PKM
My method
process
location
connection
Two different questions, not two competing systems
Zettelkasten and PARA aren’t rivals, they answer different questions. Zettelkasten tracks what stage a thought is at (four verbs). PARA tracks where it lives (based on actionability). Trying to pick one to answer both is why this never clicked.
Process
CAPTURE -> PROCESS -> CONNECT -> CREATE
(fleeting) (reference) (permanent) (draft, raport, book, ETC)
- Capture: a pointer, half-formed, no polish. Inbox, phone notes, journal entries as written.
- Process: engaged with a source and wrote down what it says plus your reaction. Where “How to Take Smart Notes. Notes.md” and dream-analysis work sit.
- Connect: extracted a standalone claim, passed the three-part test (decontextualized / not-Wikipedia / atomic), linked it to related notes.
00_01-zettel. - Create: permanent notes assembled into something for an audience:
03-blog, a project writeup, a portfolio page.
Same funnel for every domain: gardening research, philosophy, career notes, dream analysis.
The folders
| PARA concept | Your folder | What goes here |
|---|---|---|
| Inbox (pre-PARA) | 00-raw/inbox | Capture only. One inbox, not two, kill the separate dump concept. Sits >2 weeks unprocessed means it’s dead or needs to move. |
| Reference material | 00-raw/00_00-archive | Process stage. External clippings (/external) plus your own journal/dreams (/internal), literature notes about past-you, raw and unedited, a source to mine. |
| Permanent notes | 00-raw/00_01-zettel | Connect stage. Only notes that pass the three-part test. |
| Projects/Areas | 01-garden_of_learning | Active, actionable work. Your emoji system (🌱🌿🪴✅) is already a maturity layer inside Projects, leave it alone, it works. |
| Resources | 02-digital_garden | Curated output for others: book/game/manga lists, blogroll. Public-facing, low-maintenance, no zettel-rigor needed. |
| Archive/Manuscript | 03-blog | Create stage. Pulls from zettel notes, doesn’t consume them, permanent notes stay put and get reused. |
PARA’s four categories map onto your five top-level folders almost exactly. You already built this, you just hadn’t named the mapping.
Movement rules
- A note moves folders only when its stage changes:
- Inbox to Archive: engaged with it (read fully, or it’s a finished journal entry).
- Archive to Zettel: passed the three-part test.
- Zettel to Blog: assembling multiple zettels into something for a reader.
Short version: capture fast in one inbox. Process sources, including your own past self, into archive. Extract only what passes the test into zettel. Build projects and blog posts by pulling zettels together, never from scratch.
what kind of pkm exists
PARA, GTD, Building a Second Brain, zetelkasten,wittengenstein and ofc endless variations between those
i need to find the right system to write notes??
so first off
Definening definitions
- “refined” notes
- atomic notes
- second brain
- jhonny decibel method
- wittengenstein
- zetelkasten
- reference notes
- atomic notes
- fleeting notes
- zettels
- jhonny decibel
- numbers 00.00
- linking your thinking
- PARA:
- Projects,
- Areas,
- Resources
- Archives
- ACE:
- Atlas
- Calendar
- Efforts
My method
(only for the 00-raw folder, the rest is site oriented and not PKM focused)
pinboard for inbox/dump for articles, then filtered/high quality articles/references/snipits in the appropriate folder, high quality articles will go in the clippings folder.
and quostes will go in the commonplacebook(same)
- raw(folder hidden from public site.)
- clippings(mostly has copied pages i found interesting., via obsidian web clipper. (Need to change name))
- dump/fleeting(the inbox)
- knowledge?(for atomic/evergreen ideas)
- projects(could make this ace or para)
- areas(same with this)
learned things will go in the evergreen/references/atomic/zettel folder.(WIP)
workflow for note taking and thinking and capturing?
most small thoughts go into the inbox folder. some thoughts kinda group together so I have meta folders or notes for them.
this needs to be for like general structure, so what does vault rules serve?
do i wait with writhing notes otherwise i will just have to remove future stuff, no i will keep writhing
Topic tags vs object tag
map of content(MOC), are my index folders!, how did i never realised that?
root of my 00-raw/hidden folder is my inbox folder, but what about the dump folder
Inspiration
- “Better note-taking” misses the point; what matters is “better thinking”
- Evergreen notes
- Ideas for my note-taking workflow ¶
- My Zettelkasten workflow from start to finish
- Zettelkasten
- Zettelkasten
- About This Website
- Introduction to the Zettelkasten Method • Zettelkasten Method
- Building a Second Brain The Definitive Introductory Guide
- Wittgenstein
- Personal Knowledge Management System (PKMS)
- Note Taking & Obsidian
- The Ultimate Folder System: A quixotic journey to ACE - Knowledge management - Obsidian Forum
- Quantum OS