Each zettel should be a unit of thought
[[ 2020-12-25 ]] #zettelkasten
For any zettelkasten to compound in value over time, each zettel needs to be able to contribute to a train thought productively and fluidly. These zettels need to be the building blocks of longer trains of thought, because long-form arguments are just strings of evergreen notes.
The title of the zettel aims to concisely capture the main thought or idea of the note, while [[ facts, examples, and stories go in the content of a zettel ]], which can backup the idea, thought, or claim.
By focusing on making a zettel a unit of thought, it can help with the process of [[ forging evergreen notes from literature notes ]], as it helps identify what kind of insight/knowledge is being distilled and what kind of notes should be written.
What is a unit of thought?
- a declarative statement
- a statement
- a claim
- a declaration
- a cause and/or effect
- a hypothesis
- a process
What a unit of thought doesn’t need to be:
- a factoid
- an example
- a story
- data
All of these can rather live in the content to support the thought.