Zettelkasten
To me, Zettelkasten is a method of note taking where you naturally interlink notes, so that as your number of notes grow, the value of all the notes increases. In a sense, it mirrors the brain, and is a method of note taking focused on associative connections between notes, rather than an archival approach where notes are categorized in a specific place.
A few things that gets me particularly excited about Zettelkasten:
- It feels like it unlocks more power to what I already do (consuming content and taking notes), through just a few small tweaks to the approach.
- It can completely eliminate the blank page problem of writing a longer memo. This can be powerful for memos to the team, blog posts, Twitter threads, etc.
- It will enhance my brain and help me essentially have an extension of my brain or my memory.
- It will help me have a much better method to retrieve something that I recall when thinking of a new topic, or talking to someone about something.
Great overall definition in Digital Zettelkasten:
The Zettelkasten method is a way of organizing paper in a non-hierarchical way. Instead of being restricted to keeping a note only under one category, or having to make multiple copies of the same note to put in various places, notes are organized so that you can arrive at one individual note through various routes, and that note can lead you to various other notes – much like today’s internet, but in paper form.
Further notes on Zettelkasten: