This article was originally published on Substack.

In a very simplistic view, using Zettelkasten is just writing notes on small cards or blocks, addressing them, indexing them, and storing them in a box. It sounds like a lot of homework, right? And do the benefits outweigh the effort? In this post I’ll try to describe the motivations for using zettelkasten—and when it may not be the right tool.

Let’s do a thought experiment and go back a few decades, before computers. Imagine you’re writing a thesis—say, on learning theory—a project that involves a lot of research and idea development and might take 5, 10, or 30 years to finish. How would you organize the writing? Would you start at page 1, then page 2, chapter 1, chapter 2, all the way to the last page? Today, would you open Google Docs or Microsoft Word and start typing from the beginning?

How would you run your research—where would you keep notes and developing ideas? Would you categorize notes by similarity, or start from the written draft and think in chapters? How do you know which chapters and topics you’ll need? As research progresses, topics emerge—but over time it gets harder to correlate ideas and keep momentum. Imagine you’ve written 100 paragraphs on one topic. What order should they take in the final work—what comes first?

Naturally you’d invent your own organization system: categorizing research notes, layering them, grouping and ordering them logically. Using a tree as an analogy, the root would be the origin of your note system and the knowledge you build from it. From the root you’d create notes and links between them, gradually forming a network of interconnected information. A tree has branches and leaves in a hierarchy; each branch can split further. Like notes, each part connects to the others through structure.

Just as the tree’s root matters for growth, the root of your note system is crucial for a coherent setup that can absorb a steady flow of new information and ideas. From the root you can build a structure that makes navigation easy and exposes you to serendipity—finding, unexpectedly, what you were looking for.

Many authors in the past faced this and used systems for notes and writing. For research-heavy work, it’s hard to imagine spending years holding everything in your head and dumping it onto paper once.

Niklas Luhmann popularized zettelkasten as an analogy between note organization and how a tree works.

It’s recommended to use such a system if you want to PRODUCE content.

It’s not recommended to use it only for learning. There are better techniques when you’re in a “just studying” mindset. BUT remember: what’s the best way to learn?

“American psychiatrist William Glasser says that 95% of the effectiveness of our learning happens when we teach—whether by explaining, summarizing, structuring, defining, generalizing, elaborating, or illustrating the content for others.”

Source (Portuguese article)

Does it make sense for smaller publications too?

Niklas Luhmann published 50 books and over 600 articles—that reflects how the system is meant to be used. As you select what to read, extract what matters, develop new ideas, and file them in your zettelkasten, you’ll see you can turn a cluster of notes into an article by formatting them for the outlet. Over time, your zettelkasten becomes a content engine.

I believe that will be the strongest motivation to use zettelkasten.