I just hope that people who are discovering Zettelkasten and Obsidian for the first time find your content, bro. I’ve been struggling a lot to understand the workflow because, in Spanish-my native language-there aren’t many good resources. Most of them focus on Niklas Luhmann’s story, which I’ve heard like a hundred times already, and only briefly touch on the core workflow before trying to sell you a course. 😂 On the other hand, English creators explain highly detailed and personalized workflows, which are much better than what we have in Spanish. But for a beginner, it’s just too much information. I don’t know-I just wanted to express both my gratitude and frustration. Your videos provide such a clear and simple explanation of this incredible system, and it’s a huge help. ✌️
I felt that the subject fits so well and is in synergy with analog Zettelkasten! The key approaches, like keeping an eye on your Zettelkasten, almost removing the context, doing some recalls, and cycling through your material, are what make it so powerful! Thanks! P.S.: I'd love to see how you take notes from the web and TH-cam.
One thing I started doing was linking my bullet journal with my zettelkasten each bullet journal has it's own volume number and distinct page numbers You can always like zettels you create to the volume & page So you get the powerhouse of bujo and a thinking partner Would love to know if you played around with this at all :D Where did you learn how to start the analog zettelkasten? I would love to learn the analog way too :D
awesome video. do you have any tips for someone who doesn't have any slip notes written at all? the video presupposes a pre-existing slip box that I can "have an eye towards" while reading, but what if I don't have any notes to keep an eye to?
Thank you my friend. Definitely the most challenging part is first starting out because you don’t have that advantage of pre-meditated connections. You can start by listing a few interests that you can imagine yourself teaching to others and use that as an initial filter to work with as you build a foundation. Hope this helps!
@@TonyRamella what did your first notes look like? were they just excerpts/quotations/concept definitions from the literature you were reading or were they original (i.e like the main note you were writing in the video)
@@paperbob_1 they were not as much like the one I wrote here, less in my own words. Keep in mind this is a skill that you develop over time. Start by aiming for 20% written in your own words and try to work your way up to 80%. It’s ok if you just write excerpts but try to add some commentary if you can. The goal is to reformulate ideas into your own words.
Thank you Tony - I found you on a reference to this video on reddit; really helped to see what you did; I would be interested in livestream session sometime as you mentioned. One question: the very first thing you referred to was a note card that you were 'streaming' to as you read. Do you do that as a rule or that was just how your reading of this book was going? Thanks again and look forward to more.
Hey friend, thank you for watching. We do livestreams of these workshops every couple weeks in my paid community, I will continue to post some here on occasion. On the note card I am writing brief observations as I read. This practice has been so beneficial for me I no longer read without a pen and note card.
Its a lot slower in the video because I am explaining what I'm doing but otherwise it doesn't take that long. The "slowness" is beneficial for producing higher quality thoughts. When you quickly write digital notes it often leads to the temptation of revising/editing and the notes don't feel as complete. Thanks for watching!
I love to hear that! It can be as OCD as you want it to be, but the way the filing system works is that it adapts to the chaotic way you think and make connections. So if you get too carried away with the OCD, it can case a lot of friction and make the experience more time consuming than it needs to be.
