How I Organize My Thoughts With the Zettelkasten Method

Takeaways from using it for 60+ days.

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Most note-taking systems only work if you’re rich, childless, and less than 30 years old.

There’s no chance that a parent with a normal job, meals to cook, and self-regenerating chores can find so much time. You have to tend to those systems, like puppies, multiple times a day.

At first glance, the Zettelkasten method seemed no different. Without your constant labor, it’s useless. It slows down content consumption and note-taking.

But its inventor achieved superhuman productivity: he published 70 books and 400 scholarly articles. And he lived just once, in case you’re wondering. In recent years, many prolific creators followed his footsteps.

I have so many ideas to explore and share. I have a business to grow. Any productivity enhancer is welcome. So I finally took the time to test the Zettelkasten method.

The first months are the hardest. Here’s what to expect and how to make them easier.

What’s Zettelkasten?

You can skip this section if you are an expert. If you aren’t, here’s the gist of it:

• every time you find a useful quote or idea, write it down in an individual note,
• add your thoughts about it on the same note or on a separate but linked note,
• regularly review your notes. Finalize your thoughts, collect them into indexes, and add links between notes.

What’s the Purpose?

This seems the perfect tool for the knowledge age.

We consume so much content. It should help us improve our lives, our careers, and our businesses. But most of it is wasted.

Sometimes because it’s actually too shallow, we should have skipped it, but didn’t notice. More often, because we don’t take the time to turn information into knowledge.

The power of the Zettelkasten method lies in two recurring actions:

• adding your thoughts to the notes you take,
• reviewing notes regularly.