30+ things to make zettelkasten notes about!

Feel free to keep the list going in the comments section!

✨TIMESTAMPS✨
0:00 - Introduction
1:43 - Notes to Take While Reading
9:38 - Notes to Take in Daily Life
14:42 - Notes on Educational Content
18:00 - Conclusion

✨MEDIA USED✨

#zettelkasten #notetaking

[stonethecrows]

Wonderful content, as always!

For those of you thinking "Dang, those were great suggestions! Wish I'd taken notes..." because you now can't remember what all was covered:

A. Notes to take while reading
- Investigate beautiful phrases
- Emotional responses to passages
- Apply lessons from the text to your own life
- Document perspective shifts
- Explanations in your own words
- Connections to other texts
- Ideas to research further
- Meta-analysis of the text’s structure
- Meta-analysis of the writing style
- Historical context
- Biographies
- Questions left unanswered
- Things you disagree with
- Character development
- Connections to current events
- Connections to other media
B. Notes to take during your daily routine
- How you overcame a challenge
- Decision-making and problem-solving thought processes
- Things that made you laugh
- Snippets of conversation
- Progress on hobbies
- Workout progress/routines
- Your own past
- Travel experiences
- People you meet
- Dreams
- Anything you notice
- Recipes
- Stress/anxiety reduction techniques
- Nature observations
C. Notes to take on educational content
- Craft improvement strategies
- Book recommendations
- Motivational or other quotes
- Meta-learning reflections

[foxgloved]

I always struggle with taking too many/too detailed notes and then not having time to get all the key points from material I’m studying. Working on taking down things in smaller chunks. This is helpful for brainstorming when and how to take notes. Thanks :)

[MarkKeller-hy]

Adam, missed the stream due to church, but it’s great to hear you get another couple days due to your In my view, that’s a Here’s food for thought: stretch yourself and write an elegy to Ann Frank. I think the world owes her a great DEBT OF GRATITUDE for what she endured! She showed a fearlessness and bravery NONE OF US Just take furious notes as you explore for the next couple of days! allow your creative well to replenish and find the joys in its I was blessed to write my first attempt at a villanelle, which gave me a great deal of satisfaction! GloPo has been a THRILLING AND AMAZING Remember to be mindful of yourself and take care of your body! It’s the only one you have!

[edwarr]

Thank you for this list. It is a gift. I think sometimes we just assume that one will effortlessly fill their Zettelkasten with wonderful, thoughtful notes. However when you're just getting started it can be difficult to get inspired about what to write about. I think we probably also tend to out-think ourselves and feel that perhaps such-and-such isn't important or useful or not worth the time to note. For me your list is a treasure. You've provided many wonderful, inspiring ideas.

[reticulatedFungi]

These days I've been mostly reading via audiobooks, but all your note ideas inspire me to manage my time better so I can physically read and engage with books on a deeper level. Great ideas as always Morgan, thanks and have a good day!

[lajourdanne]

10/10 fantastic video! Would love to see a video or two on some of the less traditional examples you gave 🤍

[Restingmadface]

I just really like the way you explain everything.

[flowingblaze]

Thank you for this lovely video! I would be very interested in your deeper thoughts on topics you mentioned in "notes to take in daily life" section. Particularly the topics that are about writing about memories as memories are interesting to me. Great video as always Morgan, have a lovely day!

[gregggullickson]

Lovely video. Here’s one I’m trying. I look for complex ideas and try and abstract them to simple ideas. For example, I’ve been hearing the word substrate used on podcasts and knew I did not know what it meant. I asked Perplexity for a definition and some examples and then teased out of the provided material the following: Thing 1 :affects/catalyzes: Thing 2 :which sometimes produces: Thing 3. I then asked Perplexity if DNA and Environment are the substrate of a human’s attributes, and AI said that was close. I especially enjoy your pace and energy level in your videos.

[cxqsscx]

Thanks Morgan for these tips.

I started this system because of you and it has been a life saver in terms of note taking. I'm being to write an journal but that is now the challenge. Finding the notes of the things I want to include. I do find that as I write, I need to re name many of my notes that are so generic in naming. Hahaha.

[annaharris]

Morgan, you are an idea machine! Thanks for sharing. 💖

[katiemarshall]

I’ll be starting my phd in October and I’m excited to go back and look at your zettelkasten/obsidian note videos for how I can take notes on the papers I read!

[ProductivePM]

Thank you Morgan, I really appreciate your presentation style and the knowledge you are presenting is AWESOME!

[mikequist]

This was really helpful. Please make another video when you have a list of 30 more note suggestions.

[michaelvantil]

Thank you for your great suggestions and inspiring videos. Nice to see a fellow bare foot running learner 😉. Good luck on finishing your PHD.

[mstie-misty]

I’m very interested in the zettelkasten concept in itself, but I have yet found a way to utilize it in long-term… I’d love to see more unconventional uses of zettelkasten besides academic settings.

[jillfang]

Really helpful and inspiring! May I ask a question-- with all these different types of notes, how do you organize them? Because my Obsidian system is, like, full of different kinds of notes, so sometimes I just can't find them. Other times, especially for quotes, I have no idea why I write it down for, so they ended up being a line and some thoughts...I wonder how you deal with this kind of problem... Thank you :))

[brunobondarovsky]

Another great video!! Thank you! I'm struggling with managing the time I spend to write the notes. Whenever I read books, articles, or watch classes, I end up with tons of new information in my mind. I typically write down bullet points or brief paragraphs on paper, in a document, or in Obsidian, my new tool. I'm also experimenting with the Zettelkasten method. However, after creating one or two notes, I feel overwhelmed by the thought of turning all the info into individual entries. It feels like I'm faced with a never-ending to-do list to organize my thoughts.

I am not doubting the process, but I'm struggling to adhere to it! How can overcome this state? I think I am looking for a way to strengthen my skills on the building blocks. I'm considering exploring Skillshare you suggested for guidance, but I'd appreciate direct advice on that. I also would like to know if you have an online 1to1 or student groups mentoring. 🙏

[shinkuro]

could you please make a video on how to annotate research papers?

i get overwhelmed when every other line has a citation and is so much more information dense than books.

and i don't know whether to annotate those differently or to look into those first and it just gets so hard to keep reading with all those uncertainties.

[VoilaAmanda]

Hi! i've just discoverd your channel while searching for infos on Obsidian and i have to say that your videos are the most helpfull for the beginer I am!
I have a question about how to make note on a big subject: i'm currently learning a 4th language and i want to write about my learning in obsidian with the zettelkasten method (verry fitting, i'm learnng german XD) but i find it difficult to apprehend for exemple i'm writing about prononciation and more specificaly digrammes so i write in my german leraning page about it and then create a note for digrammes and then I write about german digrammes in it... but when i'm going to do the same with english and spanish and french they all are going in the same digramme note and it's going to be a mess... I don't know if it's very clear ^^' Any advices? how would you do it?