Building a Second Brain

Posted by Cyganet
Nov 7, 2022 at 09:34 AM

I agree with Dellu. I spent a brief time messing around with zettelkasten and found it to be counterproductive busywork that got in the way of actually getting things done. I’m not trying to “build a second brain”, I’m trying to use my first brain to write something meaningful. And to do that I organise my notes in a hierarchy where I can find them again, using a structure and naming convention that instantly tells me what I’m looking at.

For interest, here is Andy Matuschak’s take on the subject:
“Better note-taking” misses the point; what matters is “better thinking”
https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z7kEFe6NfUSgtaDuUjST1oczKKzQQeQWk4Dbc

Note the meaningless URL. If I stored my notes that way, or using zettel codes such as 1.a.1.b2 or 20221104053328 I would never find anything again. I much prefer something like Book Research > Notes > Interviews.