A System for Writing: How an Unconventional Approach to Note-Making Can Help You Capture Ideas, Think Wildly, and Write Constantly - A Zettelkasten Primer

If you’ve been taking action on the recommended tasks, here’s what you should be bringing with you: Something to capture fleeting notes. An inbox to stage fleeting notes for processing. A “Sleeping” folder for fleeting notes that resist processing. A physical slip box to hold your index cards, or digital note-taking platform with a folder titled “Z

The rest of the procedure is the same as with fleeting notes. Write down your thinking about the passage. Consider the idea’s relationship to others stored in your zettelkasten. Record any connections you’ve made. Add the appropriate alphanumeric ID. Give the note a title.

Set up a reminder to check in on your fleeting notes. I recommend a weekly check-in for notes staged in your inbox, and an every-few-months reminder for notes stored in your “Sleeping” folder.

To that end, this book looks at writing as a holistic process, one that integrates aspects often considered adjacent, external, or preliminary. Inside, you will find practices related to having and capturing thoughts (chapters 1 and 2); refining thoughts into clear ideas that can be repurposed (chapter 3); connecting ideas across topics (chapters 4

Wrong ideas, if given context, can serve not only as counter arguments to be incorporated into your writing, but can be used to show how your own beliefs have shifted over time. Ideas you once held with which you no longer agree, if handled with humility, show your humanity. This makes for good writing.

Ideas were no longer bound to topics, listed alphabetically, or cataloged according to consecutive prime numbers only, all of which would have created a linearly organized system.

Folgezettel forces you to connect newly imported ideas.

Whenever an idea you’re attempting to capture in a main note reminds you of another, sift through your notes to find the one that came to mind. Link or otherwise make note of the relationship in the main note you’re creating.

are almost always your own thoughts,

Creating Main Notes from Captures in a Reference Note