I actually think theres a lot of value in doing it this way since it works as a forcing function to make you scan the contents of the notes as you browse them
Here is the rephrased version of my Comment: You are too slow. Take the book, open NotebookLM, and ask it the four questions from *"How to Read a Book: The Classical Guide to Intelligent Reading"*. Record a video of NotebookLM's answers, or create a Tldraw map with the content provided by NotebookLM. Make sure the outline includes the following structure: 1. **What is the book about (classification)?** 2. **An outline of the book** (major parts, sub-parts, and sub-sub-parts in a structured hierarchy). 3. **The problems the book is trying to solve.** **Do not read the book now**-just record a video or take ShareX screenshots of NotebookLM's output and organize the content into a Tldraw map if you prefer. Personally, I like to organize the outline into a map that can be moved around and adjusted. --- ### Step 1: Preparing the Text - Go through each paragraph of the book. - Read *only* the first words or skim through it at lightning speed to determine if the paragraph stands alone or connects to others. - Take screenshots of each paragraph (or connected paragraphs). Use OCR software to extract the text from these screenshots. For each paragraph, feed the text into a large language model (AI) and ask it the following: 1. **Summarize as briefly as possible.** 2. **Rephrase the text for clarity.** 3. **What is the text arguing about?** 4. **What are the premises and conclusion in a logical structure?** 5. **What are the key points in as few words as possible?** 6. **Provide a straightforward overall explanation.** Insert this output directly below the corresponding paragraph. Repeat for each paragraph in the book. --- ### Step 2: First Reading (Preparation Review) Now that you’ve prepared the material, it’s time for your first read-through. This is an overview of the book, not an in-depth read. - **Read the overall summaries** of each paragraph instead of the full text. This will allow you to read the entire book faster while still understanding its structure and content. - Focus on speed, but not excessively-just enough to save time while retaining clarity. - Use the outline you created to stay oriented while reading. Pay special attention to chapter titles and their corresponding locations in the outline. - Read through the NotebookLM answers carefully to gain an overview of the book’s structure and arguments. Aim to finish this first reading in under 2 hours (depending on the book). Don’t take notes during this phase-if you must write something, limit it to quick comments or reactions like, *"Oh, interesting, I hadn’t thought of that."* Keep your writing fast and informal. --- ### Step 3: Second Reading (In-Depth) For the second reading, you’ll dive deeper into the book’s actual text using the prepared material. Follow this order for each paragraph: 1. Read the **overall summary** first. 2. Then read the **one-sentence summary**. 3. Finally, read the **original paragraph**. - If the original paragraph is poorly written or overly complex, switch to the **rephrased version**. - If certain sections of the rephrased text are still unclear, use an OCR tool (e.g., dpscreenOCR) to extract specific phrases or sentences. Feed these into an AI model and ask it to further rephrase them for clarity. Once you understand the paragraph, read: - **What the text is arguing about.** - **The premises and conclusion.** - **The key points.** Move on to the next paragraph, repeating this process. --- ### Step 4: Reading Mindset In this second reading, take your time. Focus on understanding and clarity rather than speed. The goal is to work through the book thoroughly and thoughtfully. - Always have a pen and paper handy to jot down thoughts or observations. - Use this reading to trigger ideas, connections, or notes. Don’t worry about structure-just let the book inspire you to write. - If you get tired or need a break, stop reading and mark your place with a comment. You can always return later. --- ### Step 5: Cross-Reading and Writing Read multiple books on the same subject in parallel. Think of each book as a tool to spark ideas and connections. The more you write, the better. When writing, follow your usual process-whether it’s Zettelkasten, free notes, or another method. Here’s my process: 1. **Take notes** during or after reading. 2. **Re-read and annotate** those notes. 3. **Edit and refine** the notes. 4. **Test the notes**-challenge them, critique them, and see if they hold up. 5. If the notes survive this process, move them to a **connection vault**. Use simple tools (e.g., Grepwin) to search for related content and connect notes. 6. Once confident, move the notes to a **storage vault**-a long-term archive for ideas that have proven valuable. --- This approach ensures that your reading is highly efficient and that your notes are clear, actionable, and well-organized. By preparing the material in advance, you transform even complex books into something easy to read, understand, and connect with other ideas.
