Molecular Zettelkasten System

C.O.D.E

• Capture - keep what resonates
• Organize - save for actionability
• Distill - find the essence
• Express - show your work

1. Fleeting Notes - Daily Notes, Sources, New Notes
2. Atoms - Quotes, Key Concepts, Main Takeaways
3. Molecules - Ideas & Insights, Bridging Concepts, Intuition

• Taking Atomic Notes and making them Molecular
• Take smart notes that have purpose & connection

Capture

Fleeting Notes

Source Note

Title:
Source Link:
Topics:
Tags: #source

Topic Note

Title:
Tags: #topic

3 Levels of Notes

Main Level: current concept of discussion, heading, or a title

1. Quote + page # or timestamp
   1. MY IDEAS, thoughts and insights

Daily Note

Blank Note

• like a brain dump to come back to later maybe use #fleetingnote or something similar to flag this as something to come back to.

Distill

Generation Effect:

• Translating external info into our own words, we remember to understand the info better.

• this is the most important step, and the building blocks of the rest of the system.
• This is where you translate the info into your own words.

Atom (Literature)Note

Reference Link
Page Number
Topics
Tags

Quotes, concepts, key takeaways.
Convert into your own words
SINGULAR IDEA

If you want to learn something, you write it down. If you want to really understand something, you have to translate it into your own words. 1 - How to Take Smart Notes

Atom = the CORE of the idea/concept + citation of where it came from.

Molecule (Permanent) Note

Idea generator, external mind, or thinking box

Topics
Tags

Insight, idea, or connection between Atom Notes.

• write as if for someone else, we want to be for Orion
• Lego blocks

Insight or Idea

• Clearly articulate your unique insight, interpretation, or argument.
• This should be the core takeaway of the molecule

Supporting Atoms

• List the atoms that contribute to or support this insight

Connections

• Link to related molecules, sources, or potential applications of this insight.
• We want to get rid of orphan notes

Express

Alloy (Publish)Notes

Example Types:

• Social Media
• Newsletters
• YouTube
• Emails
• Articles
• Blogs