How to Take Notes That ACTUALLY Help you Think and Write

[@BernieAnderson]

Good Lord you're good at this. This is the clearest and simplest explanation and definition of "atomic notes" that I've seen anywhere (and I've read the books). Thanks, Morgan. Keep going.

[@blaiseutube]

Ok, you don't know me, so you'll have to trust when I say that I have seen a lot of presentations on zettlekasten and information management. I have followed you for quite a while and your presentation and ability to cover nuances in a concise and effective way is superb.

[@morganeua]

Thank you, that means a lot! I'm glad I've been able to reach people who my communication style works for!

[@timbushell8640]

@@morganeua also nice to see your "Obsidian" skills grow as you then follow Richard's advice on teaching to make sure you understand too. Thank you some much for these vids. ()()()()()()()()

[@ritchiee1980]

I have struggled for a very long time - almost two years to write permanent notes properly. I am glad I am finally capable to do it. Thanks for your insights throughout the journey. You are fantastic! 🙌

[@zahraajishi5561]

Brilliant. Like your ideas and videos and you encouraged me to start my work on obsidian

[@e00d20]

golden nuggets here, thanks for keeping it post, morganeua

[@alycekopec4409]

These examples are really helpful. Thank you for sharing and explaining!

[@morganeua]

You're welcome!

[@vekipavicic3812]

Thank you so much Morgan. Amazing video, you are a really talented and prepared teacher!

[@Pratikphago]

Your note-taking videos have helped a lot!! thank you so much for your effort!

[@youngyoungmcgurn5088]

Massive kudos for having Writer's Tears Irish Whiskey - one of the finest I've ever had. Your "smart notes" video got me started on my Zettelkasten journey - I've started an analogue one, taking the plunge after watching loads of videos to try and get as many tips and pointers as I could.

[@morganeua]

That's awesome! I'm a little jealous, I wish mine was analog, but digital works better for me!

[@youngyoungmcgurn5088]

@@morganeua And that's the name of the game - what works for you. I chose analogue because I love stationery - nice notebooks and fountain pens, anything that gives that satisfying sensory quality of a pen nib or pencil point scratching across paper. Also, I engage better with the material in analogue because it forces me to slow down and digest it all. I'm not a career academic, so I can afford to take my time and luxuriate. Have chosen to try out the Zettelkasten method to help me engage with not only new knowledge, but stuff that I already consumed, because I've been plagued with what I now know to be ADHD all my life, and I feel that the ZK system will enable me to manage and absorb what I've learned in more depth, that I was previously unable to.

[@jamesyaremko3543]

Hello Morgan, I am a Project Manager and I have to say I love your videos. You have turned me onto Obsidian and I think it is fantastic! Thank you for all of your insights and keep up the great work!!!

[@morganeua]

Oh, that's so cool! I'd love to hear how a project manager uses Obsidian. How did you get into project management, by the way? I'm casually looking for jobs and wondering which career streams might appeal to my skills...

[@jamesyaremko3543]

​@@morganeua Hello Morgan I have been involved with Banking Systems for almost 40 years - 25 years at JPMorgan Chase, 14 Years at Bank of New York Mellon, and 5 years before that as an Accounting Systems analyst at GAB Business Systems. I came up to Project manager after being a programmer and a systems analyst. Have been a Project Manager for probably 30 years with a specialty in Bank Billing Systems. The thing that always got me going was being a voracious notetaker. I would strive to document everything about the systems I support to become an expert or SME in the area I was covering. And I am a Project Management/Task Management - Note Taking Junkie. - Evernote, OneNote , Roam Research, Rocketbook,Moleskin, etc. Tons of notebooks, both manual and digital, but as you note, difficult to pull it all together. Now your videos have opened all new approaches to me. I am so excited to see all of the things Obsidian can do to help organize you and master your interests, combined with your unique perspectives. From what I see I think you would make a great project manager - well organized, on top of documentation and priorities, and great communication skills - top requirement for Project Management. PS Your video this week on the task manager plugins was perfect. I have used Trello, Tasks,Asana, Nozbe plus the Evernote Task Manger and Microsoft Project, so I did not think I needed it. However I loaded the plugins in Obsidian, started using it and trying the different options and totally love having my tasks right there next to my daily note and knowledge base. Curious if you have done anything with custom fields and templates? Anyway - you are just fantastic and I look forward to every video. Keep it up! Best wishes Jim

[@jaspermcfly2765]

Thanks!

