The only note-taking system you'll ever need 📝 (physical zettelkasten tutorial!)

[@JimmyB643]

A Physical analog system is crucial to how my adhd brain works. Digital notes disappear into obsidian oblivion for me. In my world, if I can’t “see” it, then it doesn’t exist. However, I track fleeting thoughts on my SUPERNOTE A6 and then construct my zettles.. The organized chaos of zettlekasten is intoxicating and liberating for my adhd method of study.

[@pb11118]

Thank you. I feel so validated! I loathe the computer all the apps etc. I'm oldschool analog all the way. I use pen and paper/ diary.. physical calendar.. with adhd i get so distracted with the computer. The other day there was a power outage and I was so productive ! Haaaa. I need to go move to the jungle. Thank you!!

[@cristagallagher]

This is the best explanation and demonstration of a physical zettelkasten system I've seen. Thank you!

[@morganeua]

Oh great, I'm glad it's helpful!

[@HowToGYST]

I've watched many Zettelkasten videos and I think this was the most enjoyable. You described everything so clearly, with actual demonstrations and examples. I use a digital system but this was still a lovely refresher and good motivation to keep it up.

[@morganeua]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@HowToGYST]

Saved it to re-watch. 😁

[@frankl2770]

Just curious, which digital system do you use?

[@crashbang453]

Thanks for breaking this down and showing the physical system in action.

[@studyinginthedesert7690]

The love of pen and paper has forced me into a hybrid system. I take all my direct reading notes (summaries, excerpts, main points -- 'other people's ideas') digitally & any personal comment, idea or connection or the most select of personally-important excerpts ('my ideas') I'll take natively on paper and transcribe it into Obsidian. If I link the notes in Obsidian I'll write the link on the paper entry. I'm trying to have my cake and eat it to, but the redundancy has only helped me be more aware of my notes and opened up more opportunities to re-encounter them.

[@morganeua]

Being more aware of the notes is a good thing! A lot of the sources I work with are physical books, so I also will take my original notes on paper and transfer the important ones over to Obsidian

[@rocguiducci]

Check out the Supernote-e-ink notebook that allows you to leverage Obsidian-like internal links in a handwritten notebook. These can be transcribed to text and then imported into Obsidian as .md files. I haven’t been able to test this yet (waiting for the release of their larger device) but I wonder if something like this could work!?

[@studyinginthedesert7690]

@@rocguiducci That sounds like a good system! I personally need to see my original ideas come to life and take up permanent residence on a physical sheet of paper. I'm an oil painter and draw a lot so the physical artifact is something I have a lot of nostalgia and emotions bound up in, and every time I try abandoning it for something 'quicker' the system implodes out of my own regret. I do have to say that the system I described in my comment last year is still working great for me! :: Original thought to paper (transcribed into Obsidian) and other people's ideas directly to digital.

[@rocguiducci]

@@studyinginthedesert7690 I’m totally with you! Still figuring out my system but I think it’s going to be similar to yours! Paper and then input the important ones into Obsidian. There really is something about seeing your ideas come to life on the physical cards. Seeing and hearing the pen scratch surface. If I go purely digital, I get totally lost. I’m planning to upload a picture of the actual index card into a main note in obsidian so I can still see my original work, and transcribe the text. What do you do with the physical cards after they’re imported into your vault?

[@studyinginthedesert7690]

@@rocguiducci Well, I write all my stuff on bifolia, folded pieces of paper like da Vinci did his Codex Arundel and Codex Leicester (and probably all of them before collectors bound his notebooks later). This single folded loose leaf holds about 8 entries total, and I just try to keep to the same topic area per sheet (but it's not totally necessary since I reorder the entries in a topic hierarchy that fills in based off of Luhmann's zettelkasten numbering system). The digital system is there to quickly flip through along interrelations and the paper version stays there to flip through semi-chronologically (which, actually, ends up being my main way of revisiting). I have a weird foible that I keep both a 'reading zettelkasten' (which holds together all my digital-direct unoriginal notes (running summaries, similar to Luhmann's bib cards and individual unoriginal zettels from reading)) and a separate zettelkasten of original thought, which organizes the handwritten notes. If you're interested, I posted a recent sheet on Twitter a few weeks ago: twitter.com/Daniel_D_Torrez/status/1834439024867508723 (top right). P.S. Yeah, it's really great to have the image of the paper right there on the top of each page of transcription! I doodle all around my notes and the visual landmark is often quicker to give a plumb line for quick navigation than reading through the note would be.

