any personal information, including daily journaling.
Recently, I've been looking for a solution to more fully integrate my ZK with my daily journaling, planning, and task management. I came close to finding that in NotePlan, which I loved and have used for about three years. It did a great job of integrating everything but my ZK. The hump there was that NotePlan used a somewhat different file format from The Archive (both used text files, but in different ways). I was slowly trying to build up steam to write a Python script to convert from one format to the other, and due to other priorities, I didn't get to it.
I came across Logseq (recommended by someone on this forum) and have been test-driving it for several months. It does an even better job of integrating all the information I listed above. I have been so happy with Logseq that I have:
So, Logseq is now my "go-to" app for all my information management. For me, it has a couple of advantages over NotePlan and The Archive:
This solution may not be for everyone, and who knows? One day, I may change my mind again. But I'm not a person who continually fiddles with software and apps, and I have not decided to switch to Logseq lightly. I've taken the time to learn how it works and evaluate its strengths and weaknesses before making the switch.
Having said all that, I really like The Archive and respect @ctietze and @Sascha for their work on the app and on this forum. I will continue to enthusiastically support both.
This all really resonates with me. I completely understand the desire for an ultimate Second Brain system that incorporates knowledge, project, and personal management all nice and neat. These systems seem inherently intertwined to me—esp. considering how time and task management are themselves each aspects of knowledge, project and personal management.
For me at least, I haven't found a system that integrates all these aspects effectively. My Zettelkasten is self-contained and separate from my self- and project management systems.
But to reiterate what @GeoEng51 said, to each their own.
I wanted to share my thoughts on this because my daily notes are one of the few parts of my workflow that I feel truly happy with. I love how my process has evolved, and I find it incredibly useful to integrate my daily notes into my Zettelkasten, as many of my Zettels originate from these notes.
My system is quite personal. My daily notes serve as chronological scratch pads, without a set template or task tracking. I don't require myself to take notes every day, but they’re always available when I feel the need. In these notes, I write about anything that comes to mind—from personal reflections to observations and topics I want to explore further. Each new thought is separated by a line, though I keep the process fluid and unstructured. I'll often continue talking about things in a later daily note and just link the notes together.
At the beginning of the year, I create a review note with each month as a heading. During the year, really whenever I feel like it, I will go back and review my daily notes. I will sometimes edit them or delete sections. For instance, I often delete emotional rants if I decide they will likely not have any value in revisiting them later. I then link to them and use bullet points to summarize them in the yearly note under the monthly headings.
These daily notes are my fleeting thoughts, allowing ideas to develop without the pressure of processing a pile of notes. Sometimes, I’ll delete them months later if they no longer hold relevance. I also store notes from books, articles, or other sources here until they’re transformed into reference notes—only when they’re used in my Zettels.
Having daily notes within my Zettelkasten is invaluable to me. It provides a space for ideas to grow naturally, without pressure. This approach allows me to capture fleeting thoughts and observations that might later evolve into something more substantial, ensuring that nothing gets lost in the shuffle.
I should say though that I don't currently share my vault with people - I may think differently if that were the case but I know I would be stifled if I worried about being judged in a system I use for thought and knowledge exploration. If I were to "work with the garage door open" I would just have to put a disclaimer that this is a place for exploration not hard beliefs.
@sam453, Thanks for sharing your thoughts and giving us a glimpse into your workflow. Your process is free-flowing, "fluid, and unstructured" which I feel is key to creativity.
Your review process is admirable. I add a quick 10-minute weekly review every Sunday morning. Mostly, I use this to collect undone tasks I wrote about in the week's daily journaling notes. What I've forgotten about in only a couple of days always surprises me.
Another key to your success is low pressure. Life is too short to use journaling and ideation as a whip.
Thanks again for sharing.
Will Simpson
My zettelkasten is for my ideas, not the ideas of others. I don’t want to waste my time tinkering with my ZK; I’d rather dive into the work itself. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon, I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
kestrelcreek.com
@sam453 I echo what @Will just said. I like the way you keep a daily journal of free-flowing notes and then evolve those into more formal notes, where it seems obvious to do so. I also like to keep everything in my ZK. It keeps the "friction" of our knowledge management down to a low level and lets us concentrate on capturing interesting ideas and thoughts.