One thing I talk about a lot with the Zettelkasten is being able to ask it questions. I know how that sounds. It's a bunch of text files. It won't answer me. I'll look like a crazy person.
But stay with me, because this is one of the most useful things I do with my notes.
What you're really doing
Think of your notes as an externalised version of your thinking. A second brain.
If your brain were a computer, your working memory would be the RAM. You can only hold so much in there at once. Everything else needs to be stored somewhere more permanent. Your notes are that permanent storage.
When you "ask your notes a question", you're running your thinking over what's in storage. Sometimes the answer is there. Often it isn't. And that's where things get interesting.
Three kinds of question
The simple ones. "What's the formula for the area of a circle?" You might have a note with the answer. Easy.
The comparison ones. "What's the difference between a solopreneur and a bootstrapper?" You might have notes on single-founder businesses, and notes on founders who build without outside funding, but you've never put them side by side. Now you have a reason to.
The impossible ones. These are the "bigger than you" questions. They can spark a lifetime of curiosity and research. They're my favourite.
Make your questions work for you
You can come up with endless questions, so here's how I keep them useful. A good question:
- Aligns with your goals. Otherwise it's just academic.
- Is of deep interest to you. If your heart isn't in it, it'll feel like a chore.
- Lets you scan for opportunities. Like fitting a shape into a box with holes, you can test every new piece of information against it.
- Can be answered gradually. Break the big question into smaller ones and add pieces to the puzzle over time. Sometimes new research doesn't give an answer but gives you a better question.
Divergent and convergent questions
I find it helpful to split questions into two types:
- Divergent—big, open, almost impossible to answer concretely. "Does being a great thinker benefit society?"
- Convergent—smaller, concrete questions that can have a specific answer backed up by research. "What makes a great teacher?"
My approach is to break divergent questions down into convergent ones. The answers to the small questions become the building blocks that help me hypothesise about the big one.
An example from my own life
I have a "why": to inspire a generation of thinkers and doers.
Rather than leave that as a nice sentence, I turn it into questions:
- How do you help someone think deeply?
- What makes a great thinker?
- How does someone learn?
- What makes a great teacher?
- How do you go from being a thinker to a doer?
I can answer some of these from books I've read on education, learning and growth mindset. Others, like how society benefits from great thinkers, need me to understand much more first. But every book I read, I'm scanning for pieces that fit.
That scanning is the secret. When you have questions in your head, reading becomes easier and far more enjoyable. You have a purpose.
What if you run out of things to process?
This happens. You've processed everything and there's nothing left. The answer is, read more. But use your questions to decide what. A big question like "How might society benefit from a growth mindset taught in education?" tells you there are two topics to explore: society and education. Now you know where to look.
Try it
Write down your "why" in one sentence. Now break it into five to ten questions. Pin them where you can see them. Next time you read, see if anything in the material helps answer one.
How do you actually store and track questions?
There are eight kinds of question (fact-based, conceptual, comparative, evaluation and more), and each leads to a different action. In Atomic Note-Taking I cover each type, where to keep open questions, and how to turn an unanswered question into your next reading list.
