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First of all, thank you very much. Can you please make part 2. I mean: * how do you write in the back of the source note. I mean are are numbers reference to the other notes in the box or reference to pages of the book. * How do you reference it to other notes (in the note box). * Where do you keep the other notes (i mean how is it organized in the box, how many boxes etc.). * how do you find those notes. A complete walkthrough and live demonstration (like this one, so that we can get started today) will be very helpful.

In summary, in the source notes, you make reference to the book (using the Chicago reference method), make clear the goal of the reading, and on the other side of the card you indicate the page and the concept you are interested in. From these references, you analyze it and create your own note (with an atomic idea) that becomes part of the permanent notes box. Is this the workflow you follow or am I missing something? To make a reference ID for the cards, do you have any advice?

Hi Tony, could you please explain the differences between your Obsidian Starter Vault and Obsidian Pro Vault? Thank you!

I sense a lot of confusion here and elsewhere around the question of just what is an atomic note. I find the concept of an information unit from Information Mapping to be helpful in building my Zettelkasten. IM is content development methodology that is widely used in the technical writing domain. In IM, the basic element of content is the information unit, also called a block. Blocks have the following qualities: - A block is a manageable chunk of related information that answers one primary question or addresses one main idea. - The block is clearly labelled to identify the idea or what question is being answered. - The block contains a single information type (fact, concept, structure, procedure, process, principle). - The block is presented in the most appropriate method for the content. The basic presentation methods are: text (one or more sentences), list, table, graphic, multimedia. In IM, these blocks (information units, topics) are organized into information maps, which is essentially a printed-page methodology for linking related topics. I'm not going to go into a full discourse on Information Mapping here, but I think this might provide some food for thought around the concept of "atomic notes."

I can attest that Vicky's compass system was confusing in practice. I think the idea was something like: North: link to whats similar to this note East: link to what notes lead to this note West: link to what notes this idea leads to South: what notes are the opposite of this note "South" can be hard to conceptualize for a lot of topics. And East/West/North mostly work if you've already got notes, so if you're starting out it's a heuristic that slows you down. For math notes, since that's adjacent to what the reddit OP is saying this doesn't work for, I have an "atomic" note for every theorem summarized in my own words plus the original definition. These are then linked to all the axioms and theorems required to get to this point, followed by a link to a dedicated "non-atomic" note for the proof of the theorem in case I want that for reference. When I'm not feeling lazy I go in and add the backlinks in the actual text of the previous "atomic" note. Nearly every idea in math, and likely economics, comes from combining a bunch of already proven stuff to create new stuff. Assignments in University-level math are almost always just "let me comb through the ideas we were taught and see which ones lead to the solution".

Thank you so much for making this video! You finally enabled me to delete those useless "atomic notes" that were one sentence each and I had no idea what to do with them (causing more confusion than clarity...). My book-notes however are thriving and I often have cross-topic questions popping up in me, so those are doing their job. As for the Zettelkasten compass - yes, it is a conglomeration of two different concepts: one, the Zettelkasten, and two, an "idea compass" where you take your "atomic note" and ask four different type of questions: where does X come from? is North, what is similar to X? is West, what is opposite of X? is East, and where does X lead? is South. Apparently, it should enhance link creation because you are actively linking your "atomic notes" together.

Could you link to the reddit post please

🙋‍♂️Hi Tony! This is a common problem when trying to learn something from various sources. The person or persons read the original material and may interpret it either in the wrong way or make their on conclusions of what was originally author intended. Thus making it somewhat confusing in the eyes of those trying to learn the subject-matter. Kudos from NYC.🗽

Kill organization maintenance with Search

I have watched several videos on Zettelkasten and they all basically said the same thing. Obsidian can be used however you want, so people Zettelkast a little bit differently. I use Obsidian daily and here's how I Zettelkast: I don't, ever, not into it. It would be a waste of time for my purposes, and I already have a method that is very useful.

Hello Tony, is there something happening with the site email? I wanted to get the vault from your website but I never got the email.

Thank you for covering this topic. In the video, you talked about an intersection of two different sequences (Zettelkasten and Working Memory), and I didn't get a sense of how you handle that with the numbering. Do you create a new note talking about the intersection, and number it separately? Or, do you treat that connection as ephemeral, related to a single writing project, and don't have a note detailing your insights about the intersection?

The concept of friction and the way it could relate to discipline really helped recontextualize this whole process, thank you. It reminds me a lot of the bullet journal method. I always did that by hand with a pen and paper, and it always felt effortless; in reality, I was filtering out what didn't matter, and writing only what best served documenting. My current obsidian vault has become a constant daunting thing, because i felt like a maintainer of a productivity system and not a writer. I hope I'll be able to evolve my approach with this new inspiration!

