[Zettel Feedback] Meta zettelkasting note review "The Power of the ZK Method"

Will · May 2023

This may be too fluffy for some "rational" types, but I loved working with this idea.
It is a note about making notes. I'm primarily interested in formatting suggestions and questions. I'm up for arguing any of the details of the content.

I'm trying to make less and less of these #meta-ZK notes. This is one of two #meta-ZK notes in the last ten days. An improvement over many 10-day time spans, but still two too many.

Bring on the comments. Lossen the bulls!

---
UUID: ›[[202305050616]]
cdate: 05-05-2023 06:16 AM
tags: #outline #linking-strategy #zettelkasting #meta-ZK
---
# The Power of the ZK Method

Subatomic: The magic comes from the repetition of adding your thoughts to the notes you take and reviewing notes regularly.

## Reliable

Working with my notes, revising them, and massaging the ideas, rubs them with my memory. It helps me remember why they are essential, "deepen learning, and foster original thoughts and connections."

The habit of review improves retention. Creating links makes a web of knowledge. "Your notes are finally something more than a messy pile of scraps."
- Monk Morning Practice [[202005030743]]

This is how I developed my thought system. It's the magic potion to turn yourself into a unique person.

My Evernote is an abandoned graveyard of dusty, untouched notes.

Take time to append personal reflections to each note. Consistency is a kryptonite for many people.

* Links are where the magic happens. Scan for potential links inside indexes/hubs. After I find the right index for a note, I look for link candidates among the other notes in the same index.
- Using notes to connect ideas [[202008160845]]

The Zettelkasten forces me to think deeply about each note, reconsidering them together from a broader point of view during a review.
- Inbox Review [[202008300656]]

It amplifies the natural tendency to find patterns and connections between concepts.
- Quality of relationships to ideas matter [[202205250813]]
* Connecting ideas along varied and novel paths makes them more memorable. It is the meaning that causes the idea to stick in the memory.

Connections lead to and are about different things.

Look for long notes that I can outline into articles or blog posts.
- Writing From An Outline [[202109282031]]

–––––
## References and Resources

- The Power of the ZK Method
- bear://x-callback-url/open-note?id=41217FC5-235C-4857-BFEA-687B094273ED-32163-0000878BD0E6A93F

- [How I Organize My Thoughts With the Zettelkasten Method](https://betterhumans.pub/how-i-organize-my-thoughts-with-the-zettelkasten-method-eb8d0b64799c)

mlbrandt · May 2023

This is a great post. I'm struggling with having notes, and links (which I review) ... but no clarity about what to do with them. How do you define and then move forward with projects that are higher on your priority list?

Will · May 2023

@mlbrandt said:
I'm struggling with having notes and links (which I review) ... but no clarity about what to do with them.

I don't mean to be snarky. Clarity will come with time. You make a note, then tomorrow, look at it and ask: Does this make sense? Has my understanding evolved, and can I improve it? Does it remind me of any other notes I have? How can I search my notes to find a potential link candidate?

Doing this simple review process 200-300 times and you'll either fall in love with the process, modify it, or return to watching cat videos. Habits are kryptonite against lethargy. Find a time when you can spend 30 minutes focused on your notes. Start simple, fight complexity, let your ZK grow slowly, and you'll see results.

How do you define and then move forward with projects that are higher on your priority list?

There are only a few methods for promoting progress on essential tasks that work. I maintain a "Reading Candidates" list organized by project. I keep my head down, reading from this list. Each book fosters notes linked to established notes, becoming a web of knowledge.

My advice is to make note-taking and reviewing fun. If it's not fun, you'll quickly abandon the ship. If you can't make this fun, knowing that the sooner, the better, you can stop worrying about a ZK.

chrisaldrich · May 2023

@Will Thanks for always keeping up with your regular threads and considerations.

I've been keeping examples of people talking about the "magic of note taking" for a bit. I appreciate your perspectives on it. Personally I consider large portions of it to be bound up with the ideas of what Luhmann termed as "second memory", the use of ZK to supplement our memories, and the serendipity of combinatorial creativity. I've traced portions of it back to the practices of Raymond Llull in which he bound up old mnemonic techniques with combinatorial creativity which goes back to at least Seneca.

