Zettelkasten Smart Notes: Step by Step with Obsidian
Summary
TLDRThis video tutorial demonstrates the application of the Zettelkasten method in Obsidian, a markdown editor for note-taking and idea organization. It guides viewers through creating folders for different note types, setting up templates for quick note creation, and linking notes to form a knowledge base. The process involves capturing fleeting notes, transforming them into literature notes, and then into permanent notes that can be used to generate new insights and creative projects like blog posts or YouTube videos. The video also introduces Flowtelic, a note-taking app designed to enhance study, learning, and publishing efficiency.
Takeaways
- 📝 The video provides a tutorial on applying the Zettelkasten method in Obsidian, a markdown editor that facilitates note-taking and linking ideas.
- 🗂️ It introduces the concept of organizing notes into different folders for fleeting notes, literature notes, and permanent notes to structure the Zettelkasten system.
- 🔗 The video demonstrates how to use the Templates core plugin in Obsidian to create templates for different types of notes, streamlining the note-taking process.
- 💡 The process starts with capturing quick ideas in fleeting notes, which are then expanded upon in literature notes, reflecting deeper thoughts and insights.
- 📚 Permanent notes are created to store and interlink knowledge gained from literature notes, forming the backbone of the Zettelkasten system for future reference and new connections.
- 📑 The video shows how to create a 'Map of Content' (MOC) to outline various topics related to a theme, serving as an entry point for exploring and expanding knowledge areas.
- 🔗 It explains the importance of linking notes to establish connections and trace the origin of ideas, enhancing the understanding and recall of information.
- 📝 The tutorial includes a practical example of creating a literature note from an article about bootstrapping a startup, illustrating the process of distilling and reflecting on information.
- 🎯 The video emphasizes the use of permanent notes as a source of inspiration for creating projects, such as blog posts or YouTube videos, based on accumulated knowledge.
- 🔍 Obsidian's graph view is highlighted as a tool for visualizing the relationships between topics and identifying gaps or areas that require further exploration.
- 💻 The presenter shares their own note-taking app, Flowtelic, which aims to improve the workflow of studying, learning, thinking, writing, and publishing with consistency and efficiency.
Q & A
What is the Zettelkasten method and how does it relate to note-taking in Obsidian?
-The Zettelkasten method is a note-taking system that involves creating fleeting notes, literature notes, and permanent notes, which are then linked together to form a knowledge base. In Obsidian, this method is applied by organizing notes into folders, using templates for consistency, and leveraging Obsidian's linking capabilities to connect ideas and create a network of knowledge.
What is the purpose of creating different types of notes in the Zettelkasten method?
-Different types of notes serve distinct purposes: fleeting notes capture quick ideas and observations, literature notes are for deeper reflections on the material read, and permanent notes are the synthesized, linked knowledge that forms the backbone of the Zettelkasten, used for creating new insights and connections.
How does Obsidian's file system-based approach benefit the Zettelkasten method?
-Obsidian's file system-based approach allows users to store notes in markdown format, organize them in a structured manner, and utilize tags and links to connect ideas. This setup is conducive to the Zettelkasten method as it facilitates the creation of a linked network of notes that can be easily navigated and expanded.
Outlines
📓 Introduction to Zettelkasten in Obsidian
The video begins with an introduction to the Zettelkasten method, a note-taking system that involves creating fleeting notes, literature notes, and permanent notes. The presenter explains how these notes are linked together in Obsidian, a markdown editor that allows for the organization and connection of notes. The process involves creating folders for each type of note and setting up templates for quick note creation. The aim is to use the Zettelkasten method to generate new ideas, thoughts, and connections, and to pose questions against a 'slip box' of knowledge.
📘 Creating Literature and Permanent Notes
In this section, the presenter demonstrates how to convert fleeting notes into literature notes, which involve a deeper reflection on the content, and then into permanent notes. These permanent notes are stored in a 'slip box' and linked together to form a network of interconnected ideas. The process includes creating a 'Map of Content' (MOC) to outline topics and themes, and using templates to standardize the note creation process. The presenter also discusses how to use the Obsidian core plugin to enable templates and create a folder for them.
