Niklas Luhmann wrote 70 books & 400 articles in 50 years.
Their topics ranged from art to economy.
And he owed it all to his elaborate note-taking system:
He used 90,000 index cards stuffed in shoe boxes.
But you can recreate it online & 2x your writing output:
Luhman’s system is known as a Zettelkasten or slip box.
Onlline tooks to recreate it include Roam Research & Logseq.
But I prefer Obsidian.
In this guide we’ll refer to files, but keep in mind Luhmann did this all manually, which makes it even more extraordinary!
The Zettelkasten system contains 3 kinds of files:
- Fleeting
- Reference
- Permanent
You’ll want to set up 3 folders to house each of these seperately.
Fleeting files are akin to quick capture.
These are best for:
- random thoughts
- web clippings
- meeting notes
Use 2 principles:
- Make it frictionless to capture info
- Process your fleeting files within 1 day
Reference files are where you house other people’s ideas that are relevant to you:
- Books
- Tweets
- Podcasts
Use 2 principles:
- Make them short
- Write in your own words
Permanent files are where the magic happens.
As you write fleeting & reference notes, you’ll spark original ideas:
- Write 1 original idea per file
- Link them to related files (via hyperlink or notation)
- Link them to the reference & fleeting notes that inspired them
Over time, you’ll build a catalogue of original idea “building blocks” that are interconnected.
Luhmann was able to use these atomic ideas in infinite variations to create long-form content.
Ex: 1 productivity idea can be linked to both art and economics in different contexts.
If you’re interested in learning more, I recommend this book: