How To Take Smart Notes

How To Take Smart Notes is a Book on Zettelkasten system by the author Sönke Ahrens

Willpower and task completion

Not having willpower vs not having to use willpower indicates that you have set yourself for success.

Why write and why it is so difficult

Writing is like breathing. Keep writing or capture every thought that occurs in a journal and convert them into permanent notes regularly I.e daily or ASAP.

Writing feels overwhelming if our months and years of reading, discussing, thinking and research are not readily available to us as notes. Smart note taking is a prerequisite to write.

Three Requirements for task completion

Every interesting, meaningful and well defined task will be done.

Most common cause for failing in tasks

Problematic work routine is the main cause for non completion of tasks even if they satisfy the three requirements. Causes procrastination and makes us loose motivation.

Routines - definition

Simple and repeatable tasks that can be done automatically (without new thinking) and can fit together form a routine. No bottleneck should be present in the above tasks and all of them should be interlinked for it to succeed.

GTD principles - David Allen

Collect everything (mind, paper, email, shelf, home etc) in one place and process it one by one in a standardized manner I.e with a clearly defined objective as per your big picture priority.

Only if mind is like water, i.e working memory is free from competing thoughts, task at hand can be completed successfully.

Most distractions originates within our mind than from outside environment, so clear them by capturing them in your system.

Only if you (your brain) completely trust your system, your brain let’s go of its thoughts and allow you to fully focus on task at hand.

GTD works effectively for linear tasks.

Non linear tasks like writing, thinking etc are not easy to split and can’t be planned ahead.

Zettelkasten system

Two boxes - bibliographical box and main slip-box.

Step1: While reading, he always wrote Bibliographic information on one side and a very short note on the content on the other side.

Step2: At a later time, he created additional notes on index cards based on earlier brief notes in his own thinking and words.

In this notes, he also created references to his earlier notes, which can be from same or other disciplines. Relevance alone mattered in creating the references.

His notes were sometimes written in a totally different context than the original and filed accordingly. Rarely a note stayed in isolation.

Step3: While adding notes and creating references, he always checked his slip-box to see if corrections, additions are required and made them in the relevant notes.

Luhmann always added notes without worrying about topics to file it under. He referenced it to multiple context, if it warranted.

Step4: Last element was an index, which referred to one or more notes and acted as an entry point for new line of thought or topic.

Thinking needs scaffolding

To think better internally, we need to externalise our ideas i.e our brain works better if there is a scaffolding. Writing is the best scaffolding one can have.

If we write, it’s more likely we understand what we read, remember what we learn, and our thoughts makes sense.

Thinking, reading, learning, understanding and generating ideas - 5 tasks of student, researcher or writer. Writing improves all the above five.

Fleeting notes

Whenever any idea or understanding comes, capture it as a fleeting note.

Medium can be a small note, loose paper, napkin, receipt, audio,picture or note in your phone.

Keep something handy at all times, so you don’t miss anything that your mind tells you . Fleeting notes immediately frees up your mind to continue the task at hand.

Your system must ensure that fleeting notes must be attended to in at least 24 hours or ASAP.

Sources for fleeting notes can come anytime I.e while walking, talking, reading, thinking, listening or even when watching and very rarely in dreams.

Literature notes or bibliographic notes

Contains mostly bibliographic information along with brief notes on the most important ideas from that source.

Bibliographic notes, particularly literature notes must also contain relevant page numbers along with quoted text.

Except bibliographic information, everything else like ideas, explanation, evidence goes to the third type of notes I.e permanent notes via fleeting notes.

Permanent notes

Fleeting notes gets converted to permanent notes with one idea per note. Write as much as possible in your own words. Fleeting notes get discarded once permanent notes gets filed.

Permanent notes should not be a pointer or reminder for an idea or concept. It must be self contained with the complete thought or idea I.e the note must make sense on its own.

Every permanent note has an unique reference ID.

Add sufficient references to wherever it is relevant in the slip-box. Each note must be filed with reference to at least one other relevant note to clarify or expand or classify or refute them.

References to this new note must also be added to all the relevant pre-existing notes.

Very rarely a note will give rise to a new topic, which might not be related to any of the existing information in the slip-box.

Project Notes

Notes that are relevant only to a specific project. During the course of the project that information may be required. Later they may become obsolete or unnecessary.

Such notes needs to be either archived or discarded at the end of project, depending on the size i.e cost and relevance in future.

Project notes can include comments in the manuscript, collection of project specific literature, outline, snippets , reminders, to-do lists, and the project draft.

Tool box

  1. Something to write your fleeting notes with. Preferably pen and a small notebook. This has to be available at all times so nothing gets missed.

  2. A reference management system to capture references effectively. Eg zotero.

  3. The slip-box. A digital version is available for free named zettelkasten by Daniel Ludecke at zettelkasten.Danielludecke.de.

  4. Editor to write permanent notes. Integration with zotero is a big plus. Ms word, libreoffice are good choices.

School vs university

In school, teacher is there to help the student learn. Students are not expected to question and discuss or argue with the teaching path. There is no independent learning path in schools.

