# How to Take Smart Notes - Sönke Ahrens See also: [[🧠 Notetaking]] [[Zettelkasten]] Published: 2016 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform  ## Links - "How to Take Smart Notes Presentation" (video) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPOI4f7yCag](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPOI4f7yCag "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPOI4f7yCag") ## 1 Everything you need to know [[ZK - 5f1b - Split work into simple trivial tasks]] [[ZK - Workflow is not planning]] > The simplicity of the structure allows complexity to build up where we want it: on the content level. The complexity is coming from the friction and juxtaposition of many smaller nuggets. The richness comes from the work spent on individual nuggets, but also the richness of the connections, and of course finally the craftsmanship of putting everything together and editing it down. [[ZK - 5f1 - A good workflow does not require preparation to adopt]] > Routines require simple, repeatable tasks that can become automatic and fit together seamlessly. Only when all the related work becomes part of an overarching and interlocked process, where all bottlenecks are removed, can significant change take place. GTD doesn't work for content work because it relies on objectives, goals, while content work relies on insight. They cannot be predetermined, but rather arise serendipitously. Odd side-note, as Ahrens opines about Luhman's work being revolutionary in the context of workflow, and comparing it to Ford's conveyor belt introduction. In many ways [[ZK - 2h2 - Event driven architectures are like a conveyor belt]] Luhman would write short notes about his reading on a bibliography note. In a second step, he would look back at the reading notes, and rewrite them in the context of his own work and thinking, and put those into his actual slip-box. He would also connect these ideas to existing ones, and integrate them into the evergrowing web of notes. ## 2 Everything you need to do To write a good paper: - Editing and clean up a rough draft - Assemble a rough draft from existing ideas - Turns initial ideas and references into arguments, developed passages, polished ideas - Collect ideas and references These are very similar to the work needed to be done to create a techno track for example. It is not however directly mapped to say, programming. [[ZK - Programming is a different kind of content and creative work]]. Ahrens stresses the importance of writing to externalize and clarify your ideas. Don't just blindly copy notes and skip the step of understanding what they mean. [[ZK - When you write something, don't skip understanding it]]. An interesting note is to not brainstorm for a topic, but to instead loop inside the slip-box to see where clusters have already been formed. This is a good point. I've been brainstorming and often creating notes for thoughts that already existed, often using the exact same words. ## 3 Everything you need to have The initial notes, the random stuff that pops into your head, should be discarded. I currently don't differentiate between those initial thoughts and actual zettelkasten entries, just tagging them with 🌱 and ZK and moving on, hoping that my cleanup of the seedling box will catch them. I am not sure this is going to be the case, and might maybe introduce another concept for these notes. I don't use pen and paper very much anymore, but should potentially go back to it. It would slow me down while writing the actual idea as well, enriching it. I also think that the haptic feeling and the possibility to sketch gives the thinking another dimension (but is it really positive?). ## 4 A Few Things to Keep in Mind ## 5 Writing is the only thing that matters ## 10 Read for understanding - Read with a pen in your hand: turn your reading into understanding, and the understanding into actual notes.