[@morganeua]

Thanks for watching!😊

[@chrisso1973]

Love your vids, thank you!

[@RileyEffective]

Of course i paused the video to read the final note. If the audience is physically in danger, are they still an audience? Doesn't that make them participants rather than members of the audience? Because they are no longer watching what's happening from the outside, they've been pulled into what's happening to the degree that they are potentially in danger (without consenting to this, which is why I do agree with your claim).

[@morganeua]

Very interesting... I'd argue that audience members are always already participating in the theatre, and that's what makes it theatre. Is an audience member who is not paying attention to the show (not participating in it) still an audience member? If not, then I'd argue that audience members who fear for their physical being at a performance are NOT audience to the show anymore, but because they're NOT participating in the show anymore. They're focused on something else - their physical well being!

[@RileyEffective]

@@morganeua but they are not participating in the same way the cast is, right? So they might participate in some technical of emotional sense, but they're not participante in the way the cast is. Because at that point they'd be cast, not audience.

[@rafa1rafa]

It's a treasure! Thanks for sharing.

[@victorsierramatute]

Thank you for your insightful videos! I'm starting to use Obsidian and I was wondering how you would incorporate notes about primary sources (such as a specific play or performance) as opposed to secondary sources or theory. Thanks!

[@Reiniac]

Your final note brings to mind (quite possibly because I saw his name on your bookshelf) the idea that Penn Jillette has articulated in many of his appearances. You yourself say that when you encourage undergraduate students to take risks, that does not mean they should risk their own physical or mental well-being; Jillette outright says is that he believes it to be immoral for a magician to be in actual danger during a performance. As witnesses, this exposes the audience to violence that they never consented to (since magic is widely understood to be fake in all ways, including this one). Moreover, as, participants (and my read on this is that he takes it as a given that an audience does participate in a performance to a degree) this implicates them and makes then complicit in dangerous, possibly life threatening acts. The performer could argue that their own safety and life is their own domain and putting themselves at risk is their own prerogative, but Jillette's line of thinking argues that by involving an audience, this defense is no longer true, and the responsibility of the performer has extended. In the end, it seems to me that putting the performers at risk is not only recklessness on the individual level; it is also necessary to avoid putting the audience at risk.

[@morganeua]

Absolutelyyy, and omg, Penn and Teller are my absolute idols!

[@franciscojavieribarguenoca9798]

Great, I think this is the clearest explanation about the fundamentals of note-taking for Zettelkasten. Thanks.

[@dkarlmonger]

Thank you for your wonderful videos! You have some great systems going on. Something occurred to me recently while watching one of your videos -- maybe this one... Assuming you survive defending your dissertation without the burgeoning contents of your head simply exploding outwards right there all over the dais, do you see yourself continuing your channel and taking viewers into your post-doc life? Will that call for a rebranding? A new haircut? More books? Finally: Can you yourself juggle?

[@HeatherOrdover-CraftLit]

16:56 this made me smile so wide! When my husband had a theater company in NYC we did a lot of Social Obligation Theater Going. Invariably, there was a certain percentage of privileged young men trying to be tough in torn jeans (often doing bad Sam Shepherd) and just as invariably their stage combat was so poorly choreographed (if choreographed at all, because who needs it, amiright?) that I could tell the actors were at risk and it pulled me right out of the story. Even worse was when the audience was also at risk. Miserable. One of the reasons I love Jill Bearup. And now you!

[@dobi26jo37]

this is so helpful, tysm!

[@ebebebeb7283]

Hi Morgan, I just discovered your channel and your videos on note-taking are incredibly helpful! I'm wondering, how do you go about taking zettelkasten notes on an idea that you disagree with, or an idea that has been debated and critiqued a lot?

[@morganeua]

I would just articulate that in the note! So, let's say I'm a feminist, but I want a note about arguments against feminism, then I might have a note called [[feminism-is-bad]]. And in that note, I'd write, "Even though I believe that [[feminism-is-awesome]], many people throughout history have disagreed..... etc."

[@sthrwars]

I really like the topic of "writing". Although I've got a habit of writing every morning (on a free associative form, non-stop, until a fill two pages), I feel it's sooooo hard to start writing "academically". I suffer from writing too informally. I find really hard making notes out of my reading :/ I'm used to just copy and paste authors' quotes and try to contextualize them, but I find it near impossible to sum things up in my own words ): My tip for myself is: keep writing down, cause practicing is what makes it better.

