Author: 👤 Sönke Ahrens

Type: #book

Genres: #nonfiction #meta-learning #productivity

---

How to Take Smart Notes

One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking

Introduction

• Not needing to use willpower is better than having strong willpower

1 Everything You Need to Know

• Organisational tools are only as good as the broader system they are a part of
• You must be able to trust that your organisational system works to be able to fully focus
• An external thinking system is more important than IQ for academic success
• The Zettelkasten system relies on two types of notes—Literature Notes and Permanent Notes
• How to make Literature Notes
• The purpose of the Zettelkasten is to compensate for the limitations of our brains

2 Everything You Need to Do

• Always write while you read
• How to make Fleeting Notes
• How to make Permanent Notes
• Develop topics and questions bottom-up from the slip-box
• Write about developed ideas
• Add tangential ideas to your slip-box

3 Everything You Need to Have

• The Zettelkasten should not be over-complicated
• Good tools reduce distractions from the main work

5 Writing Is the Only Thing That Matters

• Writing is all that counts
• Writing is not an inhibition to reading
• Having writing at the centre of attention will change the way you read
• Writing about what you read makes you more intelligent

6 Simplicity is Paramount

• The shipping container parable
• Most readers still operate with a 'pre-shipping-container' mindset
• Organise notes contextually, not by topic
• Too many notes can devalue the system
• Ensure that only the best ideas achieve Permanent Note status
• Do not worry about the fate of permanent notes

7 Nobody Ever Starts From Scratch

• Brainstorming is for those that don't write as they read

8 Let the Work Carry You Forward

• Gifted and talented students are more in danger of falling behind
• The slip-box is not a collection of notes

9 Separate and Interlocking Tasks

• Give each task your undivided attention
• Do not multitask
• Focus can be trained
• A lack of structure diminishes focus
• Planning vs expertise
• Understanding comes through connecting
• The Ziegarnik Effect
• Circumventing and Leveraging the Ziegarnik effect
• A mind like water
• Break down amorphous tasks into smaller tasks that can be finished in one go
• Always write down the outcome of your thinking
• Ego depletion
• Reduce the number of decisions by using your note system in a consistent way

10 Read for Understanding

• Understanding and translating leads to originality and creativity
• Ideas can exist in different contexts
• The length of literature notes is variable
• Make efforts to write down arguments that oppose your views
• Ask yourself whether what you are reading adds to the slip-box
• Use discretion to decide what is important and what is not
• Understanding means being able to express ideas in a simple way
• See through the context of the original text
• The normal educational system doesn't leverage the way we really learn
• Attempted (and failed) retrieval leads to better memory of information
• Division of labour between the slip-box and the brain

11 Take Smart Notes

• Good readers read beyond the frames of a text
• Taking notes doesn't make advanced intellectual endeavours easier—it makes them possible
• Literature notes vs permanent notes
• Learning is more about information retrieval than information storage

12 Develop Ideas

• Think within the slip-box, not about the slip-box
• Use tags selectively and sparingly
• Use tags with retrieval in mind
• Use tags with connections in mind, never in isolation
• Guide notes can be created to assist navigation
• Wisdom is not knowing things—wisdom is making sense of things
• The slip-box encourages the best learning techniques
• Intuition is nothing more than incorporated thought
• Ideas must first be abstracted before being combined
• Ask counterfactual questions to build understanding
• The first question should be directed towards the question itself
• Simple, atomic ideas can be combined into higher levels of complexity

13 Share Your Insight

• Writing from the slip-box is about turning connections into linear text
• All our good ideas are contained in the slip-box
• Why students fail
• Structure a visible, flexible draft
• Every addition to the slip-box has the potential to become part of a publication
• Luhmann never forced himself to work on something he was stuck on
• The first draft is only the first draft

14 Make It a Habit

• Deliberate intentions affect short-term behaviour, but not long-term
• Replace habits, don't eliminate them