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Note taking workflow

Here I describe my workflow for taking notes on Obsidian, based on [[Zettelkasten]].

Purpose

I want to use my Obsidian Vault to contain the Knowledge Base to many of the fields, topics, and interests that are relevant to my work or life.

Goals

In doing so, these notes should strive to be:

  • Clear
    • A person who has no prior knowledge of the content would be able to read the notes and be able to understand it and explain it themselves
    • You should be able to look at the notes on a later day and still understand them
  • Atomic
    • With backlinks, we can abstract a lot of vocabulary (terms, topics, ideas) to be explained in their own separate pages
    • Each page should focus on just one topic or concept
    • Aim for each page to be no more than a screen full
  • Connected
    • Backlinks and tags allow us to connect topics and concepts across multiple disciplines
    • More connections allow us to find the notes we need when we need them

Process

We absorb a lot of information in our day to day lives (in conversation, from reading, lectures, etc.). We need a process that helps us parse all this information and produce useful, high-quality notes from it.

In [[Zettelkasten]], notes are categorized into fleeting notes and permanent notes. - Fleeting notes can come from anywhere; generally, they would be notes from the day's lecture, chapter readings, Youtube videos, etc. - Permanent notes are what this Obsidian Vault will contain; highly digestible content that takes the most useful information from fleeting notes and summarizes them in a succinct and clear way.

Based on this, my process for taking notes is as follows:

  1. Capture
    • From sources of information, we will digest it, and start producing fleeting notes on other document systems. Generally, I would do typed notes on Google Docs on a Google Drive, or handwritten notes on my iPad Air with Collanote.
  2. Convert
    • Examine the fleeting notes and find the core information / takeaways that will then be put onto permanent notes. In some fashion, they will be put in Obsidian as Markdown files.
  3. Connect
    • As the Knowledge Base grows, we create connections between the different topics and concepts. That way, we can always find the information we need when we need them when understanding new concepts, effectively building up our Knowledge Base one on top of another.
  4. Reiterate
    • As connections are made, look over previous pages and add any new / novel information that would improve the clarity and depth of the notes.

References

Zettlekasten Workflow - Zhenkai W. How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahren Summary