How I Take Notes

Tiago Forte

“The best thinking is done with a network of notes, not a single notebook.”

My Note-Taking Philosophy

Core Principles

1. Capture first, organize later — Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good
2. Use bidirectional links — Connect ideas across domains
3. Write for your future self — Assume you’ll forget context
4. Review regularly — Knowledge without review decays

The Zettelkasten Method

Zettelkasten

German for “slip box,” this method was used by sociologist Niklas Luhmann to produce over 70 books and 400 articles.

Key Concepts

1. Atomic notes — One idea per note
2. Linking — Connect related notes
3. Emergent structure — Let organization arise naturally
4. Writing as thinking — Clarify thoughts through writing

graph TD
    A[Inbox] -->|Process| B[Atomic Notes]
    B -->|Link| C[Knowledge Graph]
    C -->|Review| D[Insights]
    D -->|Create| E[Projects]
    E -->|Learn| A

My Workflow

Daily Process

1. Capture — Quick notes throughout the day
2. Process — End of day, refine and link
3. Review — Weekly review of recent notes
4. Create — Turn notes into projects

Bidirectional Links

The Power of Links

Bidirectional links are the core of my knowledge management. They create:

1. Context — Links provide surrounding information
2. Discovery — Find unexpected connections
3. Navigation — Easy movement between related ideas
4. Serendipity — Random discoveries through graph traversal

Linking Strategies

# Example Links
- [[Web Development Basics]] — Topic reference
- [[Book Notes - Thinking Fast and Slow|Thinking Fast and Slow]] — Alias link
- [[Healthy Habits#Sleep Hygiene]] — Section link
- [[Machine Learning Intro]] — Cross-domain connection

Common Mistakes

Pitfalls to Avoid

1. Over-organizing — Let structure emerge
2. Perfect notes — Done is better than perfect
3. No links — Isolated notes are useless
4. No review — Knowledge decays without use
5. Copying instead of processing — Engage with the material

Related Notes

• My PKM System — The complete system
• Book Notes - Thinking Fast and Slow — Example literature note
• Healthy Habits — Applying note-taking to habits
• Quartz Blog Setup — Publishing workflow

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*Tags: notes productivity obsidian pkm