• Reference

    • started reading [[February 2nd, 2021]]
    • finished [[April 3rd, 2021]]
    • Author [[Sonke Ahrens]]
    • These are my [[literature notes]] I suppose.

  • Book in three sentences

    • When (not if) you take notes, less is more and you achieve this by writing like the git diff building on what you already know; you write what you have learned
    • You write in your own words, distilling the gist, to make retention more likely.
    • The [[slip box]] can make writing easier by replacing planning with the execution of small incremental well defined tasks, “Read with a pen and make fleeting notes”, “write literature notes from fleeting notes”, “create permanent notes around topics that tug at your interests as you go along”, “have interactive discussions with your slip box, making connections between your permanent notes as you go along”, “dump your permanent notes as outlines for manuscripts you can work on and edit until you are satisfied.”

  • Impact

    • Before encountering the [[ZettleKasten method]] / [[slip box]] , I had started building project folders in [[Dropbox]] using a system I finally thought would help me. Instead of great search I would take notes on paper or white board and then at least be able to have a descriptive title and be able to look up my notes on demand. Having notes at all and being able to find them was a big step beyond having scattered notes I could never find. But there would be no mind space for me to connect ideas and thoughts. I feel like conversations and #journaling are great ways to spit ball ideas but then you occasionally write them down somewhere and it feels good to get them out of your brain but then what.
    • I enjoy writing occasionally of course but I agree with this book author’s ([[Sonke Ahrens]] ) premise that you end up starting from scratch and blank slate writing (which feels like [[top down]] writing ) is hard. And [[bottom up]] writing which is this method, is pretty intriguing!
    • This idea I came across a while back at a google talk about [[start public/open source as opposed to private and then try to make it public]] with respect to code but I have been going down that path for my notes as well.
    • Culminating with the [[book ShowYourWork]] I suppose you should be tactful with what you make public so I am still trying to find the balance.

  • Questions

    • Whenever I dive into a “Roam” session–elaborating on my notes, making connections and splitting/joining topics–I feel like it takes a lot of time indeed. I guess the [[slip box]] needs a [[TimeBoxing]] haha? But how long should it take?

  • Concepts

    • Step by Step , from the author’s Introduction, on [[How to write an article using ZettleKasten]]
        1. Make fleeting notes
        1. Make literature notes
        1. Make permanent notes
        • One idea per note. But in a digital sense this feels like it extends.
        1. Add your new permanent notes into the slip-box
        1. Build topics that slowly grow into mature material for your writing.
        • The permanent notes are like seeds, but I think you can also have “connective tissue notes” or “meta notes” where I imagine you elaborate on and strengthen some of the links. Maybe they also end up having one idea?
        1. Copy some of these linked ideas to your “Desktop” .
        • Sort them, start to edit them, find missing links,
        1. Make a first rough draft.
        1. Edit / proofread (And I imagine here is the writing/editing cycle). Polish.
    • Don’t plan instead be an expert [[Dont plan be an expert]]
      • Wow this speaks to me. plans are rigid indeed. the other way to think about it is I can’t explain why but whenever I make a todo list, especially if it is long, I kind of don’t feel like doing it. I like the concept of calling it the “Maybe list” though. or the “defect list”/“bug list” for issues to resolve . the alternative is the vision. and when you express the vision, short term, within your context, frame of thought, everything else just kind of falls into place
        • “ Having a clear structure to work in is completely different from making plans about something. If you make a plan, you impose a structure on yourself; it makes you inflexible. To keep going according to plan, you have to push yourself and employ willpower. This is not only demotivating, but also unsuitable for an open-ended process like research, thinking or studying in general, where we have to adjust our next steps with every new insight, understanding or achievement – which we ideally have on a regular basis and not just as an exception”.
    • Write whenever you feel like it and make new connections
      • ((cda0b87a-cc5f-4794-903e-3e0187920254))
      • But as a technical note, Dumping/processing your notes immediately feels crucial because it almost becomes a kind of “now or never or much much later” kind of game.
      • So that begs the question is it even worth writing on paper or a whiteboard without then immediately distilling the “fleeting notes” . If you don’t it is difficult to later sift through them.
    • [[distilling the gist vs collecting/archiving ]]
    • Read for understanding
      • ((8b7a2887-b77f-4c13-97b7-b7ed22900ea9))
      • ((26378e7a-5d76-418b-aeb9-32533c84c921))
      • ((ac860cbd-7b9d-4477-abc9-d26e8294ffc2))
    • Elaboration
      • The putting into your own words and connecting concept reminds me of an interesting [[person Tim Ferris]] video where he talks about circling phrases in your #journal but also deleting what you don’t need. I like keeping at least references to primary sources but as for my own notes, I like the concept of letting ideas in your notes percolate to the top. So perhaps you discard but even if you don’t, there’s no need to look at the deeper material.

