Zettels, AI, and a Book Even I Didn't See Coming

Zettelkasten’s “train of thought” doesn’t require finding the perfect parent note—success comes from linking to the least versatile (least “fit”) option, turning the order of discovery into a personal fingerprint. After struggling to build coherent chains because the process kept demanding an “ideal parent,” the creator learned that Zettelkasten is designed to work with imperfect matches. The sequence in which ideas appear, get observed, and get linked to the least versatile candidate is what makes the resulting chain uniquely theirs, rather than a universal structure they’re trying to force.

That shift reframes how they think about note-making and writing. Instead of treating note connections as a correctness problem, it becomes a creativity problem: the chain is “yours” because it reflects your path through ideas. The insight also echoes a well-known idea attributed to Steve Jobs—dots can’t be connected looking forward, only looking backward—supporting the claim that perfection in forward planning isn’t necessary. For future work, the creator says they’ll focus more on building true chains rather than “pools of thought,” using the least-versatile linking strategy to create a more structured storyline. If a second book happens, they expect to be better prepared because the methodology will already be more tightly organized.

The second major takeaway centers on AI, shifting attention away from privacy or “fraud” concerns toward a more fundamental risk: giving up agency. The creator acknowledges the obvious worry—sharing personal notes with AI can leak sensitive information—but highlights a larger danger raised in workshop discussions: dependence that gradually replaces independent thinking. The mechanism is familiar in everyday life. People offload memory by searching for book titles or facts on demand; they remember not the content itself, but how to retrieve it. That’s manageable. The danger escalates when AI becomes a source of decisions—brainstorming ideas, proposing initiatives, and shaping the direction of work.

A corporate example illustrates the pattern: when a boss speaks first, subordinates tend to align with that perspective, and “group think” replaces genuine contribution. With AI, prompting it first to brainstorm can similarly steer outcomes toward what the model produces, leaving less room for the user’s own perspective. The creator isn’t claiming AI is inherently catastrophic—writing their book with AI as a tool is part of their reality—but they found that without a clear story line and constraints, AI output meandered, repeated itself, and lacked an arc. The core message and narrative structure still have to come from the human mind; AI can support the writing process, but initiative must originate with the user.

Alongside these insights, the creator announces a book pre-order on Amazon (release set for June 15) and promotes cohort 13 of a visual thinking workshop, starting April 12, centered on Tiny Experiments by Ann Lur Lant—framing their approach as a series of small experiments that accumulate into a coherent methodology.