[@dawncathlene]

I have watched this video several times trying to wrap my brain around how the numbering system works, and this video (along with the one of your mom starting her own Zettlekasten) has been the closest I've gotten to understanding it. But I still have a brain block on how it works. I'm not using mine for research papers or writing (yet), I'm just getting it started, and so far the only thing I have started is the Bibliography bc I didn't have to use a numbering system. 🙃

[@CaptainQueue]

Your system is so very elegant, thank you for sharing. I feel quite validated after seeing this video for the first time. I had not heard of zettelkasten when I went to university in the 1970s for my bachelor's. To overcome my total lack of research and writing skill (never learned in high school) I was forced to invent my own primitive card indexing system for writing all my papers. While I was gently ridiculed for using this by bemused fellow students, the index card system was a huge assist not only in organizing my key points -- but in letting me know when I had done adequate research, and to start actual writing.

[@1monki]

This is the zettelkasten tutorial the web needed! Thanks!

[@driellemekelin]

I'm here because of the zettelkasten system, but I have to admit, I was taken by your notes. I found the themes really interesting!

[@morganeua]

Aww, yay! Thanks for being here!

[@bookswiper]

Great introduction to the system free of product placement

[@ThinKtakeNotes]

I really enjoyed this video. Thank You. I been working on simplifying my note taking and it kind of lead me toward the Zettlekasten. Which I like a lot. I even try to get smaller notebooks so I can write or write more emphasis on what really matters. However a lot of the writers write so much better then I (why their authors I guess) but I really enjoy active reading and trying to apply things to myself on a day to day basis

[@xfilion]

Superb. I've been using this 'type' of system for over forty years, but I still can see ways to improve through this video. Simple things like using page markers to number.

[@spitalhelles3380]

Another benefit of writing only on one side of the note is that you can lay multiple notes out in front of you to see everything in one glance

[@morganeua]

Very truuue

[@farooqbinadam]

This is why Niklas Luhmann did it. 👍

[@blaiseutube]

Thank you for being so concrete about the layout, structure and function of the card!

[@fraenklimann]

Oh, have a lot of ideas and notes in my journal, but stucked choosing a form of Zettelkasten. That helps me a lot because I looked for ideas connecting the notes. Really great! Thanks

[@lapatatadelplato6520]

I use a regular notebook, with a few pages at the back reserved for indexes. Each entry will have a title, body and references, which are just a page number, with the ordinal number of the entry on the page. So a reference of 25.2 means “teh second entry on page 25”. That way, I dont need to manage hundreds of index cards. If I need to search through them, I can put all the commonly searched nodes in the back few pages with their titles and locations, so I can easily find what I am looking for the next time around. If I run out of space, i can simply give reference a new notebook. This works well because. 99 percent of the time, your links will not cross notebook boundaries.

[@lapatatadelplato6520]

The reason I like this system is because i can easily access an entry by the index at the back. (The common places you search). It also allows you to organically jump around in the notebook as you explore the web of knowledge.

[@morganeua]

Smart, love that! Like a commonplace book!

[@rebeccapage4411]

Thank you! This simple and succinct explanation with examples was exactly what I was looking for.

[@slee5666]

This tutorial really helped me understand the zettelkasten concept.Thank you.

[@concernedpersoninmexico]

I think some of your videos should be saved in the internet archive. They are so valuable!

[@captainnolan5062]

Suggestion: On your bibliography card, if you put your 'rating' on the same line as your 'date read', you will free up another line for additional text on the card.

[@lhntr2]

thankyou for actually showing your examples. i´ve watched many yiutube videos, but it helps the most when actually showing it.

[@pebre79]

They're both great. Digitals biggest advantage are cost, search ability, and near ubiquity... and backups, don't forget the backups lol

[@pebre79]

Also,.. no space constraints and multimedia (soo useful)

[@Beredeemed]

Very very clear and easy explanation of this….thanks so much

[@4my4blessings]

Thank you!!! THIS is what I needed to really "get" how to proceed in implementing this system for MY life. Thank you thank you thank you! 😊

[@ndbyers23]

As a librarian, many of the ways that these cards are organized reminds me of the old paper card catalogs. With the (See Also) notes for another word that might not be familiar to the card catalog user and other subject areas. But also, there are parts of the bullet journal system that are incorporated in this system. Of course neither of the examples above are as detailed as the Zettlekasten system. I have been using a bullet journal for a few years, but making connections can be difficult. There is threading, but I haven’t used it. You mention a good point that trying to remember when/where that important note is can drive someone crazy. This thought could refer to a different video. But I am starting to think that a hybrid system of using my bullet journal not only for calendar entries and basics, but also noting down notes for later transfer to a digital system. This seems like a very elegant way of connecting knowledge! When you start experiencing memory issues, this type of reference can be invaluable. Thank you Morgan!

