Returning from the Zettelkasten abyss
Two weeks ago, I crossed over that great note-taking divide between Niklas Lumann’s Zettelkasten methodology and, well, almost every other note-taking strategy.
My Zettelkasten journey lasted approximately 1,825 days. It was a grueling experience, and I’ll have to decide whether it was worth it at a much later date.
Here are two ideas that have helped me return from the Zettelkasten abyss.
One: Follow a web of interconnected references.
The best thing I’ve done since returning to a note-taking strategy such as Progressive Summarization is to:
Spend time swimming in my reference material steams again.
The idea seems simple; however, there is a big difference between following a web of interconnected thoughts through my written prose and following a string of ideas via reference notations.
Zettelkasten had coached me to spend time with my written prose. Progressive Summarization recommends that I spend time with my reference material notations, looking for patterns and connections.
I didn’t have to make it any more complicated than that. I pulled up my list of references and reviewed them. These reference notations have me encountering ideas I last explored a very long time ago. Being in the fresh, clear water of new ideas feels good.
Start using referenced ideas again and see where the journey takes you.
As you get moving, what you end up learning is that:
Putting thoughts into your own words before you understand the meaning doesn’t work.
Adherence to the atomic principle of one idea, one note wastes time. The deeper you go on any idea, the further away you move from the core because of “side thoughts.”
Updating referenced notations in smallish chunks via Progressive Summarization is the best way to move any idea forward.
Two: Broken ideas
I hit a roadblock after I finished focusing solely on my written prose.
I was making progress on new references, but I didn’t know:
How do you tackle all those partially completed articles or thoughts that have died on the vine?
I have 65 such broken ideas that have stalled at one stage or another.
Sacha Fast’s article “Feynman’s Darlings — Or- How Anyone Can Become Brilliant” changed everything for me. (1)
And here’s how.
I’ve created a bookmark list (I use Obsidian software) of all my broken ideas. When processing a reference note, I’ll glance through my list of blog ideas to see if anything connects. If it does, I can quickly use the bookmark to open the notation and start to write, linking the concept permanently to the stalled prose. With any luck, enough thoughts will dribble out of my brain to complete the notation; if not, I can allow it to remain on the list, waiting for another spark of inspiration.
The surprising outcome of using Feynman’s Darlings is that sometimes a random note will loosen a blog article due to a simple word or phrase.
I have realized that the key to successful Progressive Summarization is to spend time in your reference material streams and see if any of those ideas spark an idea for any other notion that has stalled for one reason or another.
Thanks for Reading!
Written April 18, 2024
Editorial assistance provided by Grammarly.
While coffee may not be my cup of tea, I love beautiful jewelry. If you enjoyed reading my article, I invite you to visit Jewelry Art by Linda, where she lovingly crafts stunning one-of-a-kind pieces by hand.
Footnotes and References
(1) Fast, Sascha. (January 15, 2023) “Feynman’s Darlings — Or- How Anyone Can Become Brilliant.” Retrieved from: https://zettelkasten.de/posts/feynmans-darlings-become-brilliant/
