Thinking is like solving a sudoku

I am still working on the structural note for the next entry in the Gestalt Garden. This morning I added only one new note: “The Zettelkasten method is to think deeply”.

I am progressing slower than I expected, but I know this is an often repeated pattern. When I start to think in writing about something I haven’t mastered, writing the first few notes takes a lot of time. But, it’s a bit like solving a sudoku: the more numbers you put in, the easier it is to fill in the next numbers.

Finally, the moment comes when “everything fits” and finishing the ideas is really easy: almost inevitable (whether it’s a sudoku or an idea).

Here’s what the structural note looks like:

# 202312181953 -S- How to have time for the Zettelkasten methodology
#-S- ##having-time-for-zettelkasten 


The aim of this note is to answer:

  "Following all the steps of the Zettelkasten methodology costs a lot of time, how can I find time for my Zettelkasten?"


Table of contents:

  Zettelkasten is a suitable environment for thinking.........[[20231014152718]]
  Choose between thinking outside or inside your Zettelkasten...[[202401121222]]
  The Zettelkasten method is deep thinking .....................[[202401150829]]

And here is the note I added today:

# 202401150829 The Zettelkasten method is deep thinking
#zettelkasten #deep-thinking #zettelkasten-formalities


Once you remove the formalities, the remaining steps in the Zettelkasten methodology are equivalent to thinking correctly and deeply.


If you remove the formalities of the Zettelkasten method [[202311181059]] (folgezettel, uuid, tags, etc), the steps that remain are as follows:

* Read potentially interesting things.
* Save the best ideas you find.
* Write notes in your own words.
* Look for connections between what you have learned and what you already know.
* Reflect on and use what you know.

These steps are fundamental elements in developing deep and correct thinking. 

In fact, if you want to develop this kind of thinking, you will naturally want to do these steps already (whether or not you are following the Zettelkasten methodology).