Capture resources with the right context: The Zettelkasten method
There’s hardly any platform left untouched by the magic of good content. You are scrolling through your feed, bookmarking threads, saving a bunch of screenshots, bookmarking articles. You forget about them for a while. You open all these resources after a week and have no clue why you saved them in the first place. Not giving context for a piece of information is like leaving money (time and effort) on the table. We hoard them and want to get the maximum ROI from them. But yet we aren’t able to do much with the available information.
Note-taking is an integral part of the learning process. It helps in maximising the ROI in our learning process.
But how should we take notes?
We all take notes when we encounter something essential or infer something extraordinary. But do we have a proper knowledge management system? Do we refer to the notes again? And even if we do so, are our notes of any use to us? All these questions point towards one direction, effective note-taking.
We dug a little and found the Zettelkasten method. It’s derived from the German word “Zettel”, meaning cards and “Kasten”, meaning box. Niklas Luhmann, a German sociologist, developed this method. He jotted down his thoughts and inferences on small cards and arranged them hierarchically in boxes.
Imagine you have a filing system for your thoughts. It is a place where you can store, retrieve and rearrange your thoughts as many times as you wish. In short, it is a place where you can keep all your ideas.
A Zettelkasten (meaning “slip box” in German) is an ongoing process of collecting and storing knowledge in small index cards. It allows you to group your notes according to specific topics and comes with a number of different methods to organise the information.
If we look at how our brains work, it’s mostly a train of thoughts. Organising all your thoughts, ideas and information you know using the Zettelkasten method is like building a web of all your thoughts and ideas. This leads to an outcome that is larger than the sum of its parts (the connections between each thought and idea helps you understand the bigger picture). Here are four steps you need to take to practise the Zettelkasten method.
- Take high-level notes.
When working or learning, write down your thoughts and why you are taking notes of a piece of information. This way, you will better understand the focus and reasoning behind the information you jot down. Remember the context bit that we mentioned earlier? This is where you can bring the context into your note-taking. Why were you thinking of something? And how did you go about searching for answers? When you mention all these things in your notes, the image becomes more precise.
2. Repurpose those notes to make Zettels.
You can then highlight some key elements from the high-level notes you’ve already taken. You can have cues like what you would have while making flashcards.
Here’s a blog we wrote earlier about flashcards: What are Flashcards, and how to use them?
You can include those information pieces that you feel are the backbone of a particular field.
Include index information like the author’s name, book location, or the link URL. For longer Zettels, highlighting the learning objectives or key points in a bullet list might be helpful.
3. Create a web of your understanding.
Now comes adding structure to all the notes you have taken. The Zettelkasten method’s objective is to make knowledge relationships (connecting the dots). When using the Zettelkasten Method, the goal is to create connections and relationships between your ideas and other information. Using specific identifiers will allow you to jump quickly from one related idea or piece of information to the next. Add a particular category or ID to the individual cards to help you link them to another in your system.
4. Keep reviewing and questioning.
Taking notes doesn’t help you unless you use it to increase retention or refine your understanding of that topic. Taking notes or collecting notes is beneficial, but having access to a large amount of data does not make you smarter. When evaluating information, ask yourself questions to assist you in building your own thoughts about the subject or material. Make it a practice to regularly examine information in your Zettelkasten to refresh your memory and inspire you to spot patterns and link thoughts and information.
Here’s a beautiful video explaining the Zettelkasten system: Understanding Note-taking
Universal law is for lackeys. Context is for Kings. Capturing resources with the right context is the best way to maximise your ROI while taking notes.
Making connections between what you already know and new information can help you remember new ideas and keep your thinking process flexible. This probably seems like a very tedious process, but if you get it done once, the knowledge base stays with you forever. Learning the best way to take notes is part of the “learning to learn” process.
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-Varun, Content Writer