[@aymerichonore4552]

Exactly the kind of tutorial I was looking for. Thx for your help, really appreciated your Vid. Cheers AH

[@RileyEffective]

Nice video, as always! Glad to have been of assistance with some b-roll ;)

[@mintchip7178]

Thank you for your multiple insights on integral thinking and organization. To you I head first for my questions in this domain. And, give some love to the plant there to your right: it looks sad.

[@morganeua]

Haha, I will try to give it love. I'm trying to give it sunlight and water, but it's still looking quite droopy! I even repotted it to make sure it's roots were okay. Hopefully it will perk up soon!

[@TheTnaidu]

Brilliant- I’m onto my first full draft of my PhD thesis and this is invaluable even for my viva eventually. Thanks so much. Great video. Much appreciated. 😊

[@morganeua]

Best of luck! That's basically where I'm at in my studies, too, so I'm glad I could help!

[@YesHelloHiGoodbye]

this is literally the most convoluted note taking system my god

[@2ngel2v]

Thanks, Morgan. Great video! ❤📝🗃️

[@morganeua]

Woooah, I didn't know there was a note box emoji! Cute! 🗃

[@timbushell8640]

@@morganeua all librarians have them : )))))

[@anastasiapyrkh6156]

I'm building my second brain in Notion for a year now and sometimes it feels like a chore. For some reason your video made it so simple to understand what it is that I'm missing! Thank you so much

[@morganeua]

That's great! I think it would feel like a chore for me in Notion because I find the app a bit confusing. I don't personally use a paper system, but considering what things would look like on paper really does simplify and clarify things!

[@anastasiapyrkh6156]

@@morganeua absolutely! I've set up up obsidian zettelkasten just yesterday, and it feels so much more intuitive for building knowledge to me

[@Narja23]

That's so helpful, thank you! A little late for my phd, as i defended last November, but definitely precious for the next projects to come! I jumped on it with the paper i'm currently reading, and i think i'll take some of my free time to go back to my most used references during my phd to convert them in notes! ❤

[@morganeua]

Congrats on your recent defense! That's amazing!

[@scottscheper]

Awesome 👏

[@morganeua]

Thanks for commenting, Scott! Love your videos on the antinet!!

[@johnclay7422]

wonderful Video !!! Only this video is needed nothing else..

[@4my4blessings]

Thank you so much!!!

[@morganeua]

Thank you for watching and supporting the channel! 😊

[@larahporter8123]

I was a pen n paper only type of person until 5 yrs ago when I started to work at a high tech corp where using paper is a sin. Now, all my notes are digital, I am trying to start writing on paper again and I find it so difficult. And my hand-writing sucks. I am not sure is even worth it. I pray the power won’t fail when I am in need of my notes!! 😅

[@MichaelMcGrathAICP]

Thanks!

[@morganeua]

Thanks for your support!

[@captainnolan5062]

You don't need to staple cards together, just number them 'Pin, Cecile, 2023 Wandering Souls - 1' and the continuation card would be 'Pin, Cecile, 2023 Wandering Souls - 2'.

[@morganeua]

Smart!

[@captainnolan5062]

@@morganeua Thanks. I appreciate your insight.

[@marilynpfeifer5214]

Me too!! I started with commonplace now hear of index! Can someone compare?

[@morganeua]

I've tried a commonplace book only briefly, but I think, in comparison, the way a zettelkasten differs is that when you want to write something you can take out all the cards and rearrange them to outline a paper more easily.

[@ShinigamiAnger]

Would you mind teaching a "study method" please? I keep hearing about study methods all the time, how important it is to find the right one and how learning it changed people lives. I feel like I'm missing huge. Thank you.

