One should write down their permanent notes in quick succession of the actual thinking. Preferably the same day or the day after. You’ll lose context and the thought if you don’t.
It helps creating fleeting notes where you write down the gist of your thinking / understanding. If you do this, you’ll buy yourself some extra time to re-absorb the context.
Permanent note, Fleeting note?
These are note types in the Zettelkasten system. One can read Digital Garden how I define my notes. A permanent note is your own insights or what I call ‘Thought notes’. A fleeting note is a note where you’re just trying to capture the thought and context for later. Usually to be trashed.
It is kind of like how skills wither without exercise, you’ll forget the context. You can of course improve your memory.
Reference
Ahrens, Sönke. How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking. 2nd edition, Revised and Expanded edition, Sönke Ahrens, 2022.
Highlights or timestamps
Highlights of How to take smart notes
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