In college, both the student and professor are there to seek truth and knowledge. The only way ideas can be shared is through written word. Whether the written words are published in international journal or not, it still is very public. It is the expressed views of the author and can’t be taken back or argued as private.

The four Underlying Principles

Writing is the only thing that matters

Writing helps crystallize ideas because if we have to write in our words, we have to understand the thing.

To improve anything, we have to deliberately practice it, hence writing improves with practice.

Simplicity is Paramount

Simple ideas can also be transformational for the society. Boxes or containers is one such example. Slip-box is the equivalent of container in shipping industry. When containers were introduced by a trucking company owner Malcolm McLean, it was neither immediately useful nor profitable. The benefit of containerized cargo increased only when suitable changes in workflow happened at ports, shipping lines, shipyards and by end users at both source and destinations.

Similarly slip-box becomes more and more useful only when a critical mass is reached.

Common mistakes in note taking

Using a scientific or daily journal or dairy to take notes of every small and big thing one comes across while reading, classroom, thinking etc.. Journals by nature are organised chronologically and not topic wise. So retrieval is almost impossible even if the information is present but remains unorganized and hence unavailable.

Second mistake is, Collecting or making or organizing notes in a project specific manner. Here anything that is not relevant for that project may get discarded or gets filed incorrectly which may get lost or forgotten once the project is over.

Third common mistake is the failure to convert fleeting notes to permanent notes I.e treating all notes as fleeting. Here collecting every bit of information is done, but failing to convert them periodically leads one to discard or lose valuable information. We start from scratch again and again instead of cleaning up the mess.

A fleeting note can become useless if left unattended for too long. Either you can’t make sense out of it or it appears banal, former if you forgot what it reminds you and later if you forgot the context.

Underlining or highlighting in the book, writing on the margins may be faster while reading, but converting them to permanent notes may never happen, if we don’t go through them again. Any information not thought through thoroughly and gets written in ones own words as permanent notes may not be available for future use.

Project Manuscript

Manuscript is a book, document, or piece of music written by hand rather than typed or printed OR it’s author’s handwritten or typed text that has not yet been published.

Project manuscript is much like Project Report which contains almost every information of the project.

Project ManuScript has to have following content :

Title page with original approval signature(s)

Abstract (2 copies)

Project manuscripts must be at least 5-10 pages in length* and contain at least two of these:

Contextual information: e.g., literature review or a discussion of theoretical or artistic influences

Process information: e.g., what did you wish to achieve? How did you set out to achieve the goals?

Reflections: e.g., what did you learn or contribute? What changes would you make in hindsight? Implications or suggestions for the future?

Artifact: artifact formats should follow the standard of the discipline. Artifact examples include collections of original poetry, screenplays, slides/videotapes/CDs of creative work, case studies, a manuscript submitted for publication through a collaborative effort, engineering plans, landscape designs, photo journalistic essay, etc.

Source: https://www.quora.com/What-is-a-project-manuscript ↗

Nobody Ever Starts From Scratch

Writing in general and academic writing specifically is a non-linear task. However most books on writing including universities guide students to choose a topic, prepare outline and proceed with writing.

Hermeneutic Circle

Every intellectual endeavor starts from an already existing preconception, which then can be transformed during further inquiries and can serve as starting point for following endeavors. Hans-Georg Gadamer

How our intellect develops

We are guided by our interest, curiosity and intuition which is formed and informed by the actual work of reading, thinking, discussing, writing and developing ideas.

This way our intellect continuously grows and reflects our knowledge and understanding externally.

How do we grow

Reading, thinking, discussing, doing, reviewing makes us grow. Writing during all the above steps helps us to improve faster.

Since most writing guide does not teach about note taking or the importance of reading, they tend to begin the writing process by brainstorming. Our brain contains only what we have read, seen and heard. So writing truly begins with what you know already and not with a blank slate.

Let the work carry you forward

You work should be rewarding enough, so that you continue doing it with motivation. Your work should be endergonic and not Exergonic I.e don’t need constant supply of effort or energy.

If our workflow enters a Virtuous cycle, we continue doing our work with increasing sense of satisfaction and motivation, without need for will power. If the workflow requires continuous external motivation and drains us, we procrastinate tasks and enter a vicious cycle of repeated failures.

Fitness coach Michelle Segar creates self-sustainable workout routine I.e creating satisfying, repeatable experiences with sports.

Feedback loops is crucial in motivation dynamics. From learning to exercises, positive feedback loop takes us further along.

Seeking and not avoiding feedback is the first virtue for anyone to grow - psychologist Carol Dweck. Growth mindset is a reliable predictor for long term success. Fixed or closed mindset is the biggest hindrance for growth.

Changing for the better as part of growth mindset is rewarded inwardly instead of getting pleasure in praise from others i.e outwardly rewarding. Praise from others always leads to fear failures.

Getting praised for being talented and gifted is a curse compared to being praised for doing or for the effort.

Growth mindset will work only if there is a learning system or workflow which has an effective or practical feedback loop in place.I.e feedback loop must be Short or practical enough, so that we can get feedback quickly and correct ourself. Writing a permanent note from our quick notes, will tell us quickly if we’ve understood a topic or not.

© Prabu Anand K 2020-2026