30+ things to make zettelkasten notes about!

A practical Zettelkasten note-taking system isn’t limited to academic research—it’s a way to turn everyday learning, emotions, and experiences into small, searchable building blocks that can be connected later. The central pitch is simple: since people absorb far more information than they can reliably remember, notes should capture not just facts, but the moments that make those facts meaningful—so the material becomes usable and findable when it’s needed.

The list begins with book-based notes. Beautiful phrases can be turned into richer entries by recording what struck the reader and why—down to craft details like alliteration, assonance, and sentence structure. Emotional reactions to passages are treated as data too: a reader’s discomfort or unease can reveal how familiar narrative patterns (like satisfying resolutions) shape expectations, which in turn changes how later texts land. Notes can also translate reading into action by extracting lessons for real problems, tracking shifts in perspective (old view vs. new view and how the transition happened), and writing explanations of key concepts in the author’s words—while still crediting the original source.

Beyond comprehension, the method emphasizes connection-making and research prompts. Readers are encouraged to log links between one text and others—such as comparing ideas about collaboration in art and innovation in technology—because those parallels often become the seeds of future arguments. When authors gesture at intriguing ideas without finishing them, placeholder notes can mark what to investigate later. Even the structure of a book can become a note topic: frequent footnotes, for example, can be analyzed as a design choice, with questions about how that structure might work in other media like YouTube, poems, or games. Writing style also earns attention: techniques that affect likability, perceived authority, and message delivery can inform how someone communicates in writing or conversation.

The book section widens into context and critique. Historical context notes help interpret meaning that the text itself doesn’t provide, and isolated entries can connect a work to events like Quebec’s Quiet Revolution even if the topic isn’t named. Biographical notes about an author’s other work, unanswered questions, and gaps in the text—especially when a claimed theoretical influence (like actor network theory) doesn’t go far enough—can sharpen understanding. For fiction, character arcs are framed as long-term memory hooks: documenting a character’s journey can later remind someone of similar patterns in life or other media.

The second half shifts from books to daily life. Notes can capture challenges and how they were overcome, decision-making processes, jokes and humorous anecdotes, memorable conversations, hobby progress, workout routines (including feelings and soreness), and travel memories—especially the names and details of people met. Dreams, vague observations, and even recipe changes are treated as worthwhile records because they may matter later. Stress relief and anxiety reduction techniques are singled out as high-value entries: documenting what worked after a crisis helps prevent repeating the same struggle.

Finally, the video ties the note-taking mindset to creative writing through Skillshare’s creative essay learning path. Examples include saving craft strategies (like highlighting inward vs. outward moves in nonfiction), recording book recommendations with attribution, collecting motivational quotes, and writing meta-learning reflections—either on what was learned or on why nothing clicked—so future learning conditions and teachers can be chosen more effectively. The takeaway is that Zettelkasten-style notes turn scattered experiences into a connected knowledge system, ready for future writing, problem-solving, and self-understanding.