A Thousand Tiny Slips of Paper
A Zettelkasten (German: ‘slipbox’, plural Zettelkästen) or card file consists of small items of information stored on Zetteln (German: ‘slips’), paper slips or cards, that may be linked to each other through subject headings or other metadata such as numbers and tags. It has often been used as a system of note-taking and personal knowledge management for research, study, and writing.
In the 1980s, the card file began to be used as metaphor in the interface of some hypertextual personal knowledge base software applications such as NoteCards. In the 1990s, such software inspired the invention of wikis.
- Wikipedia, Zettelkasten
When I die, I hope they bury me with a bunch of really nice markdown files and maybe a little YAML.
Flashback
In between my 5th and 6th grade in school, my family moved from St. George, Utah, to Henderson, Nevada. Henderson is a suburb of Las Vegas. I went from a Kindergarten through 5th grade “elementary” school, to a 6th through 8th grade “junior high” school.
It was a hard transition for young Dave.
The year was 2002. The millenium had just turned. 9/11 was fresh memory in our hearts. The world seemed to be at chaos. The digital revolution had only just begun.
In that 6th grade year, I faced many perils. Not the least of which was a dutiful English teacher. I wasn’t even smart enough to be in the Honors class and she still kicked my butt. I literally had to memorize every single preposition in the English language, I’m not joking. “About above accross after against along amid among…” She made me learn to write in cursive, which I still know to this day.
One of the major projects in that class was learning how to make use of a Library system to do research. I was taught to bring a stack of 3x5 “index” cards. Each time I found a good reference, I learned to write down the reference in the format of a bibliography. Then, after my sources were gathered, we wrote a formal research paper, properly cited.
I remember it being incredibly involved. I think I was supposed to have something on the order of 50 references, and a certain amount were to be primary and some secondary. It was extremely overwhelming to me so my memory is hazy. I was taught to use highlighter colors to indicate what kind of reference each note card was.
In the end, I had a neat little box full of cards. I think that clicked somewhere deep in my brain. I didn’t care so much about the research project itself, but having this physical extension of my brain in a tidy box I could tote about was very liberating, and accomplishing. It was in that class, in that library, that I can recall using the internet to search for information I was interested in, just for fun. Before that, you had to get an actual published book or article and usually they were pretty bad, and not very current by the time it got printed. I was interested in bands; I needed to know what was going on right now.
I think those two concepts stuck with me. The realization that I could learn literally anything was liberating. I naturally gravitated towards “computers” in school and had paid gigs in High School doing web development for local businesses. I received a laptop for Christmas my senior year of High School and I made more money with it than it cost. Wow!
I played with blogspot, tumblr, and maybe others. Facebook was a lot of fun because everyone was there, but I’ve learned the hard way about the “Closed-System Blues”. I can’t rent a closet to keep my cards in. I need my own cabinet!
Web hosting was prohibitively expensive back then. Even the cheapest host was $5 a month which was just out of the question for me. I spent a few years offline in Kentucky as a volunteer for my church, so when I got back into things GitHub Pages was a thing.
My Zettelkasten
On Saturday, December 13 2014 at precisely 12:02:26 PM, I created the first commit in this site’s history. It’s been an uphill learning process since then, one that I’m still on.
I’m proud of this website. This is my Zettelkasten. I don’t have “many slips of papers” here, I have a few markdown files with just a little YAML. This is better. This can’t be burned. If I use the wrong color to highlight something, I don’t have to redraw the card. I have tools!
My personal knowledge management and personal productivity guide is listed as follows, in the order of an idea’s creation to a “final resting place” for archival purposes:
- A single blank 3x5 note card where I keep a daily to-do list, crossing off items as I complete them. I re-use the same card day after day so I’m able to fit about three weeks on both halves of both sides of the card. I go down one side and up the other, then onto the back.
