SMART NOTES AHRENS HOW TO
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Specifically, Ahrens recommends taking three types of notes: temporary notes, literature notes, and evergreen notes. In this section, you’ll learn the specific steps Ahrens outlines to effectively use the slip-box system to create a publishable manuscript.

SMART NOTES AHRENS HOW TO

If the slip-box system is only effective when you know how to use it, as Ahrens contends, you must learn how to properly use it. However, since they don’t publish the drafts of their publications, you can’t see exactly how the notes within the slip-box turn into a publishable manuscript-so it’s not as easy to understand how that part of the process works.) How to Use the Slip-Box System Many modern users, notably researcher Andy Matuschak, have published their slip-boxes online. (Shortform note: It’s possible people haven’t focused on the workflow because it’s hard to see.

SMART NOTES AHRENS FULL

Since they didn’t understand how to use the slip-box system to its full advantage, they were never as productive as promised-and the system never gained the popularity it deserved. Second, as Ahrens argues, people misunderstood the system: They focused solely on the slip-box and not the overall workflow dictated by the slip-box. (Shortform note: If you do speak German, reviewing the digitized version of Luhmann’s slip-box in conjunction with his published works may help you gain a more thorough understanding of his system.) The first is primarily linguistic: Since Luhmann was German, most of the publicly available information about his system was in German.

However, the system only gained popularity within a small niche, which Ahrens attributes to two main reasons. Luhmann was vocal about how the slip-box system helped his productivity. Notably, in 1921’s The Intellectual Life, French philosopher Antonin Sertillanges also describes a note-taking system where you take notes on uniform sheets of paper, label them, and relate them to each other with a classification system.)

(Shortform note: Writers before Luhmann, who was born in 1927, also used note-taking systems similar to the slip-box system. Not only did Luhmann publish nearly 60 books within his lifetime, he also has several posthumously-published books to his name-thanks to the ideas he collected within his slip-box. The Origins of the Slip-Box SystemĪhrens explains that the slip-box system was invented by Niklas Luhmann, an incredibly productive German sociologist. Along the way, we’ll examine how Ahrens’s techniques compare with the advice of other productivity experts. Finally, we’ll discuss the specific features of the slip-box system that make it an improvement on traditional productivity systems. In this guide, we’ll first discuss the origins of the slip-box system: Who invented it, and why have you (probably) never heard of it before? Then, we’ll preview how to use the system and examine whether you should try an analog or digital version. To avoid confusion with this computer program, this guide will also use the term “the slip-box system.”) But Ahrens uses the term “slip-box system” because it’s the direct translation of Zettelkasten, and because he uses the term Zettelkasten to refer to a specific computer program by that name. (Shortform note: Most English-speaking users of the slip-box system refer to it as the Zettelkasten, its original German name. In the original version of the system, writers took notes on index cards and organized them in a “slip-box,” or cabinet today, a digital version is more common.Īhrens argues that since this slip-box system is specifically designed to help you both have and share original insights-and make the writing process easier overall-it has several benefits over the traditional writing process: For example, using it will make you more efficient and lead to more creative insights. If you’re someone who publishes original insights for a living-like a non-fiction writer or an academic-how can you make your writing process as efficient as possible? In How to Take Smart Notes, researcher Sönke Ahrens presents a method for doing so: The slip-box system is a method of taking notes and organizing them that fosters the creation and publication of original ideas. 1-Page Summary 1-Page Book Summary of How to Take Smart Notes

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