The Notecard System: Capture, Organize, and Use Everything You Read, Watch, and Listen To

started taking notes on everything I was learning using a notetaking app on my computer. I took notes during meetings, on phone calls, and while doing research online. I wrote down facts gleaned from research papers that could be used in the slides we presented to clients. I wrote down tidbits of insight I came across on social media, to share on o

These were not extensive summaries—just enough information to bring the idea back to the front of his mind. Luhmann stored the reference note in a separate reference note compartment inside his zettelkasten, which doubled as a record of what he’d read.

Imagine how absurd it would be to organize a kitchen instead by kind of food: fresh fruit, dried fruit, fruit juice, and frozen fruit would all be stored in the same place, just because they all happen to be made of fruit. Yet this is exactly the way most people organize their files and notes—keeping all their book notes together just because they