About permanent notes

Sönke Ahrens (2025): 2.1 Permanent Notes [[@ahrens_21_2025]]

⬆ [[Notes while running through the course]]

About permanent notes

Permanent notes evolve over time

• embraces the non-linear thinking
• it is never complete
• questions, research, idea …

Input by fleeting notes and literature notes. Out individual approach will be unique.

based on Anmerkungen in Söhnke Ahrens Transcript (1.6.2025, 07:20:07)

„The main goal of writing permanent notes is to build a “critical mass”“ (Ahrens, p. 1) (pdf)

„while writing permanent notes: “To what question/idea/fact/train of thought adds this new piece of information something and how?”“ (Ahrens, p. 1) (pdf)

„add links to your notes, ask: “How and in which contexts do I want to be reminded of this piece of information in the future?““ (Ahrens, p. 1) (pdf)

„most new notes can be tied directly to existing ones“ (Ahrens, p. 1) (pdf)

„eep our eye on what is most relevant for building our own Zettelkasten in digital form, which is first and foremost: Our own questions and topic choices.“ (Ahrens, p. 2) (pdf)

„they are still about how you yourself understand, interpret or contextualize data, an idea or a fact“ (Ahrens, p. 2) (pdf)

„the quality of literature notes is measured by how well they represent what is written in someone else’s writing“ (Ahrens, p. 2) (pdf)

„the quality of permanent notes is measured by how well they represent what you are thinking“ (Ahrens, p. 2) (pdf)

• make our understanding of something as explicit as possible

„what questions you have, and to what end you write what you write“ (Ahrens, p. 2) (pdf)

„Try to write as if you were writing a report for someone else“ (Ahrens, p. 3) (pdf)

„Name the facts, disclose your sources, and try to be as precise, clear and brief as possible“ (Ahrens, p. 3) (pdf)

„write full sentences. It helps to form a coherent thought.“ (Ahrens, p. 3) (pdf)

• ensure that what is written, really expresses what you meant

„distinguish between hypotheses, questions, and assumptions.“ (Ahrens, p. 3) (pdf)

„most importantly: Be honest. This is not the place to cover up a lack of understanding by being vague, evasive, or verbose.“ (Ahrens, p. 3) (pdf)

„it should be written as if the reader will know nothing about what we meant apart from what is actually in writing“ (Ahrens, p. 3) (pdf)

„Just try to find the best descriptive title with those words included, you will later most likely search for“ (Ahrens, p. 4) (pdf)

„“The characteristics of permanent notes in the Zettelkasten compared to literature notes”.“ (Ahrens, p. 4) (pdf)

„But it is also crucial to stress that a note is usually written within the context of a particular line of thought, from which it gains its main relevance and meaning“ (Ahrens, p. 4) (pdf)

„making often rather the whole note-sequence the better building block of what we try to create.“ (Ahrens, p. 4) (pdf)

„we not only write “atomic notes”, but also, maybe mainly: “molecule notes”: bigger entities containing multiple, sometimes large numbers of individual atoms/notes.“ (Ahrens, p. 4) (pdf)What are molecule notes

„the most important connections between notes are actually the ones tracing a train of thought, an argument, or a consideration over multiple notes.“ (Ahrens, p. 5) (pdf)

„notes that are direct follow-ups to other notes“ (Ahrens, p. 5) (pdf)

„Note sequences on the other hand do form a thought, sometimes even an argument.“ (Ahrens, p. 5) (pdf)

„The best permanent notes are written in a way that they explicitly extend a thought already represented in a note-sequence.“ (Ahrens, p. 5) (pdf)

„When we add notes explicitly in relation to others we also should phrase them accordingly.“ (Ahrens, p. 6) (pdf)

„any personal knowledge systems I have seen contain a lot of lists and bullet points, which is something we deliberately try to avoid here as they lack exactly what is most important in a Zettelkasten: the clarification of the relationship between two pieces of information.“ (Ahrens, p. 6) (pdf)

„generally it is advisable to use explanatory expressions like “therefore”, “but”, “even though”, “on the other hand”, “In contrast to” etc. whenever possible“ (Ahrens, p. 6) (pdf)

„Another form of prompting elaboration is to turn an idea or an argument on its head by asking: how could I invert the argument? Like: What if the therapist doesn’t believe his work with a patient will be helpful?“ (Ahrens, p. 6) (pdf)

„Inverting a problem is a form of doing something with a problem instead of just reacting to it.“ (Ahrens, p. 7) (pdf)

„While permanent notes are atomic in their nature (containing one idea, written in a way that they can stand on their own),“ (Ahrens, p. 7) (pdf)

„Sometimes it makes sense to take one paragraph from one note-sequence and add it to another. But not by linking or embedding, and also not by simple copy & paste, but by rephrasing it in order to make it a better fit. I would still keep the connection via backlink, but not rely on it alone.“ (Ahrens, p. 8) (pdf)

Questions

• How to work with a permanent notes dashboard
  • should provide easy re-entrance to the last state I left my Zettelkasten and start a conversation again…

Linking

Sönke Ahrens (2025): 2 Transcript - Creating Notes and Networks [[@ahrens_2_2025]]

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