You explain this with more clarity than ChatGPT thanks a million!❤

Great video man. Gotta process question. How does it work with collecting emails on TH-cam videos and growing your Substack audience? Are they 2 separate things? In other words, do you have 2 separate email lists or do you combine them somehow?

Could not for the life of me download the vault. I tried a number of times and it never sent me a link was very helpful. Thank you. I have some more questions. I need to watch more of the videos bit disappointed. I couldn't download.

Thank you, Tony! You are an inspiration to me in this the second half of my life. Do you offer private consultations?

I think its really unique how you approached the zettlkasten system by 'goinig back in time' and experimenting with the actual constraints of the slipbox / note card system. I am unsure whether there is an advantage to this limitation but it seems sound, especially with the idea of creating dialogue within the system. Thx boss

I understand what you're getting at, but the indexing/numbering is what made never gel with zettle. I on the other hand have a metadata that points to what the note is part of

The graph view is virtually useless once your vault is big

I'm not using ADHD

I have a hard time with constraining a note to 80-100 words. Many of the notes that I have related to my day job are technical in nature, and I'll keep enough information there to either produce process guides, or other long-form content. That's a me problem that I need to work out. That being said, I'm really glad I found this video, it's cleared up a few things for me. I had pretty much given up on Zetteling because it all just felt so subjective and wishy-washy. Thanks for taking the time to walk through it concisely.

I liked the idea proposed here. The way you explain makes sense and that's definitely something that was lost with the digital transition Also the whole context you show here made me think about the possibility of adding a property to the note with the parent note (and maybe the last note in sequence) this combined with the numbering would allow you to follow your line of thought. And if another idea relates with a previous one (like 5.d related with 1.a.2.b), you would be able to see it visually in the graph.

Great information on the misconceptions surrounding the use of Zettelkasten in Obsidian! While Obsidian is a powerful tool, I would recommend looking at Conoted. Conoted provides a more automated and social approach to organizing notes, making it more convenient for users who want to use the Zettelkasten method with minimal effort.

First there was a folder, then better tagging, then better MOC, then better ZK. Like the idea to use simbol for MOC and not write them in names. How did u get that horisontal devider line with icon, is it part of snipet or theme? BTW: just info if u are academic u can marge your ZK links in one file with easy bake plugin.

I’m wondering what is the utility of the numbering? If you’re creating indexes or outlines (but not called outlines) then why not just develop the thinking under each heading? Am I missing something about the numbering?

Ok, a few days later. I tried doing this and I love it. The "forcing you to think where each idea belongs" is a great exercise that is helping me a lot. The trails are starting to be a bit too long (is there a solution for that?) but seeing everything ordered that way is so clear! The real insights were "this is not outline" and "it's not a taxonomy". There are still a few hang outs to overcome and a few things to wrap my head around, but I am very hopeful. Thanks a lot!

This video brought more clarity on these misconceptions than any other video on the Zettelkasten out there. Thank you for sharing it and helping.

This video is very precious. I've already developed this mindset on my own (the main difference is that I don't use folgezettel), your explanation wil be useful for many others

you look like an egg

Intriguing idea to add a level of what note came first second, etc. regarding a specific topic.

I'm working with a similar idea, but not as locked in. My single notes are disconnected (they only link to older or newer versions of that note). But when I create the note, it starts as part of an index/outline. While I do have section numbers, they only manage general categories. The note names don't lock them to a single index. They could change locations in the index or could appear in other indexes. The number only categorizes the note's starting point: 316 Computer-Python-Structure. A file manager listing will sort it to that general location with other related notes. Only the indexes lock it to a given thought stream sequence.

great explanation my dude.

i'm asking myself now why you change the id of a note. I think that you dont have to. Because you can always make a new Folgezettel and continue or correct your old thought. I would say its better to see the process no matter if is right or wrong. In fact if its wrong you can understand it now and in the futer better, when you also see the thoughts who became wrong or false. And if you need the Zettel in an other place you just ca link it. I'm curious tho her your thought about this.

hi there, thank for this video now im getting it a bit more (the structure and so) if im right you mean with fogelzettel a zettel that follows another, i mean it comes direct behind another as a following thougt or so and then you would spell it like Folgezettel i speak german and didnt understand it until minute 11:00 or so, and i just want it to be correct🙃 thanks man and keep doing, i like your thougts, content and stuff👌

Well thought-out. Thanks for sharing. For me, Luhmann’s numbering scheme was a record of his original line of thinking about a topic, as well as a method to uniquely identify notes for cross-reference purposes. You have extended that idea in very interesting ways.