🔗 Linking Notes and Building a Knowledge Base
The video continues with a detailed explanation of how to link notes within Obsidian to build a comprehensive knowledge base. The presenter creates a 'Map of Content' for bootstrapping a startup, outlining key areas such as the definition, benefits, and skills required for bootstrapping. Each permanent note is linked back to its originating literature and fleeting notes, ensuring traceability of ideas. The presenter also explains how to adjust Obsidian settings to facilitate the creation of sibling links and how to use backlinks to navigate the interconnected notes.
📝 Applying Zettelkasten for Creative Outputs
The final part of the video focuses on applying the Zettelkasten method to create creative outputs such as blog posts and YouTube videos. The presenter outlines a process for drafting a blog post on bootstrapping a startup, using the linked notes as a source of inspiration and information. The video concludes with a discussion on the benefits of the Zettelkasten method for testing understanding and identifying gaps in knowledge, as well as a promotion of the presenter's own note-taking app, Flowtelic, which aims to streamline the study, learning, and publishing process.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Zettelkasten
💡Obsidian
💡Fleeting Notes
💡Literature Notes
💡Permanent Notes
💡Templates
💡Map of Content (MOC)
💡Backlinks
💡Bootstrapping
💡Projects
Highlights
Introduction to applying the Zettelkasten method in Obsidian for knowledge management.
Explanation of the different components of Zettelkasten: fleeting notes, literature notes, and permanent notes.
Demonstration of how to use Obsidian as a markdown editor for note-linking.
Creating folders for different types of notes in Obsidian for organization.
Enabling the Templates core plugin in Obsidian for note creation efficiency.
Creating a 'note template' for consistent note formatting.
Utilizing a 'map of content' template for outlining topics in notes.
Creating a fleeting note from an article with a focus on capturing quick ideas.
Transforming fleeting notes into literature notes for deeper reflection and analysis.
Developing permanent notes for long-term storage and linking within the Zettelkasten system.
Building a map of content for 'bootstrapping a startup' as an entry point for related topics.
Adjusting Obsidian settings for creating notes in the same folder for consistent linking.
Creating individual permanent notes on specific aspects like 'what is bootstrapping' and linking them.
Using backlinks in Obsidian to trace the origin of ideas and concepts.
Visualizing the knowledge graph in Obsidian to identify relationships and gaps in topics.
Applying the Zettelkasten method to create projects like blog posts or YouTube scripts.
Integrating permanent notes into a draft for a comprehensive understanding and writing process.
Introduction of the note-taking app 'Flowtelic' aimed at improving study, learning, and publishing efficiency.
Emphasis on consistency in the knowledge management process for effective learning and understanding.
