Hey friend,

David Allen once wrote in Getting Things Done:

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.”

Trying to keep everything in your head is simply not possible.

There's always going to be more information and ideas than your brain can handle.

With that in mind, I went looking for a note-taking system that would support my work as a creator.

I wanted to capture the best ideas from everything that I was regularly consuming: articles, books, podcasts, videos, and even random ideas popping into my mind.

Over time, I developed my own note-taking system primarily based on the Zettelkasten method.

I call it Zettelkasten in Roam.

Here's what a student said about it:

"This is the first time I've felt confident Roam could be part of my productivity workflow. Dan is able to present an introduction to the power and utility of Roam, knowledge management and creativity, yet also give depth to take us further much quicker. A genuine talent and inspiration!"—Jim Laughton

Click here to get immediate access!

My Zettelkasten lives in Roam, the best tool there is to store and retrieve your ideas.

Why Roam?

Because with Roam, you can make your notes live nowhere and everywhere.

Since it automatically creates pages for new ideas, Roam makes it frictionless to add new notes you might need in the future.

And because it's built with bi-directional linking in mind first, it's seamless to tie notes together.

By building your Zettelkasten, you’ll learn how to take notes that are actually useful and apply networked thinking to generate new ideas so you can turn them into original content.

The Zettelkasten method is a better way to take smart notes. Here's the basic idea:

Take notes from what you're consuming
Reviewing your notes
Linking them together

That’s it. It’s not a complicated system, but it is powerful. Over time, this builds an intricate network of your best ideas. As the database gets larger, it even starts to mimic a conversation partner. Creating a Zettelkasten is like creating an intellectual time machine. You enter in your current mental state and the machine carries you across time to talk to yourself in the past and future.

Yes, I want in!

Here's the truth:

We are living in the Knowledge Economy.

In Deep Work, Cal Newport wrote:

"To become a superstar in your field of work, you need to be able to quickly master hard things and produce at an elite level (in terms of both quality and speed)."

The only way to make a become highly valuable in any field of work is by having a systematic process to capture and process your ideas.

By doing so, you'll be able to distill patterns and start connecting ideas in a new and insightful way.

That is how you—in the words of Cal Newport—become a superstar.

If the main tool for your job is your brain, you need to invest to improve your thinking and start improving your work.

Because here's the reality:

In the Information Age, ideas are the new currency.

And the world is waiting for yours.

I want to start taking better smart notes!

See you on the inside,

Dan

I want to start taking better smart notes!

0 comments

Do you need to feel more in control of your work and time?

How to achieve superhuman performance DAILY (within minutes)

Stop forgetting every book you've read

How to be 100X your productivity

Achieve more in the next 90 days than most people do in 1 year

See all posts from Dan Silvestre