- A 3x5 Calendar and Journal. I print this out each month. Every day, I cross off the day before, and add a few marks to the calendar cells to note if I accomplished certain daily goals, such as a red “+” when I eat breakfast. I also note events on the card, basically things I don’t want to forget about such as a holiday or birthday. On the reverse is the journal, where I compile my previous day’s to-do’s, combined with a little bit of actual reflection, and write a few words for that day.
- With each new month, I print a fresh Journal/Calendar and move all my old to-do cards from that month, along with the previous months Journal/Calendar into a little 3x5 “recipe box” I have. It’s also where I keep my blank cards.
- I also keep a “commonplace book” titled “Thoughts + Ideas”. It’s an A6 size dotted book that physically works great as a writing pad and holder for my to-do card. It’s pretty much exactly what the Wikipedia article says it is, a blank book full of random things I find interesting or want to remember. I like to think that the daily to-do’s and journal entries kind of “feed” into the book as my ideas filter up from fleeting moments to more concrete objects that can be examined.
- I have a larger A5 book that I pretentiously refer to as “Exercises in Consciousness”. I mostly keep “spiritual” thoughts in this book; this is the book I write in when I study the scriptures. It is also a “diary”, sometimes.
- This website! This is more or less the “final” public output of most of my work and ideas. Most anything I do that I think is worth remembering at all is documented here somehow. On this website I have a few main areas of organized output:
- Blog. I write blog posts about random things. Most of them are long. Some are not. I’ve also started publishing some science fiction short stories here, but now that I think about it I might need to collect them in a better way. Maybe if I end up doing a third part I’ll republish them as a trilogy, for fun.
- About. I’m pretty proud of this. I really would like to express myself in the form of YAML, and this is my best attempt. At the time of writing, I have 103 documented “interests”. I recently added some “aspirations”, and had some fun with various “stats” about me. Finally, a short bio and links to my friends’ blogs.
- Uses. I try to list all the things I use. Included is an (outdated) diagram of all the wires and electrical computer equipment in my office.
- Projects. A list of “substantial” or “standalone” things I’ve done. Needs more work.
- Quotes. “These are various quotes, adages, laws, idioms, sayings, and other things that I have found particular insights into the nature of human existence. In some ways, this is a collection of rules I try to live by. I am writing them down here so I don’t forget, and hopefully might inspire others to do the same.” I like this part of my website a lot.
- Notes. I built this out using Apple Shortcuts so I can easily share a URL an text summary via the “Share Sheet” in Safari, et al and have it go straight to my blog. I reference this place often. You can about read how I built it.
- Recipes. I guess I built out my own custom recipe format and integrated it all into my Jekyll website. My favorite way to use these is to print out the page on paper and let it get super messy in the kitchen, then recycle when done! Then, I’m not trying to unlock a smart phone with messy hands while I have an active fire situation on the stove. Life hack! As I find new recipes to cook for my family, I add them here. Mostly at their request so I don’t forget to cook it again.
- Playlist. For the past ~3 years, I’ve collaborated with some life-long friends on a weekly playlist. We each contribute 3 songs each week. Music is a huge part of my life and most of my friendships even outside of this group are based around music in one way or another. As of this week, we’ve put out 84 playlists and have shared 1,321 songs with each other. You can even download a CSV of the whole thing!
- Replies. I built my own email-based comment system for this blog and I really like it, and I’m very proud of it. In fact, I would say I love Replies. You can read all about how and why I made it. This page shows all replies for all of the pages on this site, in one place. I use to it see if anyone has replied.
- Newsletters. I also built this out using email and cloudflare workers, which you can also read about. So far, I’ve only published one newsletter, but I think it’s okay, so check it out. This is kind of a recursive summary of this website and my other digital output. Almost like a “second-meta-source”, if that makes sense. It’s designed so you can get it in your email inbox. I like email a lot, I like emailing people and I like getting emails. I used to email my 6th grade girlfriend and it was the best. I just want people to start emailing each other again! Send me an email, please. I’ve learned that some people don’t have a
mailto:handler properly working. You should fix that! - Clouds. I really freaking love clouds, man. They’re super interesting to look at. The weightless, careless sense about the minspires me. The hues and colors surrounding the twilight hours are breathtaking! I just a nice place to keep my favorite cloud photos. I thought about making this a blog post, but in my Zettelkasten, blog posts are more or less permanant when published. I would feel unethical about significantly changing the content of a page post-publishing. “Slash pages” are free game, they are intended to be living documents. The rule of thumb for a slash page versus a blog post is whether you intend to update the page. You can still make blog posts that are intended to be updated, and you can update a blog post with a little note saying what and why. Using version control systems properly will richly add to your efforts with metadata helpful for you and others, especially in the future.
