Zettelkasten For The Lazy

Index⌗

What is Zettelkasten?
How it works
Use Case
TL;DR
Further Reading

What is Zettelkasten?⌗

Before we can dive into note-taking methodology, a little background on the particular method we pursue here is helpful for context. Zettelkasten is a German word translating to “note box”. This was a system of note-taking pioneered by Niklas Luhmann - who essentially had a particular way of storing and taking notes which involved small index cards and a large chest with many drawers to store the notes in.

This is good to know but largely unimportant given that this original system was only applicable for physical note-taking. Thankfully we are in the 21st century and don’t need to lug around a chest full of notes and have to paw through stacks to find tidbits that mattered to us.

I will try to explain my system in a way that is tool-agnostic, given that there are several ongoing holy wars amongst the best note-taking application (my take is, who gives a damn - shut up and write).

So how does it work?⌗

The most infuriating part about my research into Zettelkasten was, you ask 10 different people how they implement it and you’ll get 10 different answers, most involving some Byzantine structure and spartan-like discipline that I’ll never muster for note-taking.

Although I am ultimately contributing to the noise a bit, I’ve managed to develop a system that scales well and also doesn’t require a Type-A personality. The key takeaways from it are:

Take notes everyday. Period.
No screenshots. A picture’s worth a thousand words so don’t take the shortcut. Also gets messy for storage and archival purposes.
Avoid keeping multiple notebooks.
Your note-taking application of choice must always be open and ready.
Use cross-references.
Use citations.
5 different types of notes:
- Daily: Archive for processed temporary notes
- Source: The information backbone, contains notes with citations, tags, and cross-references
- Permanent: An atomic note without outside citation
- Project: Independent study, labs, CTFs, courses - will be turned into Source and Permanent notes
- Temporary: Notes taken daily that will be processed and possibly turned into Source/Permanent notes

Example workflow⌗

So as I glossed over before, there are 5 types of notes that I utilize on a daily basis to form my knowledge base. I’ll go over a typical day of note-taking and how each note type is used.

First things, I leave my editor open to my Temporary note for that day. Everything gets dumped into the Temporary note, my to-do lists, articles I’m reading, ideas, etc. The point is to keep these notes as frictionless as possible so I keep writing.

So, let’s say I come across an interesting article on Detection Engineering - I’ll read this article and glean the important bits and throw them into my Temporary note. Now I’ll do a deeper dive on Detection Engineering in a Source note.

The subsequent Source note I create should first have a cross-reference added pointing to the Temporary note that spawned it. Then, I’ll find some other sources on Detection Engineering and pull out interesting parts and dump them into the Source note with citations.

Next, this same idea can tie into a Project note, for example a long-standing “Threat Hunting” project can now add the “Detection Engineering” Source note as a cross-reference.

After I feel like I’ve confidently explored the topic well enough and filled out the Source note, I can then begin filling out a Permanent note. The Permanent note is meant to be atomic (containing a single idea) and shouldn’t contain citations to outside sources. It is supposed to be the ultimate synthesized representation of our knowledge on the topic, essentially how we would explain the topic to someone if we didn’t have Google by our side.

Note how all of these additional notes were created from a single idea in a Temporary note, this is how a Temporary note gets processed. Once the day is done, if you are diligent and processed the Temporary note for that day - the Temporary note for that day gets archived in the Daily notes silo.

TL;DR⌗

Take notes everyday about any media you consume.

Dump those free-flowing notes into a daily Temporary note. Process the Temporary notes - which cascades out into Projects, Permanent and Source notes.

Add references throughout all the notes so you can follow your train-of-thought, this is key. Once the Temporary note for the day is processed, archive it in the Daily notes silo.

We strive to create Permanent notes, they are the culmination of our knowledge. How better can you assess your knowledge of something than sitting down and writing 4-6 sentences about it without Googling anything?

Note that I didn’t get into folder structures and indexing, that is another holy war I don’t feel like starting, all I will say is that the 5 note types should be separated in their own silo.

As your Source notes grow, you will naturally find the need for folder categories and indexing in order to quickly get the information needed. I leave that up to the reader.

The maddening beauty of Zettelkasten is how everyone has their own implentation, hopefully this serves as a starting point (or endpoint for lazy people like me) for those looking to try out a new note-taking method.

Thanks for reading folks, feel free to reach out with any questions or comments!