hello my name is Shu. in this video I want to talk about Zettelkasten method
which is one of my favorite personal knowledge management systems.
Zettelkasten method is one of the most effective knowledge management methods
but it's not known by many people the word
Zettelkasten means box of cards in German. this method was developed by Niklas
Luhmann, a German sociologist he may not be super famous but what makes him stand
out from the crowd is not just the fact he was an exceptional scholar but also
his writing efficiency. In 30 years he published 58 books and hundreds of
articles how did he manage to write so much? It's thanks to his unique knowledge
management system -- Zettelkasten Method. It allowed him to build huge web of
knowledge, retrieve the right memory when needed, find meaningful connections
among topics and develop his ideas arguments and discussions efficiently
the process of Zettelkasten is simple all you need is small boxes, index cards
and a pen Luhmann had two boxes one for bibliographical notes with the
reference details and brief notes about content of the literature and the main
box where he collected and created new ideas and the insights. The first step is taking literature notes. When you are reading a
book or article always have a pen and index card with you and when you find an
information you don't want to forget or think you might use in your writing or
thinking write it down in your index card instead of highlighting or
underlining. But you have to be careful that it has to be brief to make it easy
to review later and you have to write it in your own words this means no copy and
pasting. Writing in your own words may take a while, but it forces you to really understand
what they mean. The second step is taking bibliographical notes whenever you
finish reading something Luhmann wrote down reference information on one
side of an index card and a brief note about content on the other side then he
kept cards in the bibliographical box with the literature notes. The third step
probably the most important step is making permanent notes go through each
note you made in the previous step while thinking about how they relate to what
you are learning, your interest, thinking or research. Your goal is not to collect
as many notes as possible but to add new values to your existing ideas argument
and discussions. What's important here is finding meaningful connections between
why you just learned and why you already know. By doing so you build a web
of knowledge. The more web of knowledge you develop it's easier it becomes to
learn and retrieve the information from your brain. This is because the more
information means more hooks we can use to connect a new information to and more
connected to information also means more cues we can use to trigger the right
memory to find such connections efficiently ask yourself how does this
idea fit into what I know? can this be explained by something else. what does X
mean for Y. how can I use this idea to explain something else? additionally it's
important to find keywords in your notes to find connections among notes. But
finding keyword is not about where to store a note but about how to retrieve
it. When deciding a keyword many people ask which keyword is most
fitting or which category does this note fall into? Rather you should ask yourself in
which circumstances would I want to stumble upon this note even if I forget
about it or when and how we are use this idea?
Keywords should always be assigned with an eye towards topic you're working on or
interesting never by looking at a note in isolation. After finding connections
add your new permanent notes to the main box by filling each one behind relevant
notes adding links to relevant notes and indexing in the way you can easily
discover later. An extra step you might need is taking fleeting notes they are
temporarily holders or your ideas and thoughts that pop into your mind like
ideas you get while taking shower or walk always keep a notebook or piece of paper
with you so you can write anytime. you should review your fleeting notes within
a few days before you forget what you meant and you can develop them into
permanent notes if necessary after repeating those steps for a while you
will have developed a huge web of knowledge now whenever you need to find
a topic to write about, turn to your box of cards and see the lines of the cards
you developed. See what it's missing see what questions arise you can then read
more and take notes to develop your ideas and arguments farther when you are
done with this process you will already have a wealth of information in your
hands this means you don't have to start from
scratch when writing. All you have to do now is to reassemble your notes into a
logical order and translate them into something coherent so this is a general
workflow of Zettelkasten. in the next video I'll show you how to
digitally implement this system using Roam. thanks for watching and I'll see you in
the next video bye!