### Creating and working with my Zettelkasten It's often emphasized that as you create your Zettelkasten, you must spend separate time actively working *with* it. My workflow is like this: 1. Reading session — I go through my reading session uninterrupted, marking quotes and passages along the way. 2. Note writing session — Usually immediately after my reading session, I review my marks and write my notes. I link and tag as I create each new note, organizing as I go. When I add a new note, I'm typically reminded of a previous one I've made. I'll link them together and comment on why the reminder was interesting, curious, etc. 3. Working session — After step 2, I stand back in a ZK review session. It is here that I am engaging with my ZK and actively working with it. Working with my ZK might come in the form of reading random past notes, elaborating on unclear notes or links, tagging and linking more specifically or appropriately, etc. In step 3, I often write new notes also. It is critical to understand that up to step 2, I have merely filtered information, created notes, and added them into my ZK. Merely linking and tagging notes will not generate new ideas. It is in step 3 that I am actively writing and working with the **_concepts_** inside the notes themselves. Step 3 is a different working/writing session that is the most demanding cognitively. ### Two ways to generate new ideas There are two primary ways that I get new ideas when working with my ZK. First, I find myself generating new ideas when I'm writing to explain the links between notes. In particular I might elaborate on similarities, differences, and tangents, which seems to naturally fork my thoughts into other new notes and links. Second, in step 3 of my workflow, I will often come across a gap or a link that asks a new question, or I will find a thread of ideas that I need to follow up. In this case, I create a new note with this question and tag it "someday" — meaning "to come" ([thanks to Phil for this tip](https://medium.com/@philhoutz/make-your-notes-work-for-you-the-secret-sauce-of-zettelkasten-cb901a3cce00)). I leave this note as an open question, linking it to the note that prompted the question. In future work sessions, these unanswered questions give me avenues for research, elaboration, and reconnection. They are another idea generation pathway. ### Atomicity I prefer breaking down ideas to highly specific thoughts so that I can link with granularity. Books/papers can cover many different ideas within a big topic. They might even present contradicting ideas. I want to link together the unique ideas/content, not the papers or the topics themselves. For example, linking Ghana transportation to Namibian transportation is too generic, too broad, and not helpful in producing new ideas. Linking highly specific pieces of information (not the general topics) is where the Zettlekasten method is strongest in pushing you to find new connections and form new ideas. Atomicity allows for granular linking that is better suited to this. I like [this explanation on zettelkasten.de](https://zettelkasten.de/posts/when-start-new-note/): "When is a note too big? ... when getting information out of a note takes too long." This is my general approach. I also generally try to make note titles complete sentences, rather than "topics". Some of my notes are very short. I do not force myself to add content if I have nothing to add in the moment. Sometimes when I work with my ZK, I return these short notes and find I can expand and elaborate. It helps not to think of my zettels in a completely done state. Instead they are constantly evolving. If I expand on a note, I have the option to break it down further. For me, it is easier to have smaller chunks of information and bring them together, reshaping and reorganizing them then, than having bigger/longer notes that I cannot parse quickly and extract necessary information from. I have notes that are a sentence or two, and other notes that are multiple links collected together that I elaborate into paragraphs. The ZK allows for both user and content flexibility, which lets you develop ideas and thoughts in ways that are more natural and free flowing. As I build and work with my ZK, I refine my method and achieve a balance that suits me. [[Zettelkasten]]