obsidian graph view

Here are some information you could find new, or consider to be important around subject of note taking.

Moving (all) items of interest, relevant information, issues, tasks and projects out of one’s mind is beneficial. This allows one’s attention to focus more on taking action than recalling them.
For me this observation comes from GTD methodology (stands for Getting Things Done), and for me what assumes is correct.

Other thing I would like to interest you is Zettelkasten method.
It has often been used as a system of note-taking and personal knowledge management for research, study, and writing. Zettelkasten method focus on storing information in small items that are linked to each other through subject or other metadata.

Zettelkasten method: steps

  • take notes ( durin book reading, lecture )
  • take reference notes ( summary of your understanding )
  • make pernament notes ( one idea on note, easy to understand, link and search )
  • review and repeat

Zettelkasten method: types of notes

  • Fleeting - daily, reminders of what you have in your head. you chuck it after a day
  • Project Related
  • Permanent notes – main notes. Understandable even if you forget where they come from
  • one idea per note / all notes have the same format.

If Zettelkasten sounds interesting, you can be also interested in P.A.R.A. Method. Its focus is much wider and I wrote a few words about it here.

There is also this second brain idea you could (not) hear about. The term ‘second brain’ sounds catchy. And imho there is no consent what a second brain actually means. Most popular take on it is that second brain is centralizing all information (into a note-taking application).

my way

In work, I use any knowledge management system and methodologies that my employer implemented.

For my personal projects :

  • still find pencil and paper the most flexible
  • store digital notes in plain text format (more and more frequently using markdown)
  • store those digital notes in personal git server (this also creates save copy)
  • mantain common folder structure on storage devices I use ( workspace, backup, archive )
  • from time to time use obsidian to browse through my digital notes
  • every time I reuse my digital note, I try to also take time to improve it

sources