[@來追我嘿嘿嘿]

+1

[@rakisk8r]

Thank you for teaching this to me morganeua! i am 65 & will always love to learn. I appreciate this method as i have a neuro-musc tremor and typing/keyboarding/ texting is a nightmare for my hands & arms. i really appreciate you and your channel, i hope you keep it going. i would also love to learn about what you are learning, researching, teaching, what books, docs, films you are enjoying. Thanks so much! kari 🦊 Victoria, BC ps: are you on GoodReads? i'd love to learn what you read so that i too can read some of them ~kari

[@morganeua]

I left Goodreads, but I am on Storygraph! app.thestorygraph.com/profile/morganeua

[@marcfruchtman9473]

Yea, I would go "crazy" trying to put everything down on notecards... and of course, I don't agree with using "cloud" based apps for my work. But, for those that are willing to use such apps, they can be very helpful. I tend to go with things that are "open source" and "free", and preferably standardized. So for example "Libre Office" where I put all the different pieces of knowledge in more of a "article" or "Journal" type format. And then I manually categorize each word processor file under a folder such as Education / Biology / Genetics / DNA / How_Ribosomes_Make_Proteins.odt (where .odt is the file extension for Open Document Text). It would be cool to have a system that could "interconnect" all my documents "USING" a organizational software. That might be a project worth looking into at some point. I haven't been actively looking for such a system tho. (Maybe I should).

[@sophietwardus6636]

If you put some of your juggling knowledge in a physical system then you could physically juggle with your juggling knowledge. This would be very impractical for storage space but I am now imagining a physical system where each note is stored on a juggling ball which are colour coded so you can quickly find major topics. How would your interaction with the system changed if it went for something that I perceive as more static form like paper, something harder to organize holistically but more tangible like spheres?

[@morganeua]

A literal playpit of knowledge. Sounds like a super fun academic art installation!!

[@AlbertoVentura]

Excelente

[@cherry771]

One thing I'm still unclear about in general is how I would add historical facts to my note-taking system. Like dates and particular events. Frequently, there isn't really an idea/thought behind them (beyond "this event resembles this other event"). Maybe I should connect them by their "themes"? Like if it's a political decision it should be connected to a broader category of political events? But that's not a very specific way of making a connection.

[@morganeua]

I would say, first of all, that making connections between historical events IS an idea or thought, so you could write that into your notes. For instance, take the historical event: "Taylor Swift won Artist of the Decade." That is just a fact. But like, anyone can google that fact. Why am I storing it? Why might I need it later? Do I want to analyze her music? Or compare her to other artists that could've won? Or use her as an example of how what's considered "art" changes over time? I might make 10 different notes about the single historical fact that Taylor Swift was artist of the decade. And each of those notes might be stored in different places in my zettelkasten.

[@morganeua]

If you do want a timeline of events, then you might have a note called like, "historical events in arts and culture 2010-2020" and on that note you would write a link to "Taylor Swift won Artist of the Decade". Then, if you wanted a timeline of all 2010-2020 cultural events, you would pull out each note listed on your "historical events in arts and culture 2010-2020" note and line them up to work with.

[@cherry771]

@@morganeua thank you for taking the time to answer my comment! And you made an excellent point. I do find that I haven’t really gotten used to asking myself why I want to keep certain information yet. Facts like historical dates and events are just something I always feel like will slip through the cracks of my memory if I don’t write them down. (And some historical stuff is definitely not very googleable, unfortunately) But I will experiment with your suggestions! I love your channel btw!

[@ampairecollins6126]

What is a thought according to this method??

[@james_wolf]

😯 Eco AND Kimmerer?? ❤🍻

[@fcohen8296]

I love the idea of zettelkasten but have 1 big problem with it. At the very start, it may seem easy to reference other notes already taken with the current note I just wrote. However, as time goes on, the problem is I don't truly remember all the previous notes taken, so I don't even know that they could/should be crossreferenced to my current note...and then the actual reason for the system seems to be gone--that being: being able to interconnect all my new knowledge with things I've "learned" before but may not recall. Am I missing something?

[@cheerpoasting]

Index

[@jpcf]

What if I want to delete a note near to the “root”? How does the indexing change if at all?

[@morganeua]

Hm, I haven't thought of that. In digital it's so easy because there's no top level organization. But my gut says that nothing should change. My gut also says to never delete a note. Maybe you can put a big red X through it with the date or something, but just the knowledge that there was something there before could be useful. (Like if you're deleting it cause you disagree now/realized it's false - could still be good to know that you used to believe this and when you stopped believing in it)

[@alarksingh]

Whats the best modern day app (a free app) which vould be used to transform an exisiting analog Zettlekesten system to a digital one.

