Digital Zettelkasten: Principles, Methods, & Examples

Some people have a whole list of metadata points they capture for every single note. They use text-expanding software that allows them to – by typing just a couple characters – generate this entire list. Like so: Title: Author: Web: Date Created: Date Edited: Tags:

Mind Management, Not Time Management

Here’s a table describing which activities I do in which contexts:

Search engines and the internet are not a substitute for your notes. Your notes contain more than just simple facts, managing your notes builds your memory, and your notes help you store and develop ideas in-progress.

Unlike a card-catalog in an old library, the purpose of a Zettelkasten is not to find an individual note, but rather to explore the connections amongst notes.

Re-writing passages, choosing keywords, and linking notes to one another all cause you to think associatively. Thinking associatively has been shown to improve mood, so that explains why note-taking is deceptively fun.

But the proper way to take notes is not to copy things word-for-word (except in the case of exact quotes). Instead, you re-write it in your own words, which is even more powerful. Second, you don't write down everything you read. You only write down the important things: Things that are interesting, relevant to your work, or that you otherwise want

Choosing keywords/tags

try to write down only the important things, but I limit myself only because I don't want to spend all my brain power thinking about other people's ideas. I want to leave mental energy left over to daydream and see what I come up with on my own.