[@encouraginglyauthentic43]

Practice the fundamentals of grammar, and work your way back up.

[@kinkarobotina]

I just found your channel, and I'm starting to rabbit hole into it quite quickly. I want to embark on a PhD journey soon and up until now I have never seen any uni helpdesk, seminar or KZbinr tackle questions about writing, note-taking and knowledge management as you do. Furthermore, I have two questions I would be really happy to have addressed by you (and your thinking process about writing and knowledge production): 1. Could you talk about the process of conceptualising a PhD proposal and how you would go about it from first thought to exposé? To me, it is particularly interesting how much the research can deviate from the proposal after the exposé is finished, and the proposal has been accepted and how the studies shift after that. How do I know I'm researching the *right* thing in my exposé and what if after that I find topics, that are more fitting to my research but not outlined in my exposé at all? (How much leeway is there) 2. I would really love to see how you work with your notes in the final writing process in your Word file (you mentioned you work with word and use Zotero for that too). I'd also appreciate your ideas on finding the right words and how not to overwork your text too early. How do you go about editing your written text? Do you write it and leave it for reviewing at a later date, or do you cycle back to it often? Thanks again for your amazing quality and I hope you'll get the chance to speak about my questions. :)

[@pw.70]

I love your videos - they really get to the core of understanding. Based on what you say in this video, why didn't you add a reference to Umberto Eco himself? Wouldn't that allow you to reference other notes based on him? Also, with quotes in Obsidian, why not use the quotation mark down '>'?

[@nicolasvfucci]

hi morgan! love watching your videos, they have helped me out a lot with my research! on regards to the last example note, on audiences being exposed to risks, I think there are interesting manifestations of that risk in extreme music such as punk, hardcore and noise music. Examples you could check out are GG Allin, Hanatarash, and Death Squad's "Intent" performance, if you feel it's useful to your research. (i should warn that these have sensitive imagery and topics attached, so take care with that too!) cheers :^)

[@morganeua]

My research isn't really about this concept at all, although I teach first year theatre and I bet those students would find this interesting, so I'll check it out! You're also making me think about heavy metal and mosh pits...

[@flowingblaze]

thank you for this awesome video!!

[@timbushell8640]

Aliases with modular and atomic is a nice improvement on the straight 'atomic. Very nicely done. And nice to use Eco... a great source for many things. But - a minor gripe - I think you missed '5'... periodic random note resurfacing [Anki even, etc.]. You might argue that you are touching your notes so much this might be unnecessary, but that will mean you missing much. 5. method of explicitly resurfacing random notes - in between those times that you touch your notes, influenced by the existing links to 'add' value, content and other links, new or just additional from existing notes. ... Plus the '[[ xxx ]]' for new notes is such a good way to ensure you introduce new notes - simply by Obsidian's ability to raise a note - inline - within the current note, as a reminder to go back then to complete that note later. This is one of Obsidian's BIG features. As I find I can 'suggest' by this method that I need to go back - it is so small it doesn't really interfere with the note making, as having a separate listing of further notes somewhere would... and of course, Obsidian creates the 'Unlinked mentions' etc., as well so further options to help create other splitting out of supporting ideas, etc.

[@morganeua]

Yes, absolutely, I create unlinked notes often, too. And the random notes IS a nice idea. I should maybe do that more often to stay acquainted with my whole vault.

[@ShoulderMonster]

​@@morganeuaThere's some randomizer Community Plugins, such as Smart Random Note, Advanced Random Note, and Improved Random Note. I haven't used anything like them, but perhaps you might like one of them! :)

[@timbushell8640]

@@ShoulderMonster the method to an extent, matters not, BUT the idea of 'resurfacing' is huge for Zettle with thoughts/idea sparking and just as a reminder of things, not just empty notes.

[@ShoulderMonster]

@@timbushell8640 Oh, from what I understand those randomizer plugins pull up a random note from your own selection, not create a random note. So, perhaps you can use them to pull up a note for you to re-review each day, for instance.

[@Wulf-UK]

Hi Morgan - I'm a second yr PhD student in the UK. Your videos have been a great help in introducing me to Obsidian. But a quick question. Do you worry that 'atomic' notes will just amass and you'll have hundreds at the end of your research? I'm thinking that each note would probably "feed" into a concept, which in turn feeds into a perspective or theoretical/methodological point. I guess this is where you would perhaps use Obsidian's "tag" function. So you could tag the "atomic", from the "concepts" from the "theory(ies)". Then use the group function for the Obsidian Map and colour code...? Just wondered how you will otherwise know how each atomic thought would feed into your overall conceptual framework. And indeed, which atomic point advanced or commented upon a wider concept, perspective, theory, method etc... Thanks again for your time in producing these helpful videos .

