[bilvar]

I'm not sure I can relate to the author. My Zettelkasten is not a todo list or project binder or whatever personal life management function they use it for.

Mine is for consolidation of knowledge. For instance, when I study math and I write a pen and paper proof as an exercise I then write a clean note from scratch and link to other theorems or corollary notes I have etc. Similar stuff for computer science or programming. I find out that this process solidifies the work I'd already done and make it less likely to forget.

I also think people get a bit too dogmatic about the ways to use technology to help improve your life. Like, what the heck complex rules about Zettelkasten? I don't know what kind of expectations they have going into this. Do these "influencers" telling you how to use it sell the promise of the ultra-intelligent god from the popular meme? Just open the damn editor and write, you will find what works for you through tinkering and iteration.

[kaashif]

Yeah, it seems like they were writing massive volumes of useless ephemeral to-do lists and throwing them away was easy.

Maybe they were doing it wrong and should've been writing down durable knowledge that has lasting value.

I write down guides to do things, explanations of how things work that make sense to me, information that I know will be useful at some time but will be accessed infrequently (e.g. information about people or projects).

A 7,000 book reading list seems useless if your goal is to read all of them. But if it's just a bank of interesting books to pull from when you want something to read on the beach or on a sunny weekend, that doesn't cause me stress at least. I'm adding to the bank, not adding items to do. Like my list of board games to try.