Transcripts
welcome back to another video in this
video i'm going to be
showing how to apply the zettelkaster
method in obsidian
in my previous video i covered an
overview of the different components of
the zettelkassen where you've got the
fleeting notes
the literature notes the permanent notes
how you link those together
so that you can use it to create new
ideas
new thoughts new connections and ask
questions against your slip box
in this video i'm going to show how to
assemble that using obsidian
so here i have a brand new obsidian
vault and if you're not familiar with
obsidian it's basically a markdown
editor that allows you to connect notes
together
in what we call linked thoughts and it's
a file system based
application where your notes are stored
in markdown
and you can organize them in a structure
and use tags and links
and embed notes in others so let's get
started the approach we're going to take
is to create folders for the different
types of notes
so for example we have fleeting notes
we have literature notes
and we have permanent notes so in the
fleeting notes we're going to store our
ideas
capture things that we've seen on the
web that are of interest
and generally record quick ideas about
things
in our literature notes these will be
our
thoughts out of stuff we've read
consumed such as videos
where we're thinking more creatively
about what it means
to us and getting a bit more deep
thinking
and then our permanent notes is where we
store those permanently in our slip box
and link everything together and it's
our permanent notes that we will ask
questions against so that we can gain
better understanding
whether that's if we're creating a blog
post and we want to pose a new
insight or a new question will we use
our permanent notes as a source of
information
for that so before we get started we're
going to go into the settings
and enable the templates core plugin
so this plugin here allows us to create
a template of which we're going to
nominate a folder
for our templates now i don't have a
folder created here i'm just going to
create that quickly
we'll call this templates
and in the settings i will select
templates as my folder
what this allows us to do is to set up a
quick way of creating
a fleeting note eligino to a permanent
note in our templates folder we will
store a template that we're going to use
as the basis for all our note types
so we'll create the first note as
a note template
i'll call it that and we're going to
create a title using the hash for the
markdown title
and we're going to use the template
notation called title
we'll just put some metadata to say when
we created it
and we'll add a section called
references
and start a bullet point list which we
can then fill out
and we'll put some space where our note
details will go
so with that saved it's now called note
template when we create a new note we
can use that template
to insert that and it will fill out the
title the date and the time
based on the file name of the note that
we've just created
i'm just going to create one second
template called
map of content or moc for short
i'm going to give it a title and i'm
going to start a numbered list
and this i will use to outline various
topics for a given
theme into my notes so let's say i want
to create
a new fleeting note an example would be
i'm reading an
article i love this article my product
is my garden
where it talks about how creating a
product doesn't need to be a
huge endeavor it doesn't need to be a
massive investment
you don't need to raise money for it but
actually sometimes it's good
to have a project or product that is
almost like gardening where you just
want to pot it around in the garden
and work on it over time as something
that kind of fulfills yourself as
a bootstrapped founder so we're going to
use this as an example of where we're
going to create
our fleeting notes so the first thing
i'm going to do i'm going to copy
the url for this and we'll create a
fleeting note
in here called my product is my garden
and i'm going to insert the template
called note template now we've filled in
the details
that we created here and i'm going to
create a reference here just put the
link in so i know where it came from
and this is where i would now read the
article and just create very quick
kind of snippets out of it i would
highlight things
and we'll do that very quickly and then
we'll take that through into
literature notes
okay what i've done here is i've just
captured some highlights from this
article and i've put them into this
fleeting note
so now i don't need to reference the
original article
in its entirety i can just look at this
note and get a summary of the bits that
were relevant to myself
so next we want to create the literature
note that goes with this
and i'm going to call it my product as
my garden again
i'm going to insert the template note
template
and i'm going to split my view
vertically
so that i can have my original version
here
and i can now put my individual thinking
around these points that i've
highlighted
so i'm going to do that now and then
we'll take that through two permanent
notes
okay i've finished creating my
literature notes based on this
it encompasses things like you know
entrepreneurs are faced with the
challenge of building a business
that is fast growing and hiring lots of
people or bootstrapping
and going at a more slower pace things
like there's a pressure to do
things fast and to break things but it
is that
uh but is that always the right approach
so it's posing a question now
about challenging the status quo taking
the
my product is my garden approach it
actually gives you permission to think
more slowly about the creation of your
startup we cover things like doing it in
small parts