Another confusing Obsidian video.

Hey Tony! I came across your video today (5.19.24) researching info about Obsidian to which I'm new to. I have to say I GREATLY APPRECIATE this video. It cuts right to it with NO FLUFF. In other words, it's substantive! Some questions I have are the following: 1. Will the principles you've demonstrated work with ANY subject? My particular interest are spirituality, philosophy, personal self-development, and history (depending on subject). 2. In this knowledge worker (thank you to the late Dr. Peter Drucker and Dr. Stephen Covey) and content creator age, do you think that the market is to overly saturated for another person to join in? This is what I struggle with all the time. Does the digital world need another spiritual/philosophical teacher even though I've been speaking and teaching in these areas for 30 years? What say ye!

I discovered your channel this week. Your content is interesting and your instruction is clear and concise. Thank you.

Maybe I don't get it but, what happens if a note belongs to two different sequences?

Why not to use Obsidian link alternative title? Like [[Note title|1.1 Note title]]? This way the ids are only visible in indeces and are not assigned globally to the indexed notes. Not sure, maybe I don't get it

hey tony, i saw you messaged on my video but i can't seem to find it anymore. do you know what happened to it? i tried reaching out on x but don't have premium so i hope you can see this message 😅 i was typing up a response, here was what it was: hey, i wanted to say first i respect your efforts to share neurodiverse-friendly setups for Obsidian as it's something i also am interested in exploring, and appreciate your criticism for gurus as shown in your zettelkasten method video. i did not mean to discourage anyone from sharing their work, in fact i attempted to say the opposite by encouraging creators promote learning in public by sharing the resources they learn from so viewers can create their own learning journey, and by creating digital gardens to show more examples on their pkm usage to promote transparency. if it was moreso my tone in the video that you're referring to then i do think it hindered this message. self-learning and PKM is fundamentally subjective depending on a person's needs, and it's not fair to impose a single system - people should critically think about what they want to include. i just wanted to bring light to what i believe differentiates obsidian from other apps by showing some of the potential constraints found in odysseas' video based on my own experiences and learnings, then suggesting plugins that could help with those constraints. i might not fully understand what you are specifically criticizing from the video because i do not think the above things i mentioned are harmful or unnecessary, so if you can elaborate i would appreciate it to keep in mind when making future videos :) am also open to chat outside since am open to bounce ideas on PKM and neurodiversity

Thanks. My interpretation of fleeting, literature, and permanent notes are as follows. Fleeting keeps quick ideas. Literature is writing an idea from my source in my own words. Permanent linked to a literature note uses my ideas or questions. I like your take too.

Notion and Obsidian overwhelmed me, is there any other alternatives out there?

Bro, are you matt ramella? You look just like my high school best friend. I miss him a lot.. anyways I have add bad they put me on Ritalin 10mg instant release in 3rd grade. My parents had to fight the school in person just to try and keep me off it but they tried to put me in special ed classes. Then a teacher called the staff in during my English class and she said ian will you please read about from this page and continue until I say. I read and kept reading, I was ahead of my entire class. They moved me up to a higher grade English class that year Ms fick which I ended up getting a c average because it just goes to show u I could read at a 12th grade level in 3rd grade but i couldn't retain the information. Needless to continue on my parents fought a losing battle with the school and principal and board and they wouldn't budge. They got kickbacks for each student they got on the medicine. I became a zombie couldn't eat was skinny and always had ibs. I didn't realize it but I was high....I hated it and got off in 10th grade. That's when I started making more friends too.

Great video. Thank you. Do you agree with 'fleeting notes'?

What are your thoughts on file naming? If notes are ordered more by reference indexes, it probably doesn't matter what the individual notes are called. Giving them a creation date string as a name might be the best method: 202405152108. I don't know if you've already made a video about this subject.

Great, this clears up a lot, thanks.

OMG! Dude thank you so much! It finally makes sense now. I like you scoured the Internet for information to learn about how to do zettelkasten, got confused and gave up. You brought me back to life concerning zettlkasten. It makes so much sense now. Keep the content coming because I subscribed to your channel and got rid of all the other confusing channels!👍

Thanks for the video. I suffer from perfectionism and things you talk about are so familiar. It is strange and also good to be reminded that it is not a unique flaw of self but rather an affliction with common symptoms.