Non-rephrased version of my comment: you are too slow. take the book use NotebookLM ask it the 4 questions you ask each book from "How to read a book: The classical guide to intelligent reading". record a video of the NotebookLM answers.. or make a Tldraw MAP with the content given by notebookLM. just make sure in the outline the book question, make sure you ask it to outline by major parts and then the parts of major parts and the the part of the part of major parts in a structured way. (classify, what the book is about, outline, the problems the book is trying to solve). now don't read it... just record a video or take Sharex Screenshots and organize it into a tldraw map if you want. I usually just organize the outline into a map that I can move around. again do not read anything then go through each paragraph, read the first words or read it as lightning speed as possible, see if it's a stand alone paragraph or does it connect to the other paragraph and take screenshots of each or connected paragraphs. take the screenshot to OCR to extract the text. give the text to a large language model(ai) tell it to "summarize as briefly as possible: rephrase the text for clarity: what is the text arguing about: give me the preemies of the text and the conclusion in a logical way: give me the key poitn(s) in as little words as possible: overall in a straight forward manner: " and then insert this bellow the paragraph you copied. do that for each paragraph of the book. Now it's time to read, now you did preparations right, this time you will read your preparations in 2 ways. the first way is reading through the overall .... you will not read the paragraph but the overall of each paragraph. this will save you time and also make you read the whole book in less time. focus on speed but not too much speed reading also the overall is writing in a straightforward manner anyway and because you have the outline in front of you you won't get lost. make sure you read the chapters and title carefully and read the notebookiLM answers carefully and each time you are in a new chapter or a chapter that you've read, go to the outline and find where it is then continue reading. YOU SHOULD FINISH IN LESS THAN 2hrs but it depends on the type of the book. so give it what it deserves. Don't take notes or write. if you are going to write write only comments about the book that shouldn't be taken seriously. like oh interesting I've never thought about that. again please don't write too much and if you are going to write something focus on speed and fast keyboard writing Now it's time to start over... now your 2nd reading this is where you will read the actual paragraphs. you will read in the following order... you will read the first sentence in overall, then to the 1 sentence of summary. to the actual paragraph. if you feel confident about you reading then go to the rephrase section, if the original paragraph the author wrote it badly or it's just too complex for you because of many reasons then re-read not the paragraph but the rephrased version of it. and if you quite don't understand certain sections of the rephrased text like certain sentences or phrases then use simple OCR software like dpscreenOCR, simple program.. just move mouse over the section and it gets it to your clipboard and copy past it to LLM and tell it to rephrase. ok so now read what it argues about and the premises and conclusion. then read the key poitns. Move to the next paragraph. and do the same this way you are reading a version of the book that is overly prepared that is clear and easy to read no matter what it is. you can skip to the premesses and arguments if you want but I recommend to read everything this way because the 2nd reading is about taking your time at reading, have the mindset that it doesn't matter how long it takes and potentially next time you will re-read. the 2nd reading version I described here is where you always have a pen and paper with you or you would be reading to trigger something to make you write some stuff initially then yeah... you can read. stop reading and mark where you left with a comment. go read something else . come back... take your time. read multiple books covering the same problems at the same time this way.... think of the book as something that will trigger you to type. the more you type the better. then you do your writing process whatever it is... Zetlecastian or what not... for me I siimply take notes, re-read and anotate. edit those notes. test those notes. criticice them. then if they survived then you go to my connection vault. leave them there and from time to time read them to see if they make any connections to other notes using software that searches based on the content of the notes, simple stuff like Grepwin that's all. Make connections. gather 5 or 10 depending on if I feel confident or not. then move them to my Storage vault. it's a storage to everything I wrote that survived the process.
I just hope that people who are discovering Zettelkasten and Obsidian for the first time find your content, bro. I’ve been struggling a lot to understand the workflow because, in Spanish-my native language-there aren’t many good resources. Most of them focus on Niklas Luhmann’s story, which I’ve heard like a hundred times already, and only briefly touch on the core workflow before trying to sell you a course. 😂
On the other hand, English creators explain highly detailed and personalized workflows, which are much better than what we have in Spanish. But for a beginner, it’s just too much information. I don’t know-I just wanted to express both my gratitude and frustration. Your videos provide such a clear and simple explanation of this incredible system, and it’s a huge help. ✌️
I felt that the subject fits so well and is in synergy with analog Zettelkasten!
