The FUN and EFFICIENT note-taking system I use in my PhD

An overview of Sonke Ahrens' "How to Take Smart Notes" is available on the book summary app Shortform! Sign up with my affiliate link to get a 20% discount on an annual subscription 🎉 ➡ https://www.shortform.com/morganeua

The Zettelkasten method of note-taking and knowledge management changed my life and saved my PhD! Originally used by Niklas Luhmann, a German sociologist who wrote hundreds of articles and over 70 books in his lifetime, "zettelkasten" means "slip box" because Luhmann's system was in a literal slip box filled with note cards. I host mine, though, in a program called Obsidian (link below). If my overview of this method got you intrigued, here are some other resources to check out that go into more detail:

The best book length overview of the zettelkasten system is "How to Take Smart Notes" by Sonke Ahrens. I find it useful for getting inspiration and there's an audiobook, too, if you just need a refresher/some motivation: https://takesmartnotes.com/

By far the resource I return to the most is a post by Sascha on the Zettelkasten website called "Introduction to the Zettelkasten Method." I also just surf that website whenever I run into an issue with my own zettelkasten, because 100% someone has answered my question there: https://zettelkasten.de/introduction/

Obsidian has a VERY useful "help" section once you download it. It's definitely worth checking out: https://obsidian.md/

Other software people use for a zettelkastem, other than Obsidian or a literal slipbox, are Notion (https://www.notion.so/desktop), Foam (https://foambubble.github.io/foam/), and Roam (https://roamresearch.com/).

There are so many YouTubers talking about zettelkasten and Obsidian!! Including Bryan Jenks (   • 👑️ My 2021 Comprehensive Obsidian Zet...  ), John Mavrick (   • How I Take SMART Notes in Obsidian MD  ), Martin Adams (   • Zettelkasten Smart Notes: Step by Ste...  ), and Artem Kirsanov (   • My simple note-taking setup | Zettelk...  ).

0:00 - Introduction
2:44 - Core Principles of Taking Notes
4:59 - Take Fleeting Notes
6:25 - Make Permanent Notes
7:47 - My Obsidian Folder
8:47 - Bibliographic Notes
9:40 - Transcribing Fleeting Notes
10:50 - Naming my Notes
11:49 - Forming Connections
14:22 - Graph View
15:29 - Conclusion

#gradschool #notetaking