As you start collecting this material from the outer world, it often sparks new ideas and realizations in your inner world. You can capture those thoughts too! They could include: Stories: Your favorite anecdotes, whether they happened to you or someone else. Insights: The small (and big) realizations you have. Memories: Experiences from your life

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The magic of creative work comes after you collect ideas and start to find the connections between them.

Tools like Notion or Evernote aren’t built to help you make the most of what you’ve collected. They feel unnatural because humans don’t think in folders and categories; we thrive on connections and associations.

There is a lot of commonality between commonplace books and a Zettelkasten – both are systems of collecting information, both often involve indexing. Modern Zettelkasten builders are often adamant that notes should be transcribed in the user's voice, showing that the information being referenced is now an idea that can be linked to other ideas... See more