Yet, you’re unable to see any connections among these ideas. Why? Probably because you didn’t take any notes. But even if you had, you’d still be unable to see any connections.

The problem with this approach, however, is that each folder constitutes a separate silo even though real-world ideas rarely fit into neat categories.

A second problem is that a folder-based approach makes it hard to draw connections between ideas that have been filed away in different folders.

with thousands of notes per tag, your collection of notes is just as confusing as if you had no organization at all. Each tag just yields a big messy pile.

Luhmann thus went one step further. Instead of relying on tags alone, he also linked his notes together.

This creates a web of ideas and results in massive advantages.

the way to organize a massive amount of information and make sense of it is to use a web. That’s why the world’s webpages, as well as the neurons in your brain, are organized as a web. And that’s why you should organize all the interesting ideas you want to keep track of over your lifetime as a web of notes as well.

By using the Zettelkasten method, your notes become entities that are knitted into a larger web of ideas. Instead of the system deteriorating the more you add to it, it becomes better.

Shannon realized that how much information is contained in a message is determined by how surprising the message is.

The Zettelkasten is bursting with ideas that you added years ago and no longer remember. Thus, if you explore it with a question in mind, the Zettelkasten will provide answers in surprising ways.

[Lots of] studies suggest that nearly all non-linear note-taking strategies (e.g. with an outline or a matrix framework) benefit learning outcomes more than does the linear recording of information, with graphs and concept maps especially fostering the selection and organization of information. As a consequence, the remembering of information is most effective with non-linear strategies.

I have a crystal clear goal: feed my Zettelkasten.

If some piece of information ends up not being relevant now, it may turn out to be relevant eventually. You’re never wasting time by adding more ideas and connections. A Zettelkasten just keeps getting better the more ideas it contains.

“The power of the unaided mind is highly overrated. Without external aids, memory, thought, and reasoning are all constrained. […] The real powers come from devising external aids that enhance cognitive abilities.”

“Without the [Zettelkasten] notes, that is, by only thinking, I wouldn’t come up with such ideas. Of course my head is necessary to write down the insights, but it can’t take all the credit”

creativity is nothing more than connecting ideas. All novel ideas are based on previous ones. A piano plus writing is a typewriter, a telephone plus a printer is a fax machine, the idea of an office desk with files and folders combined with a television screen and a computer is a computer’s graphical desktop interface. Every novel idea is a remix and a Zettelkasten’s explicit purpose is to remix ideas.

Always link your notes: Whenever you add a note, make sure to link it to already existing notes. Avoid notes that are disconnected from other notes.

Explain why you’re linking notes: Whenever you are connecting two notes by a link, make sure to briefly explain why you are linking them.

Don’t turn your Zettelkasten into a dump of copy-and-pasted information.

Add connection notes: As you begin to see connections among seemingly random notes, create connection notes, that is, specific notes whose purpose is to link together other notes and explain their relationship.

Never delete: Don’t delete old notes. Instead, link to new notes that explain what’s wrong with the old ones.

it’s main purpose is to find connections among seemingly unconnected ideas.

Every idea can easily intermingle with any other to give rise to new ideas. That clearly distinguishes it from other notetaking methods based on notebooks, folders, or tags.