[@morganeua]

Interesting question. I think regardless of what you choose, it's going to be a time-consuming project. Maybe you could transcribe just like, 20 of the notes to text and then try them out in a couple different ones (Obsidian and Notion are both free and I use both for different things). I just put out a video about a new app called Scrintal as well. Right now it costs money, but it WILL be coming out with a free version. That one can work more similarly to a physical zettelkasten than Obsidian, I think. And Notion can work similarly to a physical one as well, because you can kind of hierarchize pages. But I haven't tried all that many! Obsidian is my absolute favourite, though. I plan on using it forever and would be my top recommendation.

[@VyacheKan]

How to check if a note/thought is irreducible?

[@morganeua]

Great question... I'll have to think about that. One sign is that it is short. No more than 2 short paragraphs in my case. Another sign is that I can use it in multiple pieces of writing, without having to break it apart.

[@johnkerr6826]

I enjoyed your passion for the subject but I think that I am the only one that still doesn't get it although I see its worth. Mark me bewildered.

[@morganeua]

I am certain you are not the only one who doesn't "get it" - nor do you have to. I'm sure there's a different system that works for you!

[@johnkerr6826]

@@morganeua thanks for replying

[@phoenixoliviacopy2727]

Are you aware that there's a 2 and a half minute ad before your video? There was no way to get rid of it either.

[@lindachristopher4]

That's up to You Tube. She has no control over this. You have to hit skip after 5 seconds to proceed to the content.

[@crestfallenwarrior6996]

Looking for a system to help me with the non stop ever changing crazy madness that is sales engineering

[@morganeua]

Hahaha, I'm not familiar with that particular madness, but I hope the zettelkasten could help! It's probably flexible enough to connect between many, ever-changing things!

[@crestfallenwarrior6996]

@morganeua it is! It’s been great. I’ve been using the bib section for technical learning books and resources and the main zettelkasten for philosophy, economics, political science, and comedy writing.

[@captainnolan5062]

You say that you don't have a built in search function in a physical zettelkasten (see 8:20). This is not accurate because you should also have an index at the front of the box (twenty-six A-Z cards that you write your topics on so you can find them) which gives you that search function. The zettelkasten has three major parts: The Index (listing the topics and where to find them), The Main Box (your knowledge cards), and The Bibliography cards. [The 'notes' you put on the back of your card '1a' would go on the A index card. You would create an index card called 'A' and put 'Academic Humility 1a' on that card. Then you would add to the "A" Index Card: 'Academic Humility in the Arts 1a2'; 'Academic Humility, How to achieve 1a1', 'Academic Humility in the Sciences 1a3', etc.].

[@morganeua]

That's true! Not as quick as ctrl+f - but still fairly efficient!

[@captainnolan5062]

@@morganeua Not as quick but allows for serendipity while searching. This provides much more value than the millisecond that you save.

[@Kataleya-q8m]

I use the Antinet!! I do not want a digital version. It takes away from the essence of the knowledge system!!

[@_BiologyMatters_]

Thank you for pronouncing "Zettelkasten" correctly. Everybody else gets it wrong.

[@yogikarl]

You are the first from the murican continent who pronounces it Zettelkasten and not Settelkasten😬 ((german here))

[@morganeua]

And which is correct? 😛 Someone else mentioned it should be more like "tsettelkasten"?

[@yogikarl]

@@morganeua yes - the german z sounds as ts - doing good . I prefer original pronunciations

[@spoomer94]

The way you are doing it is so inefficient , time consuming in comparison with Obsidian that I can’t pass by without mentioning it A lot of time passed since Niklas Luhmann invented the zettelkaslten just imagine how fast and more productive you can become instead of wasting time on stickers, drawing stars and writing by hand

[@morganeua]

I agree, I use Obsidian for my personal zettelkasten! And I love it. But I also know it's not for everyone and speed isn't ALWAYS the name of the game. Which is why I made this video!

[@aa5new]

Analog note taking has a tendency to become messy over the years. Art historians use shoeboxes for storing A6 notes which results into hidden knowledge. [1] page 8 [1] Steffi Roettgen: Von der Zettelwirtschaft zum digitalen Katalog, 2019 books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/arthistoricum/reader/download/493/493-17-85237-1-10-20190605.pdf