Using a zettelkasten to manage your ideas

Not many people are not taught to produce useful notes, let alone ones that can be used for a lifetime

While the internet provides vast amounts of information on tap, it does not really help to create new insights beyond the keyword that is searched. The ability to curate information, turn it into knowledge and apply it effectively is what makes someone stand out as a professional in their field. In this article, a few simple methods will be looked at that will help relevant information to be easily managed and a network of related ideas to be built.

Everyone has been in a position where notes have been diligently made at lectures, meetings or conferences. It is hoped that they will help to magically retain information better, and they might even be used a couple of times before eventually being forgotten about at some point later—regardless of how they have been organised. The problem is that not many people are taught how to produce useful notes, let alone ones that can be used for a lifetime—even if there are filing cabinets full of them. For example, in my own knowledge base, I have nearly 7000 notes saved in Evernote alone that have built up over the past 10 years. It contains everything from useful web pages and academic papers and proposals to meeting, book and course notes and project planning and documentation. Although Evernote been useful to search through from time to time, it has not led to any groundbreaking insights. Evernote can be searched by using a keyword, but there are no relationships between the articles beyond what notebook they are in.