4 ms·
Any article that pretends to know what the right way of taking notes (say, "This is known as a commonplace book, and it is about how detailed your note-taking s
by larve 4y ago
Any article that pretends to know what the right way of taking notes (say, "This is known as a commonplace book, and it is about how detailed your note-taking system should be unless you plan on thinking more elaborately than Leonardo da Vinci." in this article) is missing the point.
People think differently, people have different purposes and goals, people have different constraints on their time, their memory, their field. Can you procrastinate on note-taking? Sure. So can you on writing, and publishing, and building an audience, and writing papers, and doing the dishes.
Can people have a fantastic creative output by just opening a blank page and jotting down their thoughts? Sure. Can other people write great books with an elaborate notetaking system? Of course. There are plenty of people out there with terrific, obsessive note-taking and reference systems, Kubrick being one of the prime examples.
As someone with what looks from the outside to be an overarchitected note-taking system ( https://publish.obsidian.md/manuel https://publish.obsidian.md/manuel ), it is a system that works great for me, and it is a system that makes me more creative and helps me discover ideas I would have never been able to articulate without. I used linear sketchbooks where I would write and draw whatever for years, filling hundreds of notebooks, and it came nowhere near my obsidian setup in terms of output and effectiveness.
- asdfasgasdgasdg 4y agoIt's possible for both things to be true. Perhaps for a rare few a more elaborate system is required, but for most it is a hindrance. A piece of advice doesn't need to be totally universal to be useful.
- chrisweekly 4y agoThanks for sharing! I dig your vault.
- Swizec 4y ago> it is a system that works great for me The dig is that many note-taking enthusiasts work for the system rather than the system working for them.
- ethanbond 4y agoI hold this suspicion, but honestly how could someone else possibly ever know? It’s quite hubristic to make such a claim.
- civilized 4y agoI am pretty sure that there is a strong overlap between people who use the words "functional programming" and people who use the word "Zettelkasten". I'm not sure how I know this, I just know. It's like that xkcd about the words that wikipedia really likes.
- baby 4y agoI mean, org-mode is about over-engineering taking notes
- User23 4y agoOnly someone who has no real understanding of org-mode would say such a thing.
- Kye 4y agoI see a similar thing with people complaining about other people taking pictures of things. They assert that you won't remember anything if you spend your time behind a lens because that's how their memory works. I won't remember much/anything if I don't take pictures. I get new phones with a focus on the camera because photos are a big part of how I navigate my memories. Same with taking notes: if I don't write it down, it's gone. It comes back quick with as much force as a fresh memory upon review of the photo/note.