Hi Reader,
Happy Thursday! I've been reading How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens, and I'm learning a lot about the Zettelkasten note-taking method. This is just one of the ways that you can use an app like Obsidian, and over the course of the next few weeks, I'm going to share how I'm implementing the principles of Zettelkasten.
Article of the Week: 3 Lessons from 800 Note Cards in the Zettelkasten by Herbert Lui
This article reads like a case study from a guy who's implemented the Zettelkasten note-taking method for over a year (and amassed 800 note cards!). He makes some great points about the purpose of the Zettelkasten and what he's learned about his ideation process as a result.
Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist who took notes on index cards and used a numbering system to organize them. Here are some of Luhmann's guiding principles:
For example, your very first note is #1. A new note is labeled #2. Then #3, and so on... unless your new note is the continuation of a previous thought, in which case it would be labeled "3a." In this way, Luhmann created threads of thought within his Zettelkasten, and his numbering system led him from one note to the next.
Luhmann's system was entirely physical, using pen and paper, but we can use apps like Obsidian to start our own Zettelkasten and draw connections between notes (with hyperlinks!).
Here's the big idea: "Storage" is not the purpose of a Zettelkasten. It's about capturing thoughts and ideas in your own words to facilitate learning and understanding. Luhmann never "copy/pasted" from his reading material, but rather processed what he'd read and then elaborated on the ideas or concepts he found most interesting. His notes, then, were not simply summaries of a particular text, but a unique thought of his own (inspired by the original source).
Zettelkasten emphasizes connection over collection. Every time Luhmann added a note to his Zettelkasten, he was forced to think about where it fit in relation to his existing notes. By the time he went to write an article or a book, he had extensive material to pull from; his threads of thought became the backbone for his chapters.
Luhmann's Zettelkasten did much of the heavy lifting. This is no ordinary note-taking; certainly not what I'm used to, quoting from interesting articles and then jotting down quick bullet points in a mere summary of the material. Luhmann's process looked like this:
This is an intentional, thoughtful method. I believe that it requires practice and training, especially if you're not used to taking notes in this way. In the coming weeks, we'll dive deeper into each step of Luhmann's process to better understand the Zettelkasten and its potential to transform our writing and ideating.
Have a question about Zettelkasten? Hit "reply" to send me a message! I'd love to answer your questions in the coming emails.
Happy 4th of July weekend! :)
Sincerely,
Brooke H
Hi Reader, Happy Thursday! We're continuing our "Zettelkasten in Obsidian" series, and today I'm sharing how I use links to recreate Luhmann's numbering system (keep scrolling for screenshots!). Luhmann numbered his index cards to connect notes and create threads of thought that he called note sequences. For example, your first note is "1". Your next note is "2". But let's say that your third note is related to Note 1 (it will add to the conversation, so to speak)... so it slides between...
Hi Reader, Happy Thursday! I'm back with another installment of our series about implementing Zettelkasten in Obsidian. Article of the Week: 5 Common Misconceptions About the Zettelkasten Note-Taking Method (friend link) This is an article about what Zettelkasten ISN'T, to help us better understand what it IS. Before I read How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens, I made a lot of assumptions about this method that were just plain wrong. Here's a teaser: Misconception #4: That archival storage...
Hi Reader, Happy Thursday! We're diving back into our Zettelkasten series today. For the past several weeks, I've written about the Zettelkasten or "slip-box" note-taking method and how I'm implementing it in Obsidian. Let's chat about "fleeting" notes, and the different ways to capture them as we're reading / watching / consuming content. You can check out this article for a quick refresher on Luhmann's three types of notes, and a case study using one of my own notes as an example. Fleeting...