The Zettelkasten Method is not only a method of knowledge work. It is also a diagnostic tool. To demonstrate this, I would like to start with a short story from my work as a health and fitness trainer: A client contacted me because she wanted to lose weight. We discussed her situation and I sent her the first steps. One month later, she reported failure. She was unable to implement the program that we had discussed together. We reduced the program because my client said she was unable to implement it as planned due to time constraints and stress. The pattern repeated the next month. So we looked more closely for the causes. A surprising problem came to light:
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Those who do not react flexibly to the demands of the situation make themselves slaves to their stubbornness. When processing James Clear’s Atomic Habits, I deviate from the actually recommended reading method. The reason is: I work the way the book requires and not the way I would like to.
In his essay Atomic Thoughts, Matt Gemmell writes about the atomicity of ideas. The principle of atomicity is a guiding principle for understanding a larger and complicated idea. Its power lies in the fact that it mimics how our mind works. The recommendation for application could be summarised as follows:
This article is structured in two parts. First, I summarize the Building a Second Brain (BASB) method by Tiago Forte. Then, I will compare it to the Zettelkasten Method (ZKM). I will first discuss the differences, because they can help to understand BASB and the ZKM more deeply. Then I will explain how to reconcile BASB and the ZKM. Spoiler: they can be combined perfectly. I have made some changes in my own way of working. I will include these as examples at the end.