        • “The first step of elaboration is to think enough about a piece of information so we are able to write about it. The second step is to think about what it means for other contexts as well.” (p104)

        • ,“Connections can be made between heterogeneous notes – as long as the connection makes sense. This is the best antidote to the impeding way most information is given to us in our learning institutions. Most often, it comes in modular form, sorted by topic, separated by disciplines and generally isolated from other information. The slip-box is forcing us to do the exact opposite: To elaborate, to understand, to connect and therefore to learn seriously.” (p106)

    • Learn from mistakes
      • Most people dont larn from their mistakes!

      • “Alas, rarely does a product developer show any interest in learning from the experience of others. Often, companies don’t even keep track of their own failed attempts, providing McMath with whole series in which one kind of mistake was made in multiple variations, sometimes from each generation of developers in the same company (McMath and Forbes 1999).” (Page 127)

  • How to write/attach good Topics to notes

    • Archivist vs writer!!! Favor retrieval . This is like tattoo selection in the [[movie memento]] then. And the post it notes. Limited writing surface. Careful selection. Ok so write keywords or entry links with the expectation of how to stumble upon that best in the future

      • “The way people choose their keywords shows clearly if they think like an archivist or a writer. Do they wonder where to store a note or how to retrieve it? The archivist asks: Which keyword is the most fitting? A writer asks: In which circumstances will I want to stumble upon this note, even if I forget about it? It is a crucial difference.” ( page 110 )

    • I really like that this gives you permission to be “selective” because you accept that you don’t need everything and I definitely come from the “archivist” mindset.

  • No need to convert everything

  • My Questions

    • Should you have more links? or fewer links?
      • Slightly not sure because selectivity is suggested,

        • “The organisation of the notes is in the network of references in the slip-box, so all we need from the index are entry points. A few wisely chosen notes are sufficient for each entry point. The quicker we get from the index to the concrete notes, the quicker we move our attention from mentally preconceived ideas towards the fact-rich level of interconnected content, where we can conduct a fact-based dialogue with the slip-box.” (p 109 )

    • Should you update your notes as you construct your manuscript?
      • because author talks about filling in manuscript gaps , …

        • “gaps in the arguments in the final manuscript – but these gaps will only become obvious in the next step, when we take the relevant notes for an argument out of the network of the slip-box and sort them into the linear order for the rough draft.” ( p 108)

    • Still want to know for these #evergreen-note or #[[permanent note]] , how large should they be?

  • Raw Notes

    • “ What does make a significant difference along the whole intelligence spectrum is something else: how much self- discipline or self-control one uses to approach the tasks at hand (Duckworth and Seligman, 2005; Tangney, Baumeister, and Boone, 2004).”

  • References

  • Write whenever you feel like it and make new connections

    • “Author basically says yea some people rely on #brainstorming to come up with new ideas or #group-brainstorming but he argues okay the [[slip box]] [[ZettleKasten method]] is better because you’re brainstorming every day so might as well just capture your ideas every day . And my connection here is to #journaling , because it is like a brainstorming that you do in the morning. your [[Morning Dump]] [[Morning Pages]]. "