Digital Zettelkasten: Principles, Methods, & Examples

by David Kadavy

If you have a few minutes in the waiting room at the dentist, which are you going to choose: dig into a big project such as reading a dense book, or kill time with social media? When you have a digital Zettelkasten, there’s a third option: do small things with small notes, straight from your phone. The tiny bites you’ll be consuming happen to be the most interesting things you’ve ever read, or the most compelling thoughts you’ve ever had. Yet instead of these tiny actions adding up to essentially nothing, they feed your curiosity in a productive way and drive your projects forward.

Retain what you read: No more forgetting what a book was about the moment you finish reading it. The Zettelkasten method helps break reading down into a series of engaging rituals that repeatedly expose you to the most interesting things you've read – thus helping you retain what you read.

What you do with that writing is up to you.

Sometimes ignorance is more comfortable than learning, because learning means we have to go through the work of changing.

But the proper way to take notes is not to copy things word-for-word (except in the case of exact quotes). Instead, you re-write it in your own words, which is even more powerful.

When creativity matters, as the title of my third book states, productivity is about Mind Management, Not Time Management.

Fleeting Notes: Notes you take "on the fly." Literature Notes: Condensed notes of an entire article, book, etc. Permanent Notes: Notes summarizing a single idea. These are assigned keywords and linked to other notes.

The purpose of a fleeting note is to say, "here's something interesting I might want to remember or refer to some day."

So, resist the urge to copy and paste. Even when you're recording an exact quote, take the extra effort to re-write it (very carefully!) You'll be surprised what you discover.

(Tiago Forte calls the highlighting of highlights "progressive summarization.")

Active: If I’m cooking, taking a shower, or having dinner conversation with friends, I might come across an idea. I often listen to podcasts while active, and conversations are of course a great source of ideas. If I’m active and I come across an idea, I want to capture it. I also want something to do when waiting in line or at the dentist, besides scrolling through social media. Lying down: For me, lying down is the most comfortable way to read a book, whether on my couch, or in my hammock. This is how I prefer to do most of my reading, and that’s a main reason I usually don’t take detailed fleeting notes while reading. I mostly highlight on my e-reader, occasionally accompanying the highlight with a short note. Reclining: Reclining is a wonderful position for creative thinking, which is probably why writers such as Michael Chabon do a lot of writing while reclined – as did Truman Capote. I do most of my writing in my recliner. I use an over-bed table, like you might see in a hospital, to position my tablet and keyboard over my recliner. Upright: I spend as little time as I can on my computer. I have a desk that easily converts from standing to sitting and back, and I try to mix up between the two.

(If you struggle with perfection paralysis, I have a book for that: The Heart to Start: Stop Procrastinating & Start Creating).