Why bother?
Be your #1 critic; Be your #1 fan.
- Me, last month
I really strongly believe in this principle. I think a lot of people have an easier time being their critic than they do being their own fan. What does it mean to be a fan of something? I’ll paint you a picture.
I really like the Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. I’m a huge fan.
Over half my wardrobe is their merch, a lot of which I’ve personally customized and tie-dyed. I own their complete discography on vinyl, up until Petro Dragonic, including some live album bootlegs. I started my own fan blog just to help me keep track of them. I have seen them perform live 15 times. I have watched and listened to virtually every show they’ve played since 2022. My office is adorned with their amazing tour posters. The license plate for my car is “GZZRD”. I have been following their tour in Europe thanks to them streaming it all live for free. They just finished their final night in Athens, Greece as I put this together. Now I’m listening to the Hot Water/Hypertension cut live from night three at the Salt Shed in Chicago back in 2023. When I listen to them live, I like to try and guess which song they will play next as early as possible. In many instances, I’m able to guess the song by the first note, often before they’ve even finished the song before. I listen to a ton of music. My Apple Music stats make my friends depressed. I have an incredible sound system I blast music on pretty much all day in my office. But of all the music I like, I like King Gizz the most. I memorize their live shows on the drumset, playing along as perfectly as I can, over, and over, and over again until I’m exhausted and can’t play any more. I’ve streamed myself playing along live to their live-streamed shows. I study the band. I love King Gizz, man. They’re just the best.
Now imagine if they decided they sucked and kept it all to themselves. I’m sure they’d all be great insurance adjusters or masons. They might sit around and wonder what could have happened if they would have believed in themselves more. But they didn’t! They wrote songs, practiced, played shows, made mistakes, worked hard, made shirts, made records, played shows, had kids, lived life and now I am fortunate enough to live at a time where I’m on the receiving end of their work. They give me a ton of opportunities to be their fan, in super positive ways.
I have a really big secret that I haven’t told anyone else before, but I’ll fill you in. I’m actually a bigger fan of myself than I am of King Gizz. I think I’m freaking cool man. I’m tall, handsome, and really nice to people. I’m super interested in what people have to think and I love shooting the breeze and having a quick laugh. I’ve actually never met a person I didn’t like. I have a ton of insane and interesting hobbies and talents. I have a growing encyclopedic knowledge. My goal is to know everything there is to know about everything, and understand as much of it as I guess God is willing give me. I’m also pretty humble, ironic as that is to say. Look I’m not saying I’m perfect, I have as many flaws as the worst offenders. But isn’t that just what it is to be human? I have a really great and successful life. I have a fulfilling career that I’m competent at and am able to help my coworkers and our company succeed in their goals. I have an absolute babe of a wife, and 4 beautiful, intelligent, funny kids together. I don’t know how you measure a man, but I’m pretty proud of what I’ve been able to scrape together.
I love reading my blog. I think I’m hilarious. One of the upsides, personally, to a more-or-less “prolific” output is that I forget most of what I do pretty quickly. Going back and reading random stuff I wrote, code, blog posts, pictures, and everything is one of my favorite activities. It’s almost like capturing little snapshots of who I am and then I’m able to revisit them critically, from an outsiders’ view.
For me, that’s the “why”. I don’t expect likes, replies, upvotes, internet points, fame, notoriety, money, anything. It’s just for me. I’m giving myself opportunities to be my own fan. This is my Zettelkasten.