A web search for "combinatorial creativity" may be useful, but there's a good attempt at what it entails here: https://fs.blog/seneca-on-combinatorial-creativity/

Will · May 2023

@chrisaldrich, I appreciate your feedback. Indeed there is magic in making notes which comes not only from finding connections in the ZK but also from making connections in mind.

Maybe I'm confused. A mindset that makes note-making fun is one way to recruit the body's dopamine mechanism. This creates a positive feedback loop. More mote-making turns to more dopamine which turns to more note-making. Maybe even some notes on dopamine. (I have 11 already!)

My sense of Luhmann's phrase "second memory" is a rehashing of an idea—a continued exploration. Using the ZK method is one way of formalizing the continued review of ideas. Without a formal process, it is too easy to fall into old bad habits and not work towards "the serendipity of combinatorial creativity. "

Many thanks for the references. I plan to capture the ideas in them and link them with this note. We'll see.

chrisaldrich · May 2023

There should be more conversation about zettelkasten as both a "ratchet" as well as a "flywheeel". Sometimes I feel like it's hard to speak of these things for either lack of appropriate words/naming and/or having a shared vocabulary for them.

Even Luhmann's "second memory" has a mushiness to it, but I certainly see your sense of it as a thing which moves forward. I have the same sort of sense with the Aboriginal cultural idea of a "songline" which acts as both a noun as well as having an internal sense of being a verb to me. The word "google" has physically and specifically undergone the transition from noun to verb in a way which "second memory" and "songline" haven't, though perhaps they should? The difference is that the word google is much more concrete and simple while second memory and songline have a lot more cultural material and meaning sitting with them if you know them and their fuller attendant practices.

Andy · May 2023

@Will said:

Indeed there is magic in making notes which comes not only from finding connections in the ZK but also from making connections in mind.

Here are two ideas that came to mind, with a third combinatorial synthesis:

Todd Henry in his book The Accidental Creative: How to be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice (Portfolio/Penguin, 2011) uses the acronym FRESH for the elements of "creative rhythm": Focus, Relationships, Energy, Stimuli, Hours. His advice about note taking comes in a small section of the chapter on Stimuli. He recommends using notebooks with indexes, including a Stimuli index. He says, "Whenever you come across stimuli that you think would make good candidates for your Stimulus Queue, record them in the index in the front of your notebook." And "Without regular review, the practice of note taking is fairly useless." And "Over time you will begin to see patterns in your thoughts and preferences, and will likely gain at least a few ideas each week that otherwise would have been overlooked." Since Todd describes essentially the same effect as @Will but without mentioning a ZK, this "magic" or "power" seems to be a general feature of reviewing ideas or stimuli for creative ideation, not specific to a ZK. (@Will acknowledged this when he said, "Using the ZK method is one way of formalizing the continued review of ideas", not the only way.)
Timothy Carey in his article "Exposure and Reorganization: The What and How of Effective Psychotherapy" (Clinical Psychology Review, 31(2), 2011, 236–248) says that "exposure can be understood as an essential precursor to the internal reorganization that is necessary for" psychological change, and that the process of exposure (to new stimuli) followed by cognitive reorganization (which is a way of describing the functional mechanism of learning) is the common mechanism of change in various psychological therapies.
Synthesizing the previous two ideas, we can conclude that a habit of regularly reviewing our notes, which exposes us anew to the stimuli captured in them, stimulates cognitive reorganization in our own heads accompanied by metacognition about the cognitive reorganization and by generation of new notes (and meta-notes) and reorganization of notes, potentially resulting in both psychological growth and note-system growth, or what @Will called "the magic potion to turn yourself into a unique person". This is a general process that can be realized with various tools, not just a ZK.

@mlbrandt asked:

How do you define and then move forward with projects that are higher on your priority list?

Much like how the "magic" or "power" of reviewing ideas or stimuli for creative ideation is not specific to a ZK, @mlbrandt's question seems not to be specific to a ZK but instead about topics such as mission management and/or project management. In Todd Henry's book mentioned above, Todd discusses these topics in the chapters on Focus and Hours, part of his acronym FRESH.

There is relevant advice in many other self-help books, such as the "natural planning" model in David Allen's Getting Things Done. The basic idea is that if you need to have more clarity about why or what you're doing, then you shift your thinking upward to higher levels like purpose, principles, and vision of outcomes (by reviewing what you've already written about those topics, or by writing about them if you haven't already done so); and if you need more action to be happening, then you shift your thinking downward to lower levels like organizing projects and scheduling next actions.