[@morganeua]

Personally, I don't worry that atomic notes will amass - I hope that will be the case! The only time the quantity of notes becomes a problem for me is when they are 1) not connected to enough other stuff so that I'm frequently accessing them, or 2) not connected to a more general topic to keep things organized. I don't use tags for that, though, I just use other notes. And I use atomic notes for theories, concepts, examples, experiences, everything (except notes about sources, which I keep in a different folder). The fact that they're atomic just means that they're small! A single theory might be broken up into 5 or more different notes, even, with connection points in between!

[@Wulf-UK]

@@morganeua Thanks for your reply Morgan. I've started using it and I will just trust the 'process'. I think the beauty here is that everyone will have their ways and means of how to get the best from the software and system. Your guides are invaluable however for starting and jumping in. So thank you 🙏 . For me for example I have learned to use the simple #author tag when noting about a paper, chapter and then creating a group on graph view for that tag. It just then sets apart the author notes with a coloured node from the atomic notes/notes about concepts, methods, theory etc...

[@SaschKrassBass]

Very interesting, how you identify the atomicity of a note. Expect to be cited on the upcoming article on atomicity. :)

[@morganeua]

Omg, I need to go rewatch the video to remember what I said, then! I will definitely keep an eye out for the article, thank you!

[@NjuJFama]

Thank you for another great video! One question: I wanted to try out skillshare, but there is no 40% discount on the annual subscription offered. Did I miss something?

[@morganeua]

I've sent them an email to ask how you access that. If they get back to me, I'll let you know!

[@morganeua]

Also, if you just want to try it out, you could do that free month for now, I believe the link will take you directly there. Although, I'm not sure if the 40% discount applies after the free trial or only before... We'll see what they say.

[@ritchiee1980]

Another great video! 🙌 Quick question... Is skillshare any good now? I had the premium subscription a long time ago when they were introducing projects at the end of the course. As it was something kind of new, I don't think creators used to actually check your final project.

[@morganeua]

Some of the teachers on there are really active, but I'm sure not all of them are. I don't know if I would personally use the end of course projects thing so much while learning, because I log my own progress offline, but I do like the content available on Skillshare.

[@ritchiee1980]

Thanks a lot for providing your perspective about it. I remember I had the yearly plan which I regretted after some time because I found KZbin content if not the same, better than the content provided in Skillshare. I would like to think that there have been many changes over the years so I feel a bit curious to try that again.

[@cyb3rm4x1]

I can sense there are notes about what makes notes essential somewhere in your zettlekasten

[@morganeua]

Haha, I'm actually SO bad at taking notes about that! Because I'm using my Obsidian vault so deeply for my PhD research and writing, I actually end up forgetting to develop other knowledges in there! But I should because one day my PhD will be over and I'll need those other things documented!

[@naftalibendavid]

@@morganeuayou’ll be glad!!!

[@1026JMS]

Have you checked Andy Matuschak's notes? He makes some great notes covering some of the points covering on this video. He talks about evergreen notes and also about the titles of his notes (if I remember correctly he compares his notes titles to APIs).

[@miantgv]

I can't find the video where you explain why you use hyphens for the titles of the notes

[@morganeua]

It's called "Note Naming in a Zettelkasten" - I should link it in the description box, but here it is! kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJylZnmjnLqMZ6s

[@miantgv]

@@morganeuaYou are so kind. I appreciate a lot. Keep up the excellent content!

[@rubenromeroruiz]

Greetings from México!!

[@Negative_Light]

How does one hold facts within their notes.

[@alyssathealchemist960]

Do you ever struggle with taking “too many notes”? I have OCD and that is one of my struggles in knowledge management is fear of losing an idea so I don’t know how to decide what to take a note on vs not so any idea in a book is something I feel I need to take a note on. No worries if this isn’t something you feel you can comment on but just curious if this is something you have worked through in your own way.

[@alyssathealchemist960]

Also, how do you optimize your time taking notes quickly and not fixating on perfectionizing them so that you can spend the most time creating your own unique work with that knowledge? Since you use both Scrintal and Obsidian I am curious how the notes don’t take up all of your energy and time.

[@jamesyaremko3543]

He