I have been consuming a massive amount of information from books, podcasts, manuscripts, and other sources. What can I say? I love learning. I especially love learning about the microbiome, functional foods, integrative medicine, technology, and science.

I've found I lose many of my ideas if I don't capture them immediately. Although I love DEVONthink, the app mainly stores and locates and associates information. It does not particularly help in the generation of new ideas. With my previous system, I found myself excelling at capture, but not at idea generation. I needed a system to capture and articulate new ideas as they struck. My need for high-level idea generation began a quest for a system that complements Devonthink.

About a year ago, I came across the idea of Zettelkasten. Zettelkasten is a way to capture ideas AND relate those new ideas to other insights you've had. Rather than describing the benefits and components of a Zettelkasten System, I'll refer you to two excellent resources, Zettelkasten.de and Zettelkasten Method: How to Take Smart Notes for Knowledge Management. After reading widely on Zettelkasten, I developed a system I'd like to share with you. This system has become integral to new idea generation and a critical part of my current writing workflow (I will update my writing workflow soon for 2020). I wish I had started earlier.

Central to this workflow is a program called The Archive. The Archive generates, searches, and links Zettels (individual notes in my Zettelkasten). My workflow also uses Devonthink, Dropbox, and Drafts.

I often listen to audiobooks and podcasts during my daily walk. I have many ideas while walking (this is probably not a coincidence). When I do have an idea, I launch Drafts on my Apple Watch or my iPhone and capture the idea using my voice. When I return home, the new note is available in Drafts on all my devices.

I developed a markdown template that takes the information I dictated into Drafts.

Then, using a command URL in Drafts, the data is sent to my TheArchive Folder on Dropbox. My template includes tags that tell me the note needs to be further processed.

The next time I'm at my Mac, I edit the fledgling note to become a complete Zettel. I polish my idea, add references and quotes, and link the new note to similar entries in The Archive.

If I'm sitting at a computer (when reading manuscripts), I capture Zettels directly into The Archive by copy and pasting my idea into my Zettelkasten Template. In the future, I plan to develop a macro that automates Zettel generation on my Mac.

I've written about how I index information on my hard drive to make it accessible while writing. As mentioned in that article, I direct Devonthink to additionally index The Archive Folder in Dropbox. Once indexed, my zettels marinate along with all of the other information in my library, including scholarly manuscripts, websites, etc. The DEVONthink AI digs through my database and offers similar information to my new zettel.

Zettelkasten has grown my idea generation and knowledge retention exponentially. Others have developed Zettelkasten systems using Devonthink, Tinderbox, and iA Writer. I enjoy the flexibility of text files and the frictionless capture of information on the go. My method is not the end all be all but, instead, a jumping-off point for others to adapt. I'd be curious about how you use or adapt my system in your own writing.

Until next time.