Will · May 2023

@Andy, @chrisaldrich, I'm indebted to your generosity in sharing these ideas. I struggle to form sentences that lead to an expression of an idea I want to convey. You have displayed the ability to spread ideas with words. This creates a model that I hope I can aspire to.

What we are expressing is not something experienced by everyone. Especially those new to note-making. Sometimes, after several months or, in my case, years, the loose playfulness of swimming in a collection of notes becomes like Gandolf casting wisdom. How do we share with people new to the practice the rewards that await them if they "FOCUS," not expecting instantaneous results?

Warning! Mixed up Metaphor City Ahead

The linguistics describing the experience of note-making is subtle and when you catch a thread (like this one), sparks rain down from the proverbial light bulb above the head to shine. Words and phrases are pointers. An idea is passed from one mind to another with the right metaphor or a piercing point-blank Gatling gun barrage of them. In this thread, we have a plethora of sharp linguistic phrases that lead us up the stairway to heaven. Phrases like second memory, ratchet, flywheel, the serendipity of combinatorial creativity, stimuli index, exposure, creative ideation, cognitive reorganization, mechanisms of change, and "the magic potion to turn yourself into a unique person."

@chrisaldrich, these ideas are more challenging to communicate than ordering a Leapin' Lizard Gyro at Mickey's, but it is not impossible. Only by trying do we have a chance to share ideas. I love your referral to this idea as mushy. It opens the space playfully. Not too firm and not too loose - think Goldilocks.

@Andy,

I thought you were performing a sterile autopsy on the method at first. I honestly thought I saw sausage being made, and it wasn't pretty. Just a momentary overreaction.

Todd's book sounds like a systematized way to increase the likelihood of serendipitous creativity while note-making.
In his article, Timothy examines"exposure" through a clinical psychological lens, but the concept can be applied metaphorically to reviewing notes. Overall, it's a fantastic idea. Thanks for the reference. I've downloaded a PDF of the whole article via my university's library.

Synthesizing the previous two ideas, we can conclude that a habit of regularly reviewing our notes, which exposes us anew to the stimuli captured in them, stimulates cognitive reorganization in our own heads accompanied by metacognition about the cognitive reorganization and by the generation of new notes (and meta-notes) and reorganization of notes, potentially resulting in both psychological growth and note-system growth, or what @Will called "the magic potion to turn yourself into a unique person".

84 words of wisdom! Too long to get tattooed on my forearm.

As always, thank you for a place to think.
I sincerely appreciate your involvement with this thread.

Sascha · May 2023

I'd change the title since it is not about The Power of the Zettelkasten but about a specific power that the Zettelkasten incentivizes productive habits.

Will · May 2023

Yes! Thanks, @Sascha. The title is presumptuous, too dreamy, doesn't say anything of value, is a bit spammy, and doesn't cover the contents. I was hoping for this kind of review by posting a "Critique my Zettel."

I've made a first go at a new title. "Zettelkasting rewards productive behaviors" is more in line with the contents.

What do you think? There is something about "productive" that feels a little like clickbait.

Sascha · May 2023

@Will Do you mean any productive behavior or a certain kind? The subheading "reliable" makes me think that the note is about something more specific.

There is something about "productive" that feels a little like clickbait.

Baiting your future self is not so bad. If you do it on purpose.

Will · May 2023

Yes. I want to point to something more specific and tangible than the generic and overused term "productivity." Looking for another descriptor for productivity is wordsmithing, but it is a learning experience I relish. Note titling is an underrated skill and a skill I'm interested in developing.

The specific form of productivity mentioned in the note is centered on a regular review.

v3 of the title "Habitually reviewing notes yields rewards. " What do you think?

Sage advice. 'Intentionally baiting your future self has benefits.'

As always, thank you for a place to think.
I sincerely appreciate your feedback.

Sascha · June 2023

@Will said:
Yes. I want to point to something more specific and tangible than the generic and overused term "productivity." Looking for another descriptor for productivity is wordsmithing, but it is a learning experience I relish. Note titling is an underrated skill and a skill I'm interested in developing.

To me, it is rather strange that people don't treat note-titleing as a skill to train. The internet is plastered with all kinds of folders, systems etc. But how to actually write a note? That seems not interesting enough.