The key approaches, like keeping an eye on your Zettelkasten, almost removing the context, doing some recalls, and cycling through your material, are what make it so powerful!
Thanks!
P.S.: I'd love to see how you take notes from the web and TH-cam.
Amazing! Thanks a lot 👏
👏👏👏👏
una segunda parte donde haces el proceso de pasr esas tarjetas a Obsidian //gracias saludos desde Uruguay
One thing I started doing was linking my bullet journal with my zettelkasten
each bullet journal has it's own volume number and distinct page numbers
You can always like zettels you create to the volume & page
So you get the powerhouse of bujo and a thinking partner
Would love to know if you played around with this at all :D
Where did you learn how to start the analog zettelkasten? I would love to learn the analog way too :D
Just what I need , thankk youu , can you please share the live later ?
I do these livestreams in my private community (see description) but I plan to occasionally stream them here on TH-cam. Glad it helped!
Do you recommend any book on Zettelkasten note taking or note making?
I really would like to give it a try for my psychology exams
awesome video. do you have any tips for someone who doesn't have any slip notes written at all? the video presupposes a pre-existing slip box that I can "have an eye towards" while reading, but what if I don't have any notes to keep an eye to?
Thank you my friend. Definitely the most challenging part is first starting out because you don’t have that advantage of pre-meditated connections. You can start by listing a few interests that you can imagine yourself teaching to others and use that as an initial filter to work with as you build a foundation. Hope this helps!
@@TonyRamella what did your first notes look like? were they just excerpts/quotations/concept definitions from the literature you were reading or were they original (i.e like the main note you were writing in the video)
@@paperbob_1 they were not as much like the one I wrote here, less in my own words. Keep in mind this is a skill that you develop over time. Start by aiming for 20% written in your own words and try to work your way up to 80%. It’s ok if you just write excerpts but try to add some commentary if you can. The goal is to reformulate ideas into your own words.
Thank you Tony - I found you on a reference to this video on reddit; really helped to see what you did; I would be interested in livestream session sometime as you mentioned. One question: the very first thing you referred to was a note card that you were 'streaming' to as you read. Do you do that as a rule or that was just how your reading of this book was going? Thanks again and look forward to more.
P.S. thanks for the recommendation for Time Timer - I ordered that! Cool....
Hey friend, thank you for watching. We do livestreams of these workshops every couple weeks in my paid community, I will continue to post some here on occasion. On the note card I am writing brief observations as I read. This practice has been so beneficial for me I no longer read without a pen and note card.
What s the black box where you keep the notes called? Can you suggest the name?
4x6 Snap N Store Index Card Box on Amazon
I didn't think that the process was slow. It's a lot faster and productive than me staring out the window.
Its a lot slower in the video because I am explaining what I'm doing but otherwise it doesn't take that long. The "slowness" is beneficial for producing higher quality thoughts. When you quickly write digital notes it often leads to the temptation of revising/editing and the notes don't feel as complete. Thanks for watching!
Great book ADHD 2.0
I feel like we are kindred spirits. First, I am diagnosed ADHD and I'm a fan of Lamy fountain pens. Isn't this method a little OCD?
I love to hear that! It can be as OCD as you want it to be, but the way the filing system works is that it adapts to the chaotic way you think and make connections. So if you get too carried away with the OCD, it can case a lot of friction and make the experience more time consuming than it needs to be.
My absolute mad lad brain - just uses the ID as the title in obsidian - since it will be the filename anyways :3
I actually think theres a lot of value in doing it this way since it works as a forcing function to make you scan the contents of the notes as you browse them
This is like Scott Scheper but without the insults😅
I learned a lot from Scott's book but I get what you mean
Shitweasel alert 🚨
Here is the rephrased version of my Comment:
You are too slow. Take the book, open NotebookLM, and ask it the four questions from *"How to Read a Book: The Classical Guide to Intelligent Reading"*. Record a video of NotebookLM's answers, or create a Tldraw map with the content provided by NotebookLM. Make sure the outline includes the following structure:
1. **What is the book about (classification)?**
2. **An outline of the book** (major parts, sub-parts, and sub-sub-parts in a structured hierarchy).
