A System for Writing

Fleeting notes are a way to remember things. Jots, tasks, lists, grand schemes, passing queries. Reminders typed into an app on your phone. Sticky notes left on the front door. They’re the same notes you’ve taken your entire life,

If an idea feels particularly “zettel worthy,” write “ZK” next to it. Later in the day or week, scan your journals to see what of these captures you’d like to import into your zettelkasten as main notes, and do so.

Struggling to put an idea into words forces us to wrestle with the language through which that idea will be expressed. Rather than being a means of recording what we already believe, writing, even in the form of short notes, helps us understand what we think we know.

A reference note is a single long-note containing brief citations or “references” to what caught your attention while reading a book, listening to a podcast, watching a video, or having a conversation. 15 These long-notes are stored in your zettelkasten sometimes in a separate section or folder.

reference notes are taken while you’re actively engaging with media, capturing ideas and passages as you come across them. Unlike fleeting notes, reference notes are stored in your slip box, to be used as a reference or personal index of the media you’ve consumed over the years.

Don’t forget fiction. Using a zettelkasten to capture ideas conveyed through fiction is done in the same way you would any other work. But, fiction also makes it possible to engage with ideas in novel ways. Keep an eye out for character behaviors and traits, narrative arcs, scenes, and settings, all of which can be mined for insights.

“Reference notes,” “literature notes,” “bibliographic notes,” and “source notes” are different names for the same note.

You don’t need to understand an idea’s relevance to your thinking to cite it in a reference note. Reading is not note-taking, and you should feel free to cite anything that catches your attention, regardless if it will eventually make it into your slip box.

In its most basic form, a main note should have at least two components: a single idea, and a link to another idea stored in your zettelkasten

These two elements—a single idea and a link to another idea—are so important that if your notes were to contain nothing else, you’d be well on your way to writing reams of prose. But, main notes can and usually do contain additional information that makes them all the more useful. Other elements that can be included in your main notes are: a title a quote or reference to where the idea comes from a record pointing to where and how the idea has been used in your writing a unique ID

A title acts as a condensed thesis summing up the content of the idea stored in the note. 32 It should be a declarative statement rather than a descriptor. 33 “Not all apples are edible” is a better title than “Apples and edibility.” The former tells the note maker what’s being said inside the note while the latter hints at the topic to which the idea might be speaking. There’s also the issue of duplication. Declarative statements make it easier to tell if you’ve already captured an idea, while a descriptor like “Apples and edibility” could contain any number of ideas going in any number of directions.

Your future self will benefit from having quality information to go on. If you take just a few moments to add useful information to your main notes when you create them, you’ll save yourself hours reinventing the wheel. Remember, you don’t need to engage with every aspect of every note every time you use it. Scan the note for what’s most relevant, and leave the rest behind.

If the note contains an idea, consider if it speaks to another already stored in your zettelkasten, or if it’s a new idea you’d like to develop. If the idea is one you aren’t ready to examine, send it down to your “Sleeping” folder (if it isn’t there already).

Retype or copy/ paste the idea into a new file, rewriting it if necessary, using complete sentences that capture the crux of the thought you’re trying to convey. Consider if/ how this idea relates to another already stored in your zettelkasten. If the idea is unrelated to anything else, edit the idea so it’s readable, and import it without linking the idea to others. If the idea relates to another already networked in your slip box, either rewrite it to speak directly to the other idea, or reference the previously captured idea and state why you’re making the connection.

Next, consider whether the idea speaks to any other ideas stored in your zettelkasten (4.2: 2). These connections establish additional trains of thought to which the idea can speak. Record these links in the note and give context for each, explaining why the connections were made

give the note a title that briefly sums up the idea in a concise statement. This will help you remember its contents when browsing your files.

The first thing to do when creating a main note from a reference note citation is to retype, copy/ paste, or reference the quote you want to comment on in a new note. This serves two purposes: It reminds you of where your idea came from. It helps you decide whether your idea is restating the quote or if the idea was merely inspired by the quote.

While it may seem obvious that main notes will be created from passing thoughts and other people’s ideas, your own writing can also be used as a source for main notes. Blogs, articles, newsletters, tweets, emails, and comments on forums can all be parsed out and repurposed as main notes to be reused in other pieces of writing or thought work. This can be done more or less in the

As a rule of thumb, it’s best to treat your own work the same as you would another writer’s work. Since, in a way, it is another writer’s work—the work of your past self.

One way to level-up a question is to embed it in a declaration. To do so, ask yourself why the question is important. What feelings does the question bring up? Is the question common? For example, instead of capturing the question “Who am I?,” consider reframing it (Fig. 22).

Fleeting notes live in a state of potential, waiting to be transformed into more useful “main notes,” the notes that will make up the bulk of your zettelkasten.

If the ideas captured in fleeting notes are to connect with others inside your slip box, they’ll need to be rewritten in the form of main notes. To better understand the difference between these two notes, let’s take a brief look at both

“Reference notes,” “literature notes,” “bibliographic notes,” and “source notes” are different names for the same note.

You don’t need to understand an idea’s relevance to your thinking to cite it in a reference note. Reading is not note-taking, and you should feel free to cite anything that catches your attention, regardless if it will eventually make it into your slip box.

To enhance the value of captured facts, it’s best to rephrase them in your own words. Restating facts is a form of paraphrasing, which offers some value. It can help you distill complex ideas into terminology that’s relevant to you, converting the information into something more personal.

There’s no need to overhaul or change a note’s argument just because another refutes it. Doing so will complicate both the note and its ability to network within the slip box. Instead, create a new note containing the counter argument, state why this new idea bests its predecessor, link the new note to the one it challenges, and import it into the zettelkasten. 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.