Introduction to the Zettelkasten method

Fundamentals for starting to build a Zettelkasten from scratch

May 16, 2024

🏷️ Categories: Learning, Writing, Mental models, Zettelkasten

Hello! This is the first chapter of the guide. Here you will see the origin of the method, how it works, what parts it has and indispensable tips that every newbie should know.

Index

Brief introduction to the method
Principles of the method
Types of notes
Indispensable tips that every novice should know

1. Brief introduction to the method

The Zettelkasten method is a method for taking notes and managing your knowledge.

Its peculiar name comes from two German words: Zettel (note) and kasten (drawer). The method is so called because it was Niklas Luhmann, a German university professor who popularized the method due to his extraordinary career. Niklas wrote some 90000 notes in his Zettelkasten, published more than 70 books and wrote more than 400 scientific articles (Cevolini, 2016). According to Niklas himself, his spectacular performance was thanks to his Zettelkasten.

Most incredible of all: Niklas lived in the 20th century, without using computers. He did all this by hand, without the tools we all have today, with just a paper and a pencil. This is a physical Zettelkasten, look:

Think of the potential you can exploit if you take advantage of the method with the current tools. The advantage you have over the rest of the people is huge.

2. Principles of the method

For the method to work, two fundamental principles must be taken into account:

Atomicity

A note can only contain one idea and conversely, an idea must only be in one note. Each note must be understandable on its own, i.e. it has to be a complete idea and explained in a simple way. Examples: “Origin of the name Zettelkasten”, “Productivity of Niklas Luhman”, “Principle of atomicity in Zettelkasten”.

Connectivity

Connect notes to connect your ideas. Link the notes that you see that they are related in some way (one idea is the consequence of another, is its result, is an opposite argument, a complementary data...).

📌 Note: To connect ideas you can use different applications or even do it on paper and pencil using a code associated with each note. In this guide we will deal with the Zettelkasten on computer and not the one Niklas did in the past.

3. Types of notes

There are variations, but a classic Zettellkasten has 4 types of indispensable notes: reference, fleeting, literature, permanent. Each one improves on the previous one.

3.1. Reference notes

These notes simply contain the source from which you take other notes, so you never forget the origin. Imagine you take note of this guide, your reference note would be something like: “Introduction to the Zettelkasten method”. You would then connect this note with all the ideas you have extracted from this text.

Look at this example note, it is the reference note you might have for this text you are reading. It has basic information to find the source and always connects to all the literature notes it generated.

3.2. Fleeting notes

These are quick and temporary notes, they are useful for you to capture your ideas or learnings in the moment and not forget them. They do not need to be detailed or clean, for that we will do the literature notes. They are just a reminder.

Notice, they could be the quick annotations you would make of this text before understanding it in depth. I have made spelling mistakes on purpose, they are notes that will later be deleted, they don't need to be perfect.

3.3. Literature notes

These notes contain key ideas that you have captured from somewhere: books, conversations, a podcast... Remember, each note should contain only one idea. If you have captured a lot of information, summarize the key aspects and fragment the ideas so that each one has a note. Write it in your own words and in a simple way.

An example of a literature note of a concept from this text: The principle of atomicity. It contains its connected source reference note.

📌 Note: You don't always follow the whole process in a linear fashion. If you are reading a book, create a reference note and engage in creating literature notes directly. Fleeting notes are typical of ideas that come up while walking, conversing…

3.4. Permanent notes

These are the most valuable notes in the long run. They are made up of notes that you have been connecting and joining little by little. They are a synthesis of the knowledge you have accumulated. A kind of very powerful summary.

Notice, it even contains an index, these notes can be very extensive and have a lot of connections.

3.5. A personal example:

With examples everything looks better, right?

Some time ago I read about the psychological effects of walking in forests. I wrote down every source I read to know where the ideas came from (reference note).

I underlined lots and lots of concepts (fleeting notes), then wrote the concepts in my own words in simple form and separated them each into a note (literature notes). Finally, I linked the ideas that had a connection and wrote down in each literature note the corresponding reference note, that is, the source that gave me each idea.

Some time later I saw that I had already many literature notes connected and I thought it was time to make a permanent note that condensed all my knowledge on that subject. I called the note “Psychological Effects of Shinrin-yoku”. In fact, that note gave birth to my first text in Mental Garden. Amazing, isn't it? Ideas born effortlessly.

The Psychology of Forests

S. García

April 9, 2024

Read full story

This is how you transform the overwhelming storm of data that surrounds us into a web of ideas that make sense of the world, revealing order where before you only saw chaos.

4. Indispensable tips that every novice should know

4.1. Re-visit your notes

You only learn when you read them more than once.

It has happened to me countless times that I go back to an old note and a powerful connection to another note that I had overlooked at the time quickly pops into my head. This triggers my creativity.

Reading and exploring your Zettelkasten will uncover unexpected ideas and insights.

4.2. Start small, don't get complicated

I have seen this problem many times before.

When we all start we are inexperienced, but when we see the wonders that others do, we want to create a gigantic system. I recommend the opposite, be minimalist, create your first notes and experiment, little by little everything will flow naturally.

Avoid starting the house from the roof.

4.3. Be brief

Explain your ideas simply and in your own words.

This will make the information more memorable. In addition, the effort of having to explain a concept in a simple way will make you understand the topic much better than if you had just copied it. It is not a matter of copying and pasting text.

If you can't explain the concept to a small child, you haven't really understood the concept.

Postscript

As of May 16, 2024, I have 4032 notes in my Zettelkasten, i.e. more than 4000 ideas, concepts or data. I have a priceless mental library for learning, creating and writing.

The Zettelkasten is like wine, the more time passes, the more it is worth.

Don't miss the opportunity to create your own Zettelkasten.

If you have any questions leave them in comments or contact me:

S. García

See you soon! 👋