over time and enjoying the process we
also cover things like
doing the research exploring practicing
mastering the smaller details needed to
move the project forward
with our literature note complete i'm
now going to create a collection of
permanent notes
that will embody the knowledge that
we've gained from this and we'll start
linking these together
now you won't always be starting from an
empty collection of permanent notes
you will normally build on this over
time and add things
insert things update things as you go
to start with i'm going to create a map
of content just to outline
the areas of the content based on what
we've just learned that i want to
include
if i already had a map of content of a
subject i would probably
add items to that so i know where i'm
adding information or i'm updating
information
so within my permanent notes let's
create a map of content
and i'm going to call this bootstrapping
a startup
so this now is an entry point to the
topics around bootstrapping a startup
i'm going to use the new template called
map of content
and i'm going to start outlining the
areas that i want to encapsulate now in
my permanent notes
the first one i'm going to do is what is
bootstrapping
one thing i want to do next is to be
able to just create these
notes directly by either control or
command clicking
but before i do that because this is a
new vault in
obsidian i need to go to the settings
i need to go to files and links
and i want to change the default
location for new notes
at the moment is the vault folder but i
want to do the same folder as the
current
file so that means if i'm creating links
whether i'm in my literature notes my
fleeting notes my permanent notes
i'll be creating sibling links in the
same folder
so with this now selected i can command
or control click and create that note
so i've got what is bootstrapping i can
then go insert template
note template and now i've got this one
ready to fill out
on the left hand side here i'm just
going to switch to my literature note
so that i know what i'm referencing and
now i'm going to use my literature note
as a reference and start completing
information about the various things in
my permanent notes
here i will have something like what is
bootstrapping and then i'll create
another note
what are the benefits of bootstrapping
and i'm going to use something in my
article here
to add to what i would have as a
collection of benefits
because i'm going to be using it as a
source i'm going to add it as my
references
so i'm going to use the double brackets
and i'm going to use my
product is my garden literature note so
now i've got
traceability of where this idea came
from back to my original note here
and in fact i'm also going to add a
reference here
to the fleeting note my product is my
garden
so i've now got full traceability of
where those ideas came from
okay so now i have
this note here and i've got to this note
by linking
from my what is bootstrapping and the
benefits
so i'm going to click the backlinks and
this brings up the backlinks folder here
and now i can see
how i got to here so i'm going to go
back to what is
bootstrapping where i've got this and
i'm going to go back
up to bootstrapping a startup in my
map of content here i'm going to add
number two and i go benefits
benefits of bootstrapping i'm going to
add some other things
now from this article that allows me to
build up my map of content around
bootstrapping a startup
okay i'm just going to add two more
notes into my collection here
so the first one is skills required to
bootstrap a startup
and again using my literature note i'm
going to
fill out the information that i've
gained from here into
my permanent note
so i've encapsulated a few points here
around
bootstrapping and the skills required
and i'm going to create a reference
to this literature note so that i've got
full traceability back to
where the ideas originated now that i've
completed this note
i can go through and complete the final
one which i've got goals for
bootstrapping and startup
and my final thoughts here are just two
points
the goals are to become profitable so
you can support the business full-time
and to deliver incremental value so that
you gain new users
so the point of a bootstrapping business
is that you are
growing slowly but consistently so here
we have completed a map of content
around bootstrapping a startup we have a
fleeting note
where we took extracts from an article
it may be quotes from a youtube video it
may be highlights from a book the
fleeting notes can come from any source
then we take those into literature notes
where we start thinking
more holistically about those highlights
that information
so that we can add our insight into it
in a very quick way then we take those
literature notes and we bring them into
permanent notes
where we start layering them into the
relevant places within our slip box
so that we can then start linking them
together
within obsidian we can now see an open
graph view of what we've created
this is a great way for us to see how
different topics
relate to other topics and whether we
may have gaps or we may have
too many links coming from a particular
area that sort of dilutes
the ability to get meaning out of those
links
so the final part of this video is now
thinking about what you can do
with this knowledge now that you've got
it so
let's create a new folder and we'll call
this projects
within the projects we may want to
create a blog post that we want to
publish
or it could be the script for a youtube
video and we want to use our permanent
notes as a source of inspiration
so that when we start writing we're not
doing it completely from scratch
so in this case i might want to create a
new blog post and i'm going to call this
