Zettelkasten Forum


I am really happy with my new Zettelkasten! Ideas, not notes.

When I tried the ZK method in the past (maybe 4 years ago), it worked well to allow me to create rich content from connected ideas. But there was a problem...

I was using the lit note/perm note split. And the amount of lit notes became voluminous and hard to manage. My ZK was flooded my these lit notes. It became a collection processing job. I quit.

4 years later, I know I need to start created content again for my company.

After reading this blog I found the missing piece. By removing the lit note, I moved the processing of my thinking outside of the ZK. Thinking is messy, but a ZK is structured, based on my experience, these two things didn't gel.

The key think was a post from Christian about how to "process" a resource. Turning them into themes (he called them clusters) and writing well developed ideas based on the resources.

So now, instead of 100+ notes per book, I have 1 to 7 well developed "source notes".

The good thing about all this is that we can make it our own. So, here are the levels I have:

  • Source note - a well developed note from a source, like a book.
  • Perm note - a well developed note from my thinking. Often an original thought from a collection of ideas or my own experience.
  • Content - a new piece of content written based on ideas that arise in my zettel.

For anyone wondering, this is the blog that made it click for me: https://zettelkasten.de/posts/create-zettel-from-reading-notes/

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