The specific form of productivity mentioned in the note is centered on a regular review.

v3 of the title "Habitually reviewing notes yields rewards. " What do you think?

This is a title that uses cause-effect-form. If you use this form and can come up with the mechanism that connects cause and effect and it fits in the title, I'd add it.

My title would be something like this:

The Zettelkasten Method deepens understanding by built-in reviewing

It depends on where you want to take the idea on this note. It could be an iterative approximation of a complete picture of the effects of every habit that incentivizes you to review past ideas. On the other hand, you could go very specific and focus on the repeated exposure to past ideas (like spaced repetitions).

To connect to my above statements. An improved title is almost just a side effect of increasing the understanding depth of the idea. I don't go as far as saying that the main benefit of finding a good title is the resulting understanding depth. But I wouldn't object to it if somebody would make this claim.

Will · June 2023

@Sascha, many thanks for your involvement with this review. It is very stimulating to think in a concentrated way about this idea and smart titling.

I see what you mean by this title using a "cause-effect-form."

You have me thinking about where I want to go with this idea. This is a failure on my part. I had the idea and was so involved with its capture that I hadn't considered "why" I was capturing it and what I might do with it. Most notes are caught because they trigger a mental spark–that's it. I set the bar very low and never stop to consider why. I see this as a feature, not a bug. If I stopped to consider "where I want to take the idea on this note," I'd be paralyzed and leave too many ideas uncaptured.

But once captured, considering if I have plans for the idea is worth considering. This note is a love letter to the review process. An encouragement to develop and maintain the habit of the seat-in-chair systematic review. It's not a list of habit incentives or an ode to space repetition.

"Habitually reviewing notes yields rewards."
"The Zettelkasten Method deepens understanding by built-in reviewing."

Yours uses more words to say the same thing. "Habitually" maps to "The Zettelkasten Method," "reviewing notes" maps to "by built-in reviewing," "yields rewards" maps to "deepens understanding."

@Sascha said:
An improved title is almost just a side effect of increasing the understanding depth of the idea. I don't go as far as saying that the main benefit of finding a good title is the resulting understanding depth. But I wouldn't object to it if somebody would make this claim.

A poor title is the result of a poor understanding of the idea expressed.
This exercise has increased the depth of my understanding. And I have you to thank for that.

As always, thank you for a place to think.

dandennison84 · June 2023

If Notetaking stopped paying the bills, Sasha could make a fortune in advertising or product management.

Sascha · June 2023

@Will

I often go for a bit longer title to get the complete picture.

Yours uses more words to say the same thing.

"Habitually" maps to "The Zettelkasten Method," "reviewing notes" maps to "by built-in reviewing," "yields rewards" maps to "deepens understanding."

"Habitually" doesn't map to the ZKM since there are a lot of other habits of note review.
the "built-in" points to something that is fully integrated (by design or by accident) into the process. If this out, reviewing notes could also mean a habit that you develop in addition to the core aspects of your note-taking system.
"rewards" is way more general than "deepens understanding"

It is all dependent on where you are taking the note.

Will · June 2023

@Sascha said:
I often go for a bit longer title to get the complete picture.

I am practicing concise titling, but include a one-sentence summary which is generally put alongside links from the note.

This is how a link to this note will appear in my ZK. The "Subatomic" (which is what I call the one-sentence summary) gets refactored when placed as a link depending on the context of the link to help explain to the future will the "why" of the link.

- Habitually reviewing notes yields rewards [[202305050616]]
    * Magic is created with repetitive regular reviews expanding the ideas expressed in notes.

Isn't being habitually one of the habits of note review in the ZKM?
I think we are splitting hair. You like more verbose titling; I'm partial to concise. Although I'm sure we could find examples where I'd be more verbose, and you'd be more concise.

Interesting stats on this note.

276 words express my idea
378 word total with links and administration overhead
equals 27% non-original-idea

Many older notes have more links and references than idea content. This grows as I continue to study the same subject matter over time. Do you notice that some of your notes are heavily linked? This has become more apparent since I've started looking at note 'link weights.'

Here is the "Idea Explorer" tab for this note and the plethora of links in the last column.

Massimo_Curatella · November 2023

@Andy said:
Here are two ideas that came to mind, with a third combinatorial synthesis:

I love that! Thank you @Andy

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[Zettel Feedback] Meta zettelkasting note review "The Power of the ZK Method"

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