bootstrapping a startup
and here i would start outlining the
various parts
of the blog post that i want
so thinking about this i would say what
does it mean to bootstrap
who can bootstrap a startup the benefits
the drawbacks any tips and a conclusion
this would be a rough outline of how we
want to structure things
and with the zettelkasten slip box you
can now start decorating
what you want to talk about in here so
for example
what does it mean to bootstrap so i've
got an article
called what is bootstrapping so i'm just
going to link this in here
i haven't really covered much on who can
bootstrap
maybe that's an area that i can add into
my permanent notes
to look at the types of people who do
bootstrapping the types of people who go
for
venture capital funding uh and types of
people who
probably wouldn't create a a business in
this way
we also have an article about the
benefits so we can link that in
i haven't really covered the drawbacks
of this so that's another area where i
probably want to
spend a bit more time in my research
we've got some tips that we can cover
with the skills required
and then the conclusion we would
summarize this article
in a conclusion once we've pretty much
written
the main body of content now one thing
that you can do with obsidian is that
you can
add an exclamation mark in front of
your links so when you're in a preview
mode you get to see
exactly what you've pulled in there
so this is a good way to reference your
notes so that as you start building out
your your main article you get an idea
and again what i can do here is i can
split my view
so i have my preview so i can re view
those inline
and then over on the left side i can
edit this so an example
of this would be where i now start
writing
a first draft about bootstrapping
in the way that i'm talking to an
audience member for my blog
so here's an example of where i may
introduce the topic of bootstrapping as
a start
startup where you create a business that
is fully self-funded often
founders will do this in their spare
time while they're working for another
company
now we won't go into too much detail
about the copywriting of writing an
article in here
but as you can see you can create your
drafts here and when you want to clean
it up you can just remove the
exclamation marks
and now you you can see the individual
sections of what you are
writing so in conclusion i hope this has
been a great overview of how you can
take the zettelkaster method
where you can take fleeting notes
literature notes link them together with
permanent notes
and then create projects from them where
you get to ask questions about your slip
box
about an insight that you have and then
you can use it to create blog posts
youtube videos and
various other kind of creative outputs
where writing is predominantly the main
output of what you do
one of the main benefits of this is that
you get to really
test your understanding by writing it
allows you to see the links and the gaps
in your understanding and essentially
find the places where you need to create
more insight
more understanding bringing more
articles and research and books
into your fleeting notes and literature
notes and start building up your
permanent notes
over time now as i finish up this video
i would just like to share with you what
i'm working on
it's my own note-taking app called
flowtelic and the idea here is that it
helps you study
learn think write and publish with
maximum efficiency
and consistency so as i explore this
whole zettlecaster method
and note taking in general there's a lot
of ideas that i've got around the
workflow that i want to improve on
most notably around doing things
consistently and building up your slip
box
over time so this is the app
where i would create study notes ideas i
can organize those into what we call the
archive create projects
and track other things like books that
i'm reading and people
the idea here is that the workflow is
going to be completely configurable
but the most important thing that i'm
very excited with this product
is the focus mode where you get to do
small amounts
every day and compound it over time so
the knowledge that you put into your
slip box the books that you read the
articles you read
they're only as useful as how consistent
you are at doing it
and this is where i want flotellic to
really shine where
daily you create study sessions organize
your ideas and notes
and work on your projects and you'll be
doing different things at different
times so projects you work on
in one day maybe from notes that you've
created two or three or four
weeks ago and then the idea is that you
get to create work outfit you get to
blog from it
and you get to publish that work and
that's a really great way to build your
own audience around the topics that you
love
find your tribe and really improve your
note-taking and your understanding
so if this is of interest to you uh
please go to join.flowtelect.com where
you can join the waitlist
and you get to try out the app
immediately while it's in sort of an
open beta
and the idea here is that it's a
bootstrap business much like the topic
we've covered in this video
and that over time it's just going to
get better and better
so thank you very much and see you in
the next one
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
How to get started with Obsidian in 2022 - from scratch!
Go From PARA Method Beginner to Second Brain Pro with Obsidian MD (Free Setup Templates and Course)
Obsidian Quick Start Guide (2024)
How I Remember Everything I Read
I Tried Obsidian Note Taking for a Week... (MD App Review, Guide, Tips, Features, and Setup)
Why you forget what you read... and how to fix it
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)