5.2 notemaking in a zettelkasten starts with fleeting notes
Fleeting notes[1] are the kind of notes we make every day. They aren't limited to a particular topic or length.
It's as simple as having a thought and writing it down. Fleeting notes can include:
- random thoughts
- notes from a meeting
- quotes from a book you read
- shopping lists
- reminders of notable dates
- to do lists
- etc.
Fleeting notes are intended to be transient, not stored long term. Depending on the nature of the note, it should either be processed into a main note or deleted. Any note that contains a task should not become a main note, though tasks can spark thoughts that do become main notes.
Bob Doto recommends processing your fleeting notes once a week.
Source: Doto, B (2024) A System for Writing
See: 5.2a keep a sleeping folder for hard to process fleeting notes for what to do with fleeting notes that resist processing but might still be useful
Next: 5.3 main notes are where your thinking is stored long term for how to turn fleeting notes into main notes
The term fleeting note comes from Sönke Ahren's book How to Take Smart Notes ↩︎