3. **The problems the book is trying to solve.**
**Do not read the book now**-just record a video or take ShareX screenshots of NotebookLM's output and organize the content into a Tldraw map if you prefer. Personally, I like to organize the outline into a map that can be moved around and adjusted.
---
### Step 1: Preparing the Text
- Go through each paragraph of the book.
- Read *only* the first words or skim through it at lightning speed to determine if the paragraph stands alone or connects to others.
- Take screenshots of each paragraph (or connected paragraphs). Use OCR software to extract the text from these screenshots.
For each paragraph, feed the text into a large language model (AI) and ask it the following:
1. **Summarize as briefly as possible.**
2. **Rephrase the text for clarity.**
3. **What is the text arguing about?**
4. **What are the premises and conclusion in a logical structure?**
5. **What are the key points in as few words as possible?**
6. **Provide a straightforward overall explanation.**
Insert this output directly below the corresponding paragraph. Repeat for each paragraph in the book.
---
### Step 2: First Reading (Preparation Review)
Now that you’ve prepared the material, it’s time for your first read-through. This is an overview of the book, not an in-depth read.
- **Read the overall summaries** of each paragraph instead of the full text. This will allow you to read the entire book faster while still understanding its structure and content.
- Focus on speed, but not excessively-just enough to save time while retaining clarity.
- Use the outline you created to stay oriented while reading. Pay special attention to chapter titles and their corresponding locations in the outline.
- Read through the NotebookLM answers carefully to gain an overview of the book’s structure and arguments.
Aim to finish this first reading in under 2 hours (depending on the book). Don’t take notes during this phase-if you must write something, limit it to quick comments or reactions like, *"Oh, interesting, I hadn’t thought of that."* Keep your writing fast and informal.
---
### Step 3: Second Reading (In-Depth)
For the second reading, you’ll dive deeper into the book’s actual text using the prepared material. Follow this order for each paragraph:
1. Read the **overall summary** first.
2. Then read the **one-sentence summary**.
3. Finally, read the **original paragraph**.
- If the original paragraph is poorly written or overly complex, switch to the **rephrased version**.
- If certain sections of the rephrased text are still unclear, use an OCR tool (e.g., dpscreenOCR) to extract specific phrases or sentences. Feed these into an AI model and ask it to further rephrase them for clarity.
Once you understand the paragraph, read:
- **What the text is arguing about.**
- **The premises and conclusion.**
- **The key points.**
Move on to the next paragraph, repeating this process.
---
### Step 4: Reading Mindset
In this second reading, take your time. Focus on understanding and clarity rather than speed. The goal is to work through the book thoroughly and thoughtfully.
- Always have a pen and paper handy to jot down thoughts or observations.
- Use this reading to trigger ideas, connections, or notes. Don’t worry about structure-just let the book inspire you to write.
- If you get tired or need a break, stop reading and mark your place with a comment. You can always return later.
---
### Step 5: Cross-Reading and Writing
Read multiple books on the same subject in parallel. Think of each book as a tool to spark ideas and connections. The more you write, the better.
When writing, follow your usual process-whether it’s Zettelkasten, free notes, or another method. Here’s my process:
1. **Take notes** during or after reading.
2. **Re-read and annotate** those notes.
3. **Edit and refine** the notes.
4. **Test the notes**-challenge them, critique them, and see if they hold up.
5. If the notes survive this process, move them to a **connection vault**. Use simple tools (e.g., Grepwin) to search for related content and connect notes.
6. Once confident, move the notes to a **storage vault**-a long-term archive for ideas that have proven valuable.
---
This approach ensures that your reading is highly efficient and that your notes are clear, actionable, and well-organized. By preparing the material in advance, you transform even complex books into something easy to read, understand, and connect with other ideas.
Non-rephrased version of my comment:
you are too slow. take the book use NotebookLM ask it the 4 questions you ask each book from "How to read a book: The classical guide to intelligent reading". record a video of the NotebookLM answers.. or make a Tldraw MAP with the content given by notebookLM. just make sure in the outline the book question, make sure you ask it to outline by major parts and then the parts of major parts and the the part of the part of major parts in a structured way. (classify, what the book is about, outline, the problems the book is trying to solve).
now don't read it... just record a video or take Sharex Screenshots and organize it into a tldraw map if you want. I usually just organize the outline into a map that I can move around. again do not read anything
then go through each paragraph, read the first words or read it as lightning speed as possible, see if it's a stand alone paragraph or does it connect to the other paragraph and take screenshots of each or connected paragraphs. take the screenshot to OCR to extract the text. give the text to a large language model(ai) tell it to "summarize as briefly as possible: rephrase the text for clarity: what is the text arguing about: give me the preemies of the text and the conclusion in a logical way: give me the key poitn(s) in as little words as possible: overall in a straight forward manner: " and then insert this bellow the paragraph you copied. do that for each paragraph of the book.
Now it's time to read, now you did preparations right, this time you will read your preparations in 2 ways. the first way is reading through the overall .... you will not read the paragraph but the overall of each paragraph. this will save you time and also make you read the whole book in less time. focus on speed but not too much speed reading also the overall is writing in a straightforward manner anyway and because you have the outline in front of you you won't get lost. make sure you read the chapters and title carefully and read the notebookiLM answers carefully and each time you are in a new chapter or a chapter that you've read, go to the outline and find where it is then continue reading. YOU SHOULD FINISH IN LESS THAN 2hrs but it depends on the type of the book. so give it what it deserves. Don't take notes or write. if you are going to write write only comments about the book that shouldn't be taken seriously. like oh interesting I've never thought about that. again please don't write too much and if you are going to write something focus on speed and fast keyboard writing
Now it's time to start over... now your 2nd reading this is where you will read the actual paragraphs. you will read in the following order... you will read the first sentence in overall, then to the 1 sentence of summary. to the actual paragraph. if you feel confident about you reading then go to the rephrase section, if the original paragraph the author wrote it badly or it's just too complex for you because of many reasons then re-read not the paragraph but the rephrased version of it. and if you quite don't understand certain sections of the rephrased text like certain sentences or phrases then use simple OCR software like dpscreenOCR, simple program.. just move mouse over the section and it gets it to your clipboard and copy past it to LLM and tell it to rephrase.
ok so now read what it argues about and the premises and conclusion. then read the key poitns.
Move to the next paragraph. and do the same
this way you are reading a version of the book that is overly prepared that is clear and easy to read no matter what it is. you can skip to the premesses and arguments if you want but I recommend to read everything this way because the 2nd reading is about taking your time at reading, have the mindset that it doesn't matter how long it takes and potentially next time you will re-read.
the 2nd reading version I described here is where you always have a pen and paper with you or you would be reading to trigger something to make you write some stuff initially
then yeah... you can read. stop reading and mark where you left with a comment. go read something else . come back... take your time. read multiple books covering the same problems at the same time this way.... think of the book as something that will trigger you to type. the more you type the better.
then you do your writing process whatever it is... Zetlecastian or what not... for me I siimply take notes, re-read and anotate. edit those notes. test those notes. criticice them. then if they survived then you go to my connection vault. leave them there and from time to time read them to see if they make any connections to other notes using software that searches based on the content of the notes, simple stuff like Grepwin that's all. Make connections. gather 5 or 10 depending on if I feel confident or not. then move them to my Storage vault